Assessing the performance of business journalism isn't that simple
Dean Starkman, writing for the Columbia Journalism Review, argues that there are many business journalists who have been sounding the alarm about the problems in the housing market and on Wall Street before the economic turmoil, but that assessing the business media’s performance is more complicated than finding the negative stories in archives. Starkman writes, […]
CNBC begins running new Cramer ads
CNBC began running new television commercials featuring “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer on Wednesday using the slogan “In Cramer We Trust.” On the commercial, Cramer is speaking, with the monologue taken from Monday’s show, where he said, “Bottom line: The new plan does not save the market. It just takes another Great Depression off the […]
WSJ newsstand sales rise 20 percent in September
Matthew Flamm of Crain’s New York reports Wednesday that The Wall Street Journal‘s newsstand sales spiked 20 percent in September due to the financial crisis. Flamm writes, “In addition, the paper’s newly redesigned Web site, WSJ.com, has doubled its traffic, reaching around 25 million unique visitors, Mr. Thomson said, citing internal numbers. “According to Nielsen […]
More adjectives, please
Allen Wastler, the managing editor of CNBC.com adds his two cents to the current discussion in business journalism about what words to use to accurately describe the stock market’s daily gyrations. Wastler writes, “The market-write, typically updated 6 times a day rain or shine, is the bread and butter of business coverage. Yet the work […]
Why stock market jump on Monday wasn't on LATimes front page
Jamie Gold, the reader’s representative at the Los Angeles Times, responds Tuesday to a reader who wanted to know why the big increase in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday didn’t merit front-page coverage after the big drops last week were on the front page. Gold writes, “The story about the Dow Jones’ ‘exuberance,’ […]
Soaring ratings for TV financial news, Web sites
David Lieberman and Jon Swartz of USA Today examine the increase in ratings for televised business news and financial news on the Internet. Lieberman and Swartz write, “Meanwhile millions of people are scrambling to the Internet. Visits to financial news sites for September were up 30%, to 64.3 million unique visitors, from a year earlier, […]
The tragedy of the business media
Hamilton Nolan of Gawker has an excellent analysis of the current state of business media, which is covering its most important story at a time when its ad market is drying up. Nolan writes, “Ten years from now, business outlets will be judged by their coverage of this meltdown in the same way that the […]
News coming fast and furious
Tonya Garcia of PRWeek interviews John Byrne, who runs BusinessWeek‘s online operations, about what it’s been like covering Wall Street during the economic turmoil and the importance of the Web to covering the story. Here is an excerpt: PRWeek: What has your job been like for the past month or so given all the turmoil […]
TV critic and CNN's Velshi go at it
David Zurawik, the television critic of the Baltimore Sun who has been critical of television coverage of the economic crisis, and CNN lead business correspondent Ali Velshi went at each other on “Reliable Sources” Sunday about whether Velshi was reporting or presenting opinion. CNBC’s Jim Cramer was also discussed, but he declined to appear on […]
Kansas City Star readers upset about cut stock listings
Derek Donovan, the reader representative at the Kansas City Star, responds to readers who have complained about the paper’s decision to cut back on its stock and mutual fund tables in the Wednesday through Friday Business sections. Donovan writes, “Today, people are voting with their feet. The majority of investors use electronic means to track their […]
