Bias in business journalism

Allen Wastler, the managing editor of CNBC.com, writes Wednesday about how bias in business journalism compares to other journalism, such as political coverage.

Wastler writes, “Harwood made an observation that journalism, as a career field, tends to draw more liberal leaning people. I guess that’s true. The school training is called ‘liberal arts’ after all. But business, the frontline of money and taxes, tends to draw more conservative types.

“So then business journalism must be the intersection of neutrality … totally unbiased, right?

“Well, probably not. You can look at recent debates about glass half-full/half-empty economic numbers to see some examples.

“I tend to think there’s going to be some amount of bias in any sort of journalistic endeavor. Sometimes it’s due to form. After all in any sort of report … text or TV … something has to come first. And whatever goes first typically gets the most attention.”

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