Union: No one at WSJ being encouraged to accept buyout offer
The Independent Association of Publishers’ Employees, the union that represents business journalists at The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, posted the following clarification about the recent buyouts being offered to More »
LA Biz Journal hires two new reporters
The Los Angeles Business Journal has hired two new reporters for its staff, according to an email from managing editor Jonathan Diamond. Kay Chinn, a recent graduate of master’s program at USC’s More »
The great and powerful Jon Hilsenrath
Barbara Kollmeyer of Marketwatch.com writes about recent coverage of the Federal Reserve Board. Kollmeyer writes, “After all the seriousness about the Fed meeting that kicks off Tuesday, Ed Yardeni, chief investment strategist More »
The six Fed reporters who can make the market go crazy
Steven Perlberg lists for Business Insider the six Federal Reserve reporters who can make the markets go crazy. His top four are: 1. Jon Hilsenrath, The Wall Street Journal; 2. Greg Ip, The More »
Florida biz journal hires managing editor
Timothy Gibbons, business editor at the Times-Union, is leaving to become managing editor at the Jacksonville Business Journal. Kate Howard Perry of the Times-Union writes, “Gibbons has been with the Times-Union for More »
Covering Bernanke at Congress
by Liz Hester
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke appeared before a Congressional hearing on Wednesday and the headlines he made were decidedly different across the various national media covering his remarks.
First, the Wall Street Journal story, which ran with the headline “Bernanke: Bond Buys Could Slow at ‘Next Few Meetings’” and focused on the Fed’s ending of economic stimulus:
Apple and those pesky tax laws
by Liz Hester
Apple CEO Tim Cook was in the spotlight Tuesday while being grilled by a Senate committee on Apple’s payment (or lack thereof) of taxes. The company is accused of using overseas accounts to hold cash, making it exempt from U.S. taxes, something the executive strongly denied.
From the Wall Street Journal:
BuzzFeed business news wants to be scoops
by Chris Roush
BuzzFeed‘s business news strategy is to focus on breaking news but focusing on the areas where it believes it can cover the news better than others, said its business editor in an interview on Tuesday.
“Business news is scoops,” said Peter Lauria. “That’s how you get readers. That’s how you get noticed. That’s how you get mentioned.”
Companies review health plans
by Liz Hester
The Wall Street Journal had an interesting and important piece on how employers, especially those with lower-earning workforces, are looking to provide coverage in order to comply with the Affordable Care Act.
Here are some of the details of what companies are considering:
Frankie Flack: The comedy of PR and media conversations
by Frankie Flack
In the great comedy sketch “Who’s on First” two comedians, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, go back and forth in a wonderfully written piece where the two performers struggle to understand the names of the players on a St. Louis baseball team.
Hearing the patient Costello inform a confused and irritated Costello the names of players are “who,” “what” and “I don’t know” reminds me of some conversations often had between PR people and reporters.
Spending $1.1 billion to save Yahoo
by Liz Hester
Yahoo Inc. is going to spend $1.1 billion in cash to purchase blogging site Tumblr, which has yet to make money. It’s a bold move, especially for the closely watched CEO Marissa Mayer.
Here are a few of the details and rational for the deal from the Wall Street Journal story:
Why we care about Wal-Mart earnings
by Liz Hester
With Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reporting “disappointing” earnings Thursday, it’s easy to shrug it off as not that big a deal. Many of Wal-Mart’s core customers continue to struggle in the current economy, making details about sales an interesting window into the broader U.S. situation.
Here are a few earnings details from the Wall Street Journal:
Where’s the economy going?
by Liz Hester
Stocks rose on Wednesday despite the poor manufacturing numbers that fell for April. There was also mediocre news about the European economic recovery.
So, what are business journalists making of the stock market and how to cover such a seemingly large disconnect?
Justice Department obtains AP phone records
by Liz Hester
In the next breaking scandal, the Justice Department seized phone records from nearly 20 reporters at the Associated Press.
