Friedman: Fortune proves biz journalism is not dull

MarketWatch’s Jon Friedman spent some time assessing Fortune magazine, and he argues that the publication, despite some turmoil, has shown how exciting business journalism can be.

Friedman writes, “Pooley is so proud of the issue that he can’t resist the urge to kick sand in his foe’s face. ‘BusinessWeek didn’t reach a conclusion about where the real estate market is going,’ he said. ‘Our reporting dug in and came to a conclusion.’

“Fortune hasn’t lost a beat while breaking in Pooley and withstanding the defections of such stalwarts as Joe Nocera and Dan Roth. The key concept remains its stellar ability to go beyond the statistics of business stories. Pooley also pointed out that Fortune has added such sharp journalists as Ellen McGirt, Nina Easton and Marcia Vickers.”

Later, Friedman writes, “As a distinguished New York magazine writer and Time Europe’s editor, Pooley excelled at the fine art of storytelling. He deflects criticism that he got the Fortune job even though he had never edited a financial magazine. Pooley falls back on his experience in working with business subjects when he directed Time’s Europe edition.”

Read more here.