Business reporters can't do math: Part II

Everyone knows that the reason we became journalists was to avoid having to take math classes in college, right?

The Media Orchard, a blog by a Dallas-based public relations firm, takes business journalists to task for not knowing math, and even cites an earlier posting on this blog as part of its evidence, although the example was from Sports Illustrated.

The Media Orchard writes, “Business reporters are better at telling the human stories behind business — for example, the great anecdotes in the recent Enron movie — than they are at unearthing Enron-type scandals in the first place.

“They’d have to be able to read the numbers to do that.

“So their predictions regarding the prospects of the blog business — or any other business — are based on what Hugh calls ‘second-hand sources.’ Most business coverage is the equivalent of entertainment writers asking Hollywood gossips whether the next Angelina Jolie movie is going to be a hit. It’s guesswork until that opening Friday night.”

Read the entire post here.