Here are some of the details from National Public Radio:
Yes, I once drank the Bloomberg Kool-Aid
by Chris Roush
National Public Radio’s David Folkenflik interviewed me Monday afternoon about the culture at Bloomberg News that would allow reporters to access personal information about some of its clients — the main crux of the scandal that has now enveloped the company.
You can listen to Folkenflik’s segment from “All Things Considered” here. You’ll get a couple of clips from our talk.
IRS scandal and the aftermath
by Liz Hester
While many in the business news world have been chasing the story of Bloomberg reporters using functions to track subscribers, there’s another scandal looming that could have a broader impact for the nation. The Internal Revenue Service is now being investigated for actions it may have taken against conservative causes.
Here are some of the details from the Wall Street Journal:
Three Reuters editors reprimanded for not disclosing FBI visit
by Chris Roush
Three Reuters editors have been reprimanded for failing to tell their superiors that the home of a now-terminated social media employee had been raided by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Talking Biz News has confirmed from multiple sources.
Kenneth Li is no longer global editor of Reuters.com, while social media editor Anthony De Rosa and editor Robert MacMillan were given letters of reprimand. All three are still working at the company.
G-7 avoids confrontation with Japan
by Liz Hester
While all the international conferences on money may seem a bit over-covered and like they don’t have much influence, each business news outlet tends to focus on different parts of their talks. It’s important to cover meetings when the seven largest economies get together to discuss monetary policy. But what’s more interesting is what the reporters and editors think is most important – and how often that focus differs.
Here’s the lead from the Wall Street Journal:
Falcone reaches SEC agreement in inside baseball story
by Liz Hester
In a made for New York-only story, hedge fund manger Phillip Falcone is settling with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
It’ll only cost him two years of his career. Here are some of the details from the Bloomberg story:
Abelson could move stock prices
by Chris Roush
The writer who critiqued Wall Street and companies the most during the last 30 years of the 20th century was Alan Abelson of Barron’s, whose death at age 87 was announced on Thursday.
While the stock market rose to new heights for most of the 1990s, Abelson criticized the run-up on almost a weekly basis. Unfortunately, many investors ignored his rants.
Reflecting on one year in business journalism
by Chris Roush
Jessica Seaman covers energy, Dillard’s Inc., Windstream Corp. and Acxiom Corp. for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
She joined the Democrat-Gazette in May 2012 after graduating from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s in journalism and history.
Covering the changing retail landscape
by Liz Hester
After the fire in a Bangladesh garment factory killed hundreds, several business news outlets have turned to covering where clothing comes from and the real costs of how it’s made.
The Wall Street Journal reported that retailers are having trouble sourcing clothing that’s made to higher standards:
What’s wrong with Windows 8?
by Liz Hester
Microsoft executives were unusually candid with reporters about the growing pains of it new Windows 8 operating system. As always when a large company’s future is being staked on a specific product, it’s progress generates coverage.
Here’s the story from the Wall Street Journal:
Mortgages are back in the news again
by Liz Hester
There were several stories Monday featuring Bank of America and the continued legal battles about the role the firm played in the mortgage meltdown.
On the positive side, the bank entered into a settlement agreement with MBIA over mortgage securities, eliminating a large legal risk for both firms.
Getting lit up: How PR people become the story
by Frankie Flack
Every now and then my email will suddenly become inundated with emails from friends and colleagues in the PR industry all emailing me one story. Before evening opening any one of these notes I know exactly what the content of the story will be — a story featuring some PR person doing something stupid.
Sometimes it’s just poor a quote or subtle reference to tension between PR and reporter but most likely it’s a full story focused squarely on something a PR person did to irk a reporter. For an industry dedicated to speaking with reporters on a daily basis, it’s a little ironic how paranoid we can be about ending up in a media story. I wonder if the people who juggle flaming sticks are equally amazed when someone in their field inadvertently sets themselves on fire.