What experience do biz reporters have with business?

New York Times business editor Larry Ingrassia responds to a reader’s questions about whether the workers on its business desk have actual business experience.

Ingrassia wrote, “The Internet has changed our comfortable business model. Many papers are slashing their staffs. A few have even closed, or become online only publications. I firmly believe The Times will thrive, because we’ve embraced the Web — hey, Talk to the Newsroom is just one of many things we do online that we couldn’t easily do in print! — and we continue to do the kind of quality journalism that it’s hard to get in many other places. But, make no mistake, these are difficult times, and they give us a better insight than ever into what people in other troubled industries are going through.

“I actually don’t know how many of my reporters have business or economic degrees, or experience working in other businesses. Some definitely do — I’ve got some M.B.A.s and some lawyers on the Business Day staff. But you don’t need that to be a great business reporter. You need smarts and curiosity and persistence and, yes, passion, to find out what is going on and tell it in a compelling way that brings the news to life and shows what it means to people and why it matters.”

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