How the Web has changed business news

Media analyst Ken Doctor has published an excerpt from his new book, Newsonomics: Twelve New Trends That Will Shape the News You Get, on PaidContent.org about the current evolution taking place in business journalism.

Here is an excerpt:

“We also see lots of niches within the business niche—as we do in all niches. Business-to-business, tech, gadget, stocks, and lots more. A sampling of these brands: AllThingsD (owned by News Corporation), TechCrunch, SeekingAlpha, and paidContent (owned by The Guardian).

“Not to be forgotten are the local niche plays, best represented by American City Business Journals and Dolan Media. They cater to highly knowledgeable local business audiences. Though their readerships are small, in the five-digit range in most metro areas, their target demographics are very desirable and increasingly well used by business-oriented advertisers online.

“The journalism approach here may be key. ‘Weeklies are doing it right,’ says Chris Roush, who runs TalkingBizNews.com, a blog covering the sector. ‘The average metro daily will do 95 percent of its stories about publicly traded companies—which are 1 percent of the companies out there.’ That gives the weeklies a lot of firms—big privately held companies and all small businesses—to report on that would otherwise be uncovered.”

Read more here.