Context and analysis for the everyday viewer

Ali Velshi, the chief business correspondent for CNN, was interviewed by Anil Mascarenhas of IndiaInfoLine.com about his role in covering the global economy.

Here is an excerpt:

Give us your perspective on how the financial news space has evolved over the years?

15 years ago, financial news was a product for professionals. It was usually a way for financial professionals in the world to get real time analysis about what was going on and have access to CEOs or experts who they couldn’t access in their daily lives, because they worked for a bank or an investment firm. It has evolved now. It first evolved into a product for what we call the retail investor, the average person who has a job who invests in a retirement fund, or maybe they have a stock trading account. It was probably about 10 years ago when people started to become day traders. Now we have evolved into a place where we provide context and analysis for the everyday viewer, from the laborer to the professional, so not just for the business or financial professional anymore. Now we do mainstream business news, which is as important as having weather news, or health news, or political news. It’s something that helps people make decisions to allow them to prosper.

Is there a thin line between analysts and journalists – besides the pay?

There is a very distinct line between analysts and journalists. The jobs are different. Analysts specifically analyze companies, industries and regions for the purpose of determining their value, their investment value and their potential. Journalists have a much bigger mandate. Our mandate is to find truth from lies, to find a context to understand different sides of the same story. Analysts are a crucial part of our ability to cover stories, but journalists have to tell a much bigger story for a much broader audience.

Read the rest of the interview here.