San Diego biz columnist announces retirement

Don McSwain

Dan McSwain, the business columnist for the San Diego Union-Tribune, has decided to retire.

McSwain writes, “At just 54, it isn’t old age, technically. Although I want more time with family and friends, I haven’t been secretly fired. Nobody is pushing me out.

“I remain fully gruntled; grateful and even delighted that my bosses let me commit commentary for a major city’s premier news outlet.

“Here’s the problem. I am losing it.

“Done properly, a column not only tells you news, what’s really happening, but also how to think about it. Writing a proper one has always been hard for me.

“Over the last six months or so, it has gotten noticeably and suddenly harder. My productivity, as measured by quantity adjusted for quality, has dropped. I’ve been making too many mistakes.”

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.