The Economist launches online debates

PRWeek reports that The Economist has started an online debate series designed to drive traffic to its web site.

PRWeek wrote, “The title hopes a significant number of its 3 million Web site visitors will follow the debates and vote, said Ben Edwards, publisher of the Economist.com.

“The Economist is working with SparkPR, which reached influential bloggers, like Buzz Machine and Mashable, high-profile guest participants, like Education Week, and related supporter groups, said Spark CEO Alan Soucy.

“The communications goal is to promote The Economist’s position on elevated conversation, reason, intelligence, and clarity with social media, Edwards said.”

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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.