Two problems with business media: Too late and too soft

TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE

Business journalism has two current problems — it’s often late on stories and it writes too many soft features — a media critic argued Tuesday.

“The coverage has definitely improved, but I still see shortcomings,” said Michael Massing, a contributing editor to Columbia Journalism Review, speaking on a panel Tuesday at Columbia University.

Massing was part of a discussion of the newsroom realities in covering the current economic crisis that was part of the “Facing the Fracture” conference held at the School of International and Public Affairs.

Michael Hudson, a resarcher for the Center for Reponsible Lending and a former Wall StreetJournal reporter, agreed with Massing.

“The biggest constraint on the business press is where a reporter and an editor thinks the story is,” said Hudson. “Many CEOs may not really know what’s going on in their company. It’s the mid-level and the low-level sources who really have the best information.”

But Chrystia Freeland, the former U.S. managing editor of The Financial Times recently hired by Reuters, disagreed.

“Part of our job in business journalism is to write for business people,” said Freeland. “Business journalism for a narrow audience is not worse. It’s often better.”

DISCLOSURE: I was part of this panel at Columbia University.