Addressing the "urgency of the matter"

by · October 17, 2008

Danny Shea of Huffington Post interviewed CNN senior business correspondent Ali Velshi about how the business media has covered the current economic crisis.

Here is an excerpt:

How would you describe the tone of CNN’s business coverage? What tone do you aim for?

The tone that we aim for at CNN is one that addresses the urgency of the matter — that conveys to people who maybe don’t think about money all the time, other than in their personal finances, don’t think of the economy — we’re trying to convey an urgency to them but at the same time not contribute to the panic that they’re feeling because they’re watching their 401(k)s dwindle.

It’s a very interesting road that we have to travel and we try to check that tone on a daily basis. And we really do, I’m not just saying that. We have discussions amongst a lot of our staff: “How do we think that worked, this tone?” “How do we feel we did in terms of conveying the message as accurately and informatively as we could have?”