Categories: OLD Media Moves

The BusinessWeek blues

Former BusinessWeek writer Gary Weiss notes the lower morale and other problems with his alma mater due to the departure of AME Paul Barrett in a post on his blog.

Weiss wrote, “Rumblings out of BW tell me that the staff is not crazy about its new redesign and showcasing of ‘celebrity’ columnists, and that readers aren’t charmed by the changes either. Nor advertisers, apparently.

“Obviously Barrett is unfazed by the onset of Rupert Murdoch at the Journal. And why not? Despite the expressions of angst from many quarters, including this one, there’s no indication that the Journal will jettison its franchise of investigative reporting and meaty narratives.

“Business Week, on the other hand, has lost advertisers, and issues are substantially thinner than they were during the magazine’s heyday in the 1990s. Less advertising means less editorial copy, and that is a toxic combination for text-heavy investigative reporting.”

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.