Categories: OLD Media Moves

CJR's Audit moving in right direction

Forbes.com columnist Gary Weiss, who in the past has criticized Columbia Journalism Review Daily’s blog called “The Audit” that critiques business news, wrote Thursday that a recent item on the blog is a step in the right direction.

Weiss wrote, “The Audit seems to have finally caught up with reality, judging by a well-aimed barb at CNNMoney today. Seems a commentator called a ‘raw deal’ the prosecution of Chiquita for paying off a terrorist organization in Colombia.

“Another critic of the Audit, Brad DeLong, once observed that the Audit has limited credibility and is ‘lacking quality control.’ The former is still true, but today’s item is a step in the right direction.

“The Audit would also give its credibility a boost if it cut out links to Judd Bagley’s BusinessJive and ‘FaulkingTruth’ websites, both of which sling mud at journalists while pushing the naked-shorting conspiracy theories that fascinated (former editor Mark) Mitchell.”

Read more here. I’d still like to see The Audit pay more attention to business news. Before the post today about Chiquita and CNN, the last post was Feb. 27. There’s been a lot going on in business journalism in the past three-plus weeks.

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.