Categories: OLD Media Moves

Welcome to In-N-Out Burger, may I take your order?

Arizona Daily Star business editor Tim Steller explained Friday on a blog why the paper covered the opening of In-N-Out Burger so thoroughly.

Steller wrote, “There’s a pretty simple answer: Many readers care.

“Yes, it seems irrational. But we’ve discovered from writing about In-N-Out’s plans for Tucson that a sizable group of readers cares intensely about the joint. Most importantly, they’ve wanted to know: When will it open and where? So, we did our best to tell them, and then to cover it when it happened.

When In-N-Out opened, hundreds of cars were waiting in the drive-thru line (even running out of gas!), while hundreds more people stood in line. That supported our decision to cover the opening intensely. We’re not in a position to ignore business news that people care so intensely about. We must cover it, even if it is an irrational phenomenon.

“Some readers have also questioned why we don’t cover local small businesses as intensely. The fact of the matter is, we do cover local small business frequently and deeply. Look at today’s Business for one example. Look at Sunday’s main story for another example, or go to our small business resource page for more examples. Keep reading Business and see.”

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.

Recent Posts

NY Times taps Searcey to cover wealth and power

New York Times metro editor Nestor Ramos sent out the following on Friday: We are delighted to…

2 hours ago

The evolution of the WSJ beyond finance

Rahat Kapur of Campaign looks at the evolution The Wall Street Journal. Kapur writes, "The transformation…

17 hours ago

Silicon Valley Biz Journal seeks a reporter

This position will be Hybrid in the office/market 3 days per week, and those days…

17 hours ago

Economist’s Bennet, WSJ’s Morrow receive awards

The Fund for American Studies presented James Bennet of The Economist with the Kenneth Y. Tomlinson Award…

1 day ago

WSJ is testing AI-generated article summaries

The Wall Street Journal is experimenting with AI-generated article summaries that appear at the top…

1 day ago

Cohen joining Bloomberg Tax

Zach Cohen is joining Bloomberg Tax to cover the fiscal cliff and tax issues on…

1 day ago