Bloomberg’s Winkler encourages biz publications to cover public debt

Weekly business newspapers and business magazines should cover more stories about city, county and state debt offerings, said Bloomberg editor in chief emeritus Matthew Winkler in a speech Friday morning.

“This is something that not just Bloomberg News should do, but state and local businesses and news organizations should be thinking about,” said Winkler.

Winkler, who stepped down as editor of Bloomberg earlier this year after 25 years of running the news organization, was the keynote speaker at the Alliance of Area Business Publishers conference in Charlotte. The Alliance includes weekly business newspapers such as Crain’s New York and Crain’s Chicago and business magazines such as Georgia Trend and Business North Carolina.

Winkler noted that the 1994 bankruptcy of Orange County, Calif., and the 2012 bankruptcy of Jefferson County, Ala., as two of the biggest business stories during his career. Such debt offerings build schools, bridges, water systems and roads.

“To most journalists, it’s dry as dust,” said Winkler. “But businesses and residents will be grateful” for the coverage.

Winkler noted that Bloomberg’s success has been in finding stories using data that most readers don’t expect.

As an example, Winkler pointed to recent coverage of Greece’s debt. While most stories give off the perception that Greece’s debt is a risky investment, Winkler pointed to Bloomberg stories that noted that Greek debt has outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Euro as investments since April.

In addition, when U.S. debt was downgraded in 2011 after Congress argued over whether to raise the debt ceiling, Bloomberg stories at that time noted that the yield on U.S. debt fell, meaning that investors thought the debt was still a very safe investment.

“What mattered most is our ability to identify the surprises every day,” said Winkler.

Despite Bloomberg’s editorial operation being primarily a wire service, Winkler expressed opportunities for print publications, pointing to Bloomberg Businessweek, which the company acquired in 2009.

Winkler noted that the magazine gives Bloomberg an opportunity to reach an audience — C-suite executives — that it was not penetrating with its wire service.