Biz journalists and their sources

Amanda Ernst of Fishbowl NY covered the panel on business journalism’s performance leading up to the economic crisis at Columbia University on Tuesday and noted that a lot of the question-and-answer period focused on journalists and their sources.

Ernst writes, “The rest of the night’s discussion — which lasted for an hour plus almost an hour of questions from the packed house at the end — revolved around journalists’ sources and motivations. All of the panelists agreed that journalists are only as good as their sources, and sometimes reliable whistleblowers are hard to come by. Sometimes, blogs that do original reporting and dig up stories that the mainstream media can’t get to — whether because of time, access or budgets — are more helpful to consumers, Morgenson said.

“‘The blogs and Internet sources that are the most effective and can really help investors and consumers are the ones that are doing original reporting,’ she said. ‘I would welcome that because there are so many stories out there and there are only so many [mainstream business reporters].’

“At the end of the night, when the panelists were asked what the future might look like for the business press, the answers were mixed. Madrick suggested that the business model was not strong enough for online content providers like The Huffington Post. He said blogs and the like might even disappear in the coming years.”

Read more here.