Categories: OLD Media Moves

The WSJ’s “no surprises” brand of journalism

Jack O’Dwyer writes about how The Wall Street Journal practices “no surprises” journalism in which it gives the subjects of critical stories a chance to respond.

O’Dwyer writes, “The policy was explained to the April 6 meeting of the Arthur W. Page Society by WSJ ‘activism’ reporter David Benoit.

“Some attendees thought what Benoit was saying is that WJS shares stories with subjects before they hit print. That would be a revolution at many media which ‘check facts’ but do not show entire articles to subjects before publication.

“WSJ communications director Steve Severinghaus said in an email that WSJ does not share full articles but it practices ‘no surprises journalism’ which means that ‘subjects are made aware of what we intend to report about them and are given appropriate time to respond to those points.'”

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.