Categories: OLD Media Moves

How business journalism has changed in the past 30 years

Sougata Mukherjee, the editor of the Triangle Business Journal, writes about how business news is delivered differently as the American City Business Journals paper celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Mukherjee writes, “I remember the day in 1993 when I found out Mercedes-Benz was working with North Carolina economic development officials for a massive auto plant near Mebane. At stake – thousands of jobs, hundreds of millions of dollars in capital investment.

“At the same time I was chasing the story, my colleague in Charlotte, Robert Morris who was covering commercial real estate for the Charlotte Business Journal at that time, was talking to his sources for an independent confirmation. By Thursday morning, we had confirmation. On Friday, the Triangle Business Journal and the Charlotte Business Journal had a very big scoop – on our front pages.

“Morris and I talked that Friday morning and acknowledged that’s why we do journalism – we tell important stories to people. Today, Morris is the editor of our sister paper in Charlotte.

“More than 20 years ago, if we had a scoop or had to break a big story, we had one shot at it – our print edition that came out every Friday.

“As you know by now, things have drastically changed. We now report on news as it happens – we have our robust website that offers us that opportunity.”

Read more here and look at a slideshow of covers of the paper from the past 30 years.

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.

Recent Posts

Dynamo hires former Business Insider executive editor Harrington

Former Business Insider executive editor Rebecca Harrington has been hired by Dynamo to be its…

20 hours ago

Bloomberg TV hires Kerubo as desk producer

Bloomberg Television has hired Brenda Kerubo as a desk producer in London. She will be covering Europe's…

20 hours ago

Jittery CNBC staff reassured by new boss

In a meeting at CNBC headquarters Thursday afternoon, incoming boss Mark Lazarus presented a bullish…

21 hours ago

Making business news accessible to a wider audience

Ritika Gupta, the BBC's North American business correspondent, was interviewed by Global Woman magazine about…

21 hours ago

Rest of World hires Lo as China reporter

Rest of World has hired Kinling Lo as a China reporter. Lo was previously a…

21 hours ago

Bloomberg rises to No. 7 biz news website

Bloomberg News saw strong unique visitor growth to its website in October, passing Fox Business…

22 hours ago