Yeah, it's Commerce Bancorp. But which one?

Hal Morris writes on the GrumpyEditor.com blog that business journalists need to get the headquarters location of corporations up higher in their stories, especially when the name of the company could be confusing with another business.

Morris wrote, “A Wall Street Journal headline on page 1 of its Money & Investing section on Saturday read:  Commerce Bancorp: A Target?

“That must have stirred customers, staffers and investors of Commerce Bancorp — all 14 of them around the country, including Commerce Bancorp, Berkeley, Ill.; Commerce Bancorp, Greenwood, Miss., and Commerce Bancorp, Duncan, Okla.

“The Journal was referring to the Commerce Bancorp based in Cherry Hill, N.J.  But that wasn’t revealed until the 9th paragraph (in the jump portion) of an 18-paragraph story.

“For some reason, the trend these days seems to call for confusing readers by burying a headquarters location deep into a lengthy text rather than immediately after first mention of a company.”

Read more here.