Sloan: Key to business journalism is writing simply

The key to being a successful business journalist is taking complicating topics and writing about them in a way the average person can understand them, said financial journalism legend Allen Sloan during a talk Wednesday at Stony Brook University.

Daniel Gatta of The Statesman writes, “Sloan’s ability to take complex issues and break them down so that the average person can understand is what makes him such successful business and finance writer.

“‘What I do is I write about strange and complicated financial issues and transactions and explain these concepts in a language approaching English,’ Sloan said.

“Sloan utilizes his intelligence and familiarity with the industry effectively, explaining the latest Wall Street fiasco or bank merger in a simple, easy to understand manner.

“‘I’ve always thought of business reporting as just numbers and financial transactions, which is extremely boring,’ Nick Musumeci, sophomore journalism major, said. ‘But Sloan had a good way of dumbing it down and making these terms and issues interesting to me. He used some good analogies that regular people can understand. For example, I’m a sports fan, and he used batting average in baseball to show how well a company’s stock is doing. He spoke clearly and was very relatable.'”

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