The business of business journalism

Derek Thompson, a staff writer for TheAtlantic.com, has some fun Tuesday with a recent Onion business news story that was extremely vague.

Thompson writes, “But there’s no reason why economic news has to be so nebulous or boring. Business journalism — in print and on TV — needs more clear journalism that says: Here’s what it’s all about, in English. Journalists are generally fixated on the next turn of the wheel in an ongoing business story, but it’s often valuable to step back and describe the wheel, and why the wheel in the first place.

“The big picture of economic stories eludes a news audience. During the health care debate, for example, I recall a lot of people who could cite the slogans and jokes (Death Panels, ‘You lie,’ socialism, hands off my government Medicare, etc) but say very little about the actual bill — what an exchange was, for example, and why they should even care.

“Who’s to blame? Nobody and everybody, I guess. It’s easier for both hosts and audiences to debate bumper-stickers than bills. In fact, you could argue that some important parts of the health care debate — in particular, end-of-life-care — got more attention, some of it useful, because the Death Panels bumper-sticker made for such a sexy newspeg for discussing the actual bill.

“The challenge is how to find the sweet spot between sexy and contexty. I don’t have a definitive answer to that challenge.”

Read more here.