Biz media ignore bigger issues with book retailer woes

TheStreet.com media critic Marek Fuchs writes Wednesday that recent coverage of Borders and Barnes & Noble’s earnings accepted their explanation of the slowing economy hurting sales without examining other issues.

Fuchs writes, “I guess, for the business media, two companies using the same excuse makes the excuse legitimate. But, uh, The Business Press Maven inspected the article with a magnifying glass and saw no evidence, not even a trace mention, of a little outfit called Amazon, which has been known to cause a headache or six for modern booksellers. Or the ever-more-forceful impact of discounters such as Costco, which have become increasingly big players in the book-selling industry in recent years.

“What else is there to say about what the business media did not say? Only that, with few exceptions, when a company blames the economy, the reality is more complex. And here, with a company that has, with the exception of the Christmas period, lost money in every quarter for two years running — well, call me crazy, but I think I smell a factor or two beyond the economy.

“As a side note, once again we saw a retailer earn positive headlines for surpassing Wall Street expectations through cost cuts that involved inventory reduction. Here is Reuters: ‘Borders 2nd-qtr loss narrows, stock jumps 14 percent.'”

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