A tumultuous change in business journalism

Henry Dubroff, the founder and editor of the Pacific Coast Business Times, writes about the dramatic changes in business journalism in the past five years in the wake of judging Loeb Awards earlier this week.

Dubroff writes, “In financial journalism, it seems the future belongs more and more to the specialists. I know I’ve written about this previously, but the happy faceds at UCLA belong to folks at Bloomberg, Reuters and the Southern California business journals. The panicked folks are at the regional dailies and even the New York Times.

“I can see a future where journalism organizations look more like talent agencies and they put their content in whatever form — digital, broadcast, print or Twitter draws and audience that can be monetized.

“Data and data analysis are driving more and more reporting — sadly at a cost to good old fashioned shoe leather and talking to people.

“Finally, while the barriers to entry for freelances and bloggers are low and getting lower, the path to building a small, privately held company like the Business Times is getting harder and harder.”

Read more here.