Business news is about real people

Jimmy Settle, the business editor of the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle in Tennessee, writes about how business news coverage is really about people more than money.

Settle writes, “The fact that Hemlock Semiconductor is building a $1.2 billion polysilicon plant means that, not only is the company going to be a major employer paying good wages, but it is going to bolster the local tax base enormously, supporting schools and a whole host of community needs while bringing the benefits of education into more homes – which will, in turn, enhance and improve our regional quality of life.

“These are the often-understated, underlying reasons why we have business and financial news in the first place – to tell us how we’re doing as a community and at the household level, and to provide some forecast for where we are going.

“Business news is, most importantly, about people, and both defining and tracking their basic needs.

“With the news that things are continually improving in the Clarksville-area economy – generally speaking at least, it is my hope and prayer that this will bring everyone some peace and comfort heading into 2013.

“I appreciate you, the reader, and the resident of northern middle Tennessee. You are the economy. You are what makes this community what it is.”

Read more here.