Blacks and minorities need to be sold on business journalism

Blacks and other minorities need to be sold on business and economics reporting in order to increase their numbers in the field, said a prominent black business journalist.

“They need to be knocking on the doors, or listing business in their job reviews as a preference down the road,” said Ernie Holsendolph, a former reporter for Fortune and the New York Times, and one of the first black business editors in the country for the Cleveland Plain Dealer in the 1980s.

Holsendolph spent the last 15 years of his career at  the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, writing a column for the business section, before retiring in 2004.

“Both SABEW and NABJ need to encourage their members to talk up business as a specialty — and right now is really the time to strike,” added Holsendolph. “Nearly everybody, from frazzled consumers to nervous workers, testify that they are more interested than ever in reading or hearing business news, and if people are reading it, those stories become stronger candidates for the glamour position on the front of the paper, or on section fronts in both business and features.”

Holsendolph said that the low numbers of minorities in business journalism was due to several factors.

“They have not been brought along in such specialties as business — or in general feature writing, where the best explainers are to be found,” said Holsendolph. “Also, too many editors are mystified by economic reporting and do not trust their instincts to let reporters go out and work unfamiliar territory.”

Read the full interview with Holsendolph here.

Disclosure: Holsendolph and I worked together on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution business desk from 1994 to 1997.