Biz reporters must balance being first with being right

The balance between being first and being right in business reporting has a direct impact on how economic players react, the Reuters news service’s senior U.S. economics correspondent said Friday in Tulsa.

Emily Kaiser said at the Tulsa Press Club’s Distinguished Journalism Lecture that the environment of speed over accuracy can lead to mistakes, a critical error for people making high-stakes and quick financial decisions on that information, reports Clifton Adcock of the Tulsa World.

Adcock writes, “‘We could have and should have done a better job explaining the difference between owning a stake large enough to exert control and full-scale nationalization,’ Kaiser said.

“The news industry seeking a profit is facing a conflict when deciding between what sells and what people need to know.

“Kaiser cited a Washington Post profile on a small-town newspaper’s winning a Pulitzer Prize for an investigative piece. But the investigation received half the website views compared with a story about girls working at the local Hooters restaurant.

“‘I would like to believe that readers will gravitate toward sites they can trust, but I also realize that gossip makes money,’ Kaiser said.”

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