The making of a Loeb Award winner
The Charlotte Observer’s business desk received a Loeb Award, considered the Pulitzer Prizes of business journalism, earlier this week for its coverage of homebuilder Beazer Homes and its role in the subprime loan crisis. The Loeb judges praised the series, writing, “In this year-long series, the writers unraveled the story of the subprime mortgage crisis […]
Coupon Queen has a strong following
John Drescher, the executive editor of The (Raleigh) News & Observer, writes Sunday about business reporter Sue Stock, whose weekly column about how much money she has saved from using coupons has become a local sensation. Stock, who saved more than $4,600 last year using coupons, recently drew a crowd of 300 people to a talk […]
Barron's cover story on oil bubble popping is nuts
TheStreet.com media critic Marek Fuchs writes Monday that the cover story in the latest issue of Barron’s that argues that the oil price bubble is about to burst is faulty in its premise. Fuchs writes, “‘Oil Bubble: When It Will Pop and Why,’ it said, accompanied by a big, black, oily bubble. I settled into […]
WSJ's Ip leaving to join The Economist
Greg Ip, who has covered the Federal Reserve and the economy for The Wall Street Journal for the past seven years, is leaving the paper to become the U.S. economics editor for The Economist, reports Robert MacMillan of Reuters. MacMillan writes, “Greg Ip will join The Economist magazine as U.S. economics editor, he told Reuters […]
WSJ real estate story not supported by facts
Elinore Longobardi of the Columbia Journalism Review pans a Wall Street Journal trend story about consumers who purchase a lower-priced home with their good credit and than bail on their old home, where the mortgage is now more than what the house is worth due to falling prices. Longobardi writes, “The problem is the piece […]
Confusion with CPI numbers
Hal Morris, writing on his Grumpy Editor blog, notes that business journalists covering the same Consumer Price Index statistics released Friday, reported different views on where the economy is headed. Morris writes, “Note the differences in the treatment, including figures, with the same information from the Labor Department. “Under the headline, “Slowdown in U.S. Helps […]
Forget sub-prime mess, write about credit default swaps
Attorney Henry Banta writes on the Nieman Watchdog site Friday that business journalists are spending too much time focusing on the sub-prime lending crisis and ignoring the problems surrounding credit default swaps, which could have a bigger impact on the economy. Banta writes, “Last year the output of every living soul on the planet was […]
SABEW offers conference call on covering rising food prices
The Society of American Business Editors and Writers will hold a conference call next week for business journalists offering tips on how to cover rising grocery prices. Food costs now gobble an even bigger bite out of the budget for every American, regardless of income, race or gender. Consider this: In the last two years, […]
This post to be followed by another one later
TheStreet.com media critic Marek Fuchs takes aim Thursday at a headline on the BusinessWeek Web site that proclaims: “Oil Hits $129, Heads for $130.” Fuchs writes, “Where to start? With the automatic, implicit assumption that we will go up before down? Perhaps. “Or the notion that you need a journalist to help you think out […]
Longest story ever published in Fast Company is in June issue
Well-known business journalist Richard Behar‘s opus in the June issue of Fast Company about China’s growing economic influence in Africa is long, really long. So long that it’s the longest article ever published by the magazine at 18,700 words. It’s broken up into six parts — and 24 pages — to make it more palatable. […]
