Categories: OLD Media Moves

Business journalists: King of the domain

Peter Wilby of The Guardian writes Monday how business journalists have now become king of the newsroom. Even though he’s writing about the situation in England, I think it has some applicability here in the colonies.

Wilby wrote, “But business reporters were then somewhat less likely to rise through the ranks than education correspondents (of whom I was one). Rees-Mogg had first converted to general punditry. Business journalism was not generally seen as providing a sufficiently wide background by itself.

“That is no longer so. Business journalists have become stars. Red-tops have business editors, and even the Guardian places the financial pages so that you read them before you get to the Marxists (joking, joking) on the leader pages. The Telegraph’s Jeff Randall, an aggressive cheerleader for business journalism, has observed that ‘the City editor of the Sunday Times sits next to the editor at big swanky dos whenever the proprietor is in town’.

“The change came about sometime in the 80s. I suggest two reasons. First, the country in general and the press in particular became more obsessed with money. Financial services are now so important to the economy that, to understand how Britain works, it is necessary to understand what hedge funds, derivatives, libor rates and sub-prime mortgages actually are.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.

Recent Posts

PCWorld executive editor Ung dies at 58

PCWorld executive editor Gordon Mah Ung, a tireless journalist we once described as a founding father…

10 hours ago

CNBC taps Sullivan as “Power Lunch” co-anchor

CNBC senior vice president Dan Colarusso sent out the following on Monday: Before this year comes to…

1 day ago

Business Insider hires Brooks as standards editor

Business Insider editor in chief Jamie Heller sent out the following on Monday: I'm excited to share…

1 day ago

Is this the end of CoinDesk as we know it?

Former CoinDesk editorial staffer Michael McSweeney writes about the recent happenings at the cryptocurrency news site, where…

2 days ago

LinkedIn finance editor Singh departs

Manas Pratap Singh, finance editor for LinkedIn News Europe, has left for a new opportunity…

3 days ago

Washington Post announces start of third newsroom

Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray sent out the following on Friday: Dear All, Over the last…

4 days ago