Categories: OLD Media Moves

How Steve Jobs changed business journalism

New York Times business columnist David Carr writes Thursday about how deceased Apple CEO Steve Jobs impacted business journalism.

Carr writes, “Which brings us back to how he changed business journalism — its image and its attractiveness. Because he was a showman, because he made interesting things that consumers cared about, readers began to follow his products as they might a band or their favorite team. Being an Apple user became a marker of cultural identity and conveyed cool. Some of that splashed onto those who covered business.

“Now, young reporters with good prospects often start in business coverage, becoming conversant in unit sales, earnings per share, and Ebidta. The best and brightest of them can be found chasing the latest rumor out of Silicon Valley or peering under the hood of the just-hatched start-up. There are a lot of forces in play that make that so, but you’d have to credit Steve Jobs with making business something that did not belong to the suits.

“Business reporters hated Apple’s secrecy and found Mr. Jobs’s arrogance wearying, but we all knew that our craft picked up some glitz and esteem because of his involvement. Our readers, his consumers, cared about the guy and everything he did. He made business cool by using it to make cool stuff. It was fun to be along for the ride.”

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.

Recent Posts

NextGov, Route Fifty tap Bur as executive editor

Jessie Bur has been named executive editor of Nextgov/FCW and Route Fifty, GovExec’s news organizations…

21 mins ago

Zeballos-Roig departs Semafor after two years

Semafor economic policy reporter Joseph Zeballos-Roig has left the organization after two years. He previously…

25 mins ago

Inc.’s Hofman on focusing on entrepreneurs

Russell Sherman of the "Press Profiles" podcast interviewed Mike Hofman, the editor in chief of…

28 mins ago

Dow Jones names new tech leaders

Dow Jones chief technology officer Artem Fishman sent out the following: Team, As we continue…

1 hour ago

Yahoo Finance seeks an executive producer

Yahoo Finance is the world's most-used business and financial digital platform. It offers millions of…

4 hours ago

Entertainment industry reporter Voytko-Best departs Forbes

Lisette Voytko-Best, who covered the entertainment industry for Forbes, has left the publication. Voytko-Best is…

5 hours ago