What's "pro-business" coverage?

The River Cities’ Reader newspaper in Iowa rolled out its first “business issue” of the publication, and Todd McGreevy writes in the paper that it has often been accused of being “anti-business” or “anti-growth.”

McGreevy wrote, “The Reader has developed and published hundreds of stories related to the business community with the same passion that it has for the arts and culture community. In fact, from 1993 to 2003 cover stories have had a business or economy theme 18 percent of the time, with arts- and culture-themed cover stories coming in second place at 16 percent. Government- and politics-themed stories were third with 13 percent.

“Our business and economy coverage has included predatory lending; city economic-development controversies such as 53rd and Eastern; the Moline public library; casino expansion plans; downtown development; suburban, rural, and urban housing developments; mass transit; utilities; telecommunications; workforce attraction and retention; historic tax credits; business organizations such as DavenportOne, the Illinois Quad City Chamber of Commerce, and the Quad City Development Group; public television; energy; and the environment.

“So, if you have been following the Reader’s business coverage over the past 13 years, you know our 1,000-word-plus articles all have a point of view informed by reporting that strives to give the reader a thorough and thoughtful discovery of each topic’s pros and cons and – whenever possible – a voice to both fans and critics. And readers certainly aren’t looking to the Reader for the ubiquitous ‘business profile’ or ‘feature story’ that was so obviously published because of the display ad from the same company on the same or adjacent page.

“We refer to this style of ‘journalism’ as ‘advertorial,’ while others refer to it as ‘good news’-style reporting. So, what’s wrong with this ‘good news’ approach to reporting? Everything, if you claim to provide anything close to journalism or news. Everything, if there is a desire to elevate our community above mediocrity and near-zero population growth. The ‘good news’ model buffers a perception but does not necessarily support a reality. When the Reader raises questions and discusses shortcomings, it is with an intent to improve our community and exploring alternatives.”

Read more here.