Reflecting on 30 years in business journalism

Craig Wessel, the publisher of the Portland Business Journal, writes about the paper’s 30th anniversary and how its business journalism has changed.

Wessel writes, “We had a different brand of reporter. They were trained to understand business, not demonize it. We engaged with the local business community with an understanding and respect for just how difficult it is to create a business, to grow a business, to be responsible for the livelihood of employees and, no doubt, to also hold business accountable to their responsibility to the community that supports them.

“That respect was returned and those beginnings have led to what I believe today is a relationship between our paper and the business community that is now very rare in the media industry: A relationship based on mutual trust, respect, and value.

“The things that made being a part of the startup team 30 years ago so special to me are the same things that have made the last 13 years, after coming back to Portland as publisher of the paper, the best years of my career. We have the position and the opportunity to continue to redefine how local journalism and business publishing succeeds in an explosive media landscape.

“In stark contrast to the gloomy reports about the decline of traditional media, our regional executive audience has grown more than tenfold in the last four years. We continue to publish our flagship paper every week to more than 55,000 regional executive readers. In fact, we have grown circulation for that product nine of the last 12 years (the recession was nobody’s friend). In addition, we’re now a 24/7 business news organization generating 1.3 million page views per month on the Portland Business Journal website.”

Read more here.