Longtime biz journalist Talton is retiring

Jon Talton, a longtime business journalist who has been writing a column for the Seattle Times, is retiring from journalism.

Talton writes, “I got into this specialty early, as business news was professionalized and became an important component to every major metropolitan paper. Who wanted to cover City Hall when the most important stories were to be found in business?

“As my career blossomed, I became sought after as a turnaround editor for papers wanting to improve their business sections. All this was before the great collapse of the business model because of Craigslist, online missteps and dozens of self-inflicted cuts, especially at the big, publicly traded chains.”

Talton covered business and finance, specializing in urban economies, energy, real estate and economics and public policy. He has been a columnist for the Arizona Republic, Charlotte Observer and Rocky Mountain News, and his columns have appeared in newspapers throughout North America on the New York Times News Service and other news services. He has been a regular guest on CNBC.

He served as business editor for several newspapers, including the Dayton Daily News, Rocky Mountain News, Cincinnati Enquirer and Charlotte Observer. At Dayton, he was part of a team that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Public Service, for the nation’s first computer-assisted report on worker safety. In Charlotte, the business section was honored as one of the nation’s best by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.