Categories: OLD Media Moves

Goods news vs. bad news

Earl Maucker, the editor of The Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, answered a reader’s questions in Sunday’s paper about whether it had placed stories about the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching record highs in the same position in the paper this past week as did earlier this year when the market dropped.

The reader argued that the paper plays up bad news but downplays good news. Maucker disagreed.

Maucker wrote, “News of the Dow setting records? Sure, we had it.

“Last Thursday we had a story headlined: ‘Dow pushes higher, posts first close above 12,800.’ And on Saturday we had a major story: ‘Dow closing in on 13,000 thanks to strong earnings.’ Both were on the front of our Business section.

“On Thursday this week, once the Dow passed the 13,000 threshold, it was front page news.

“Editors don’t always get it right, but generally we have a feel for what is important to the communities we serve.

Read more here.

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.

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