The changing life of a business journalist

University of Nebraska journalism professor Joe Weber writes about Lynde McCormick, the former business editor of the Christian Science Monitor who also worked for CNBC in Hong Kong before finding a second career.

Weber writes, “An adventurer, he landed a job with CNBC in Hong Kong, a spot he loved. When CNBC pulled the plug in ’96 on its Hong Kong operation and merged with Dow Jones TV in Singapore, Lynde says, he moved back to Boston to serve as business editor at the Monitor’s newspaper. Meantime, his equally adventurous wife, Andrea, started a company that imported Chinese antique furniture.

“Then things got interesting. After a couple of years, he joined her business. The pair drove around the country, towing a trailer and doing antiques shows, as many as three each month. Eight years ago, they opened a gallery in Manhattan, The Han Horse on Lexington Avenue, to market furniture from the late Qing Dynasty (1700-1900) and pottery artifacts from as long ago as 206 BC. They continue to run it, even though the antiques business has been a tough go in recent years.

“By something of a back door, the McCormicks also got into the restaurant business. They backed a friend who opened a spot in the Greenpoint section of Brooklyn and wound up running it when he ran into personal problems. The Brooklyn Label serves espresso drinks that Lynde says are ‘amazingly good.’ It’s gotten some good notices from, for instance, New York Magazine.

“As his career has unfolded, Lynde’s reporting skills have come in handy. ‘I have constantly tried to gather as much information as possible, going to expert sources, listening to what they had to say, and then using the parts that made sense for our restaurant,’ he says. ‘It’s a lot like writing a story – you gather the best information possible and then use your own judgment and intelligence to figure out how to use it.'”

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