Here is my list, in descending order, of the top 10 events in business journalism in the first half of 2006. It’s been quite an interesting time, so let’s recap:
10. New Fed chief Ben Bernanke talks to CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo at White House Correspondents’ dinner. Bernanke told Bartiromo at the dinner in late April that the market had misinterpreted his remarks about inflation. Bartiromo dutifully reported the remarks on television the following Monday, causing the market to drop. Some criticized Bartiromo for interviweing Bernanke during a social event, but others criticized Bernanke for talking. Still, the event showed the power of information from the business media.
8. Newsweek biz editor returns to New York Times. In a sign that the magazine is scaling back its business coverage, business editor Adam Bryant left the magazine in April to return to the Times, where he had been a reporter. Bryant started at the beginning of May to oversee coverage of auto, airline and defense industries. Bryant’s departure, along with others who have left, signaled a de-emphasis on business coverage.
7. New York Times to sell ads on front of business section. Executive Editor Bill Keller announced the decision in June, could potentially set off a wave of similar decisions at other papers and lessen the news hole for business coverage. The Boston Globe, which is owned by the Times, is said to be considering a similar move. First stock listings get cut, and now this.
6. Financial Week’s inaugural issue. The new publication from Crain Communications will serve a niche in the business journalism market by catering to CFOs and others involved with all sorts of financial aspects of the corporate world. But the launch in early June was not without problems. An editor hired to oversee the publication departed, and the weekly newspaper is now seeking a new editor.
4. Post-Dispatch biz reporter to start ShareSleuth.com. Former St. Louis Post-Dispatch business reporter Christopher Carey left the paper in June to start an investigative business journalism news Web site. But what raised eyebrows was the fact that the site is being funded by billionaire Mark Cuban, who says that he will invest in the stocks mentioned in the reporting before the stories are published. The move raised ethical concerns among many in the business journalism community.
2. Overstock’s Patrick Byrne attacks the business press. Byrne, the leader of Internet retailer Overstock.com, has been on the warpath against business journalists. In January, he posted on the Internet interviews that he had done with reporters from BusinessWeek and the New York Post. Since then, he has been attacking other business journalists, including Marketwatch’s Herb Greenberg, accusing them of being in bed with short sellers attempting to drive down the price of his company’s stock. The SEC stepped in and actually subpoenaed three journalists, but the agency has not enforced them yet. Does Byrne’s aggressive tactics signal a new era in the relationship between business journalists and corporate leaders?
And now, from the home office in Chapel Hill, N.C., the top business journalism event in the first half of 2006:
1. The demise of stock listings in daily newspapers. More than 50 newspapers have now announced that they have cut their stock listings dramatically in their business sections. Among the papers to have dropped stock pages are the New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Rocky Mountain News, Orange County Register and Orlando Sentinel. In some cases, such as the Cincinnati Enquirer, the move led to the loss of a stand-along business section. I fear that such moves, while they do save paper’s on newsprint costs, are short-sighted, alienate older readers, and force younger readers to get their financial information online.
Want to quibble with my rankings, or my exclusion of any other events in the first six months? Post a reply.
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View Comments
"Does Byrne’s aggressive tactics signal ...."
Ummm....
Sorry to side with the Powers That Be here, but the cut in stock listings is long overdue. With the Internet, financial news (well, maybe, when Lou Dobbs takes a bathroom break) on cable and full national circulation of financial newspapers, there are plenty of places to get detailed information. Older folks -- surprise, newspaper editors! -- use the 'Net, and getting business information is a large reason why they make the jump to online. And do you really believe that younger investors, with their tech savvy and Blackberries and online trading, really use those pages and pages of agate listings?
The loss of stand-alone sections is a minus, but how many of those contained yards of wire copy chosen by bored copy desks or business "editors" plucked from the general-reporting staff? Did we get good business reporting or a bunch of profiles/features and annual "well, now that it's [insert tired old season/holiday/state fair] time again" pieces?
At least the number-one slot on the list actually dealt with a trend, which is more than I can say about the NYT/Beltway-centric stuff that preceded it, which looked more like the New York Post's Page 6 with a navy-blue suit and wingtips.
I absolutely agree with Chris' No. 1 ranking. The move to slice stock listings is ageist, racist and a critical landmark in the death of local newspaper content. Publishers may be patting themselves on the back for saving newsprint while they continue to turn their product into showcases for wire copy, but what they're doing is accellerating their obsolescence. Newspapers are tangible objects, and when the amount of useful content in readers' hands continues to shrink, well, there's just no point to buying it anymore, is there?
--LH