All-Bloomberg cover on BusinessWeek

Former BusinessWeek reporter Gary Weiss notes that the latest cover of the magazine is written by Bloomberg News reporters, a first since Bloomberg bought the magazine.

Weiss writes, “What they produced was provocative and needed to be told, describing how the Street has defeated Wall Street reforms. Certainly the cover (left) is as hard-hitting as anything the magazine might have produced in its heyday.

“I particularly liked the sidebar describing (a bit too briefly) how the SEC has watered down reforms.

“A longer version of the same story appeared on the wire, and was not linked from the far briefer BW account. That’s a reversal of the usual wire service equation, with magazines providing full accounts and the wires providing summaries. Obviously there’s more space on the wire, thanks to the falloff in advertising under the former regime, and I wonder if BW going to morph into some kind of ‘Bloomberg Digest.’ If so, the online edition of the magazine should link to fuller versions appearing on the wire.

“Another change has to do with the writing style. Like most newsmagazines, BW has traditionally brought to the table a strong point of view. Sometimes that point of view is wrong (‘Death of Equities’) but the magazine always, or most of the time, or ideally, took a stance.”

Read more here. Weiss notes that the cover story has no point of view.