Tag Archives: Commentary
Rubin: Blame the biz media
by Chris Roush
Former Treasury secretary Robert Rubin blamed the business media for the current economic issues in the United States in a talk at an Aspen, Colo.-based ideas conference.
Sarah McBride of Reuters writes, “Rubin still believes the media could do more to explain issues, particularly when it comes to the fiscal crisis.
“‘There’s been a massive communications failure by your party’ in explaining budget issues, on-stage interviewer and Reuters digital editor Chrystia Freeland said.
“‘There’s been a massive communications failure by your profession,’ Rubin shot right back. The two joshed for a few seconds about whether the blame should be 50-50 or 80-20.
“Rubin, who after leaving the Clinton administration joined Citigroup as a board member and served temporarily as its chair before eventually resigning in early 2009 after his performance was criticized, still hasn’t given up on his dream of finding some philanthropist mogul to somehow save the day.”
Read more here.
Florida biz columnist resigns to become mayor’s PR director
by Chris Roush
The business columnist at the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, Fla., has resigned to become the communications director of the mayor-elect of the city.
Abel Harding, a blogger and a former bank executive in the Jacksonville area, was named a business columnist for the Florida Times-Union in October 2009. He wrote weekly columns and a daily blog on business issues facing Northeast Florida.
Before entering journalism, Harding was a commercial lender at IronStone Bank, and an assistant vice president at AmSouth Bank and SouthTrust Bank.
Harding is a graduate of Southern Illinois University
The news was reported Thursday by Mike Marino of the Times-Union.
Planet Money story on economic development agencies failed
by Chris Roush
Edward Schumacher-Matos, the new ombudsman at NPR, writes about a recent “Planet Money” story on economic development agencies that didn’t have the facts to support its conclusions.
Schumacher-Matos writes, “A central example is seen when Davidson said: ‘This is what drove me crazy about this conference, actually about the whole profession of economic development. They are not creating jobs. They are just moving jobs around.’
“This is an underlying theme to the whole piece and leads Davidson to observe about communities across the country: ‘Now we have this race to bottom: Who can cut back government services the most? Who can eliminate the most regulation?’
“These are breathtaking conclusions. But they were unsupported by the story. My experience is that most economists would say that Davidson’s sweeping statements are critically insightful, but only partly true. And indeed, in other contexts, the story alluded to the work of economic developers in attracting foreign companies, in attracting expansion of domestic companies and in nurturing start-ups — all of which sprout jobs. To the extent that companies improve their productivity by moving from one locale to another, jobs also can be created.
“Whether a ‘race to the bottom’ is really underway, meanwhile, was only glossed over. Something like that seems to be happening, but unmentioned was whether the process also forces an opposite, positive reaction. The competition may be forcing communities to improve schools, technical training, parks, transportation, land use and the like in order to foment business, to wide benefit.”
Read more here.
Pearlstein’s column to change
by Chris Roush
Washington Post business columnist Steven Pearlstein, who is leaving the paper’s full-time employment to teach at George Mason University, writes about how his future column for the Post will be different than his current.
Pearlstein writes, “This is my last weekday column for The Post and nearly my last as a Post employee. After more than 23 years as an editor, a reporter and a columnist, I’m about to take up a new career as a professor at George Mason University, where I’ll explore new ways to teach basic economic principles to 
undergraduates. In recent years, there’s been a widespread recognition that too many people have graduated without the economic literacy that they now require to do their jobs, manage their lives and participate in a democracy as informed citizens. I like to think I’ve helped to address that problem, along with many other business and economic journalists, but the evidence of our success is spotty. At GMU, I’ll be taking a different approach to the same challenge.
“I’ll continue to write a weekly column for The Post’s Sunday Business section, in which the focus will be on the companies, industries and markets where interesting and exciting things are happening in spite of the increasingly stale and partisan debates on economic policy here in Washington. Although economic policy is important, I’ve never bought the idea that the economy is a machine whose operation is controlled by powerful men twirling dials and pulling levers in corner offices in Washington and on Wall Street. In reality, it’s more complicated, unpredictable and fun than that.
“So while others are doing the necessary work of chasing after the latest budget deal or commenting on the latest outrage from the presidential debate, I’ll look to reconnect with the people, companies and competitive dynamics that drive the economy — local, national and global. Although the subjects and the angle of view may be different, I trust you’ll find the same open-minded curiosity, passion and edgy candor. The transition may get a bit rocky and I may be unable to resist the occasional policy screed, but I hope you’ll continue to tag along each Sunday, in print or online.”
Read more here.
The war between PR and biz journalists
by Chris Roush
MG Siegler of TechCrunch has a post about how public relations people, particularly those at Facebook, try to discount stories where the angle is not what they wanted by trying to get other business journalists to write a different story.
Siegler writes, “There’s currently something going on in the outskirts of the tech world that’s a bit sensitive, so no one really likes to talk about it: we (journalists, bloggers, etc) are at war with the PR industry.
“That sentence alone will throw the PR flacks into a tizzy. ‘Hyperbole!’ ‘Sexy statement, no substance!’ ‘Don’t believe everything you read!’ And all the other bullshit they typically spew to blunt interesting concepts into dull, gray PR-friendly dribble. We are at war.
“And no, this isn’t about dumbass embargoes (though that remains a huge problem that the PR industry doesn’t seem to have any real interest in solving). This goes deeper.
“The fact of the matter is that the entire PR industry is like a weed growing out of control. Current estimates have PR people now outnumbering journalists 3 to 1. Think about that for a second. And one of the industries in which this infectious growth is most apparent is the tech industry, where it’s boom time. My email inbox is a testament to this. As is my voicemail inbox. I’d bet that at least 75 percent of the messages I get in the day are from PR people. Their campaign strategy in this war is shock and awe.
“Now, I don’t mean to suggest that all PR people are evil or have the wrong intentions. Many are very nice people. And some are even very good at what they do. But increasingly what they do is nothing more than attempt to spin or grossly misrepresent what it is we do. For many of them, helping journalists/bloggers/writers get access to accurate information is secondary. It’s all about controlling a narrative — by any means necessary. And that has to stop.”
Read more here.
The value of financial journalism to traders
by Chris Roush
Tom Groenfeldt of Forbes.com writes Thursday about the value of financial journalism to the markets after listening to Joe Lanza, the president of Dow Jones Financial Markets, speak at the SIFMA securities industry conference about the work of its 100 journalists.
Groenfeldt writes, “Some news, such as unemployment figures and the consumer price index, is relatively easy to distribute in numerical terms. But for company news, Dow Jones is working with sentiment which it tries to measure in terms of positive, negative or neutral depending on words used and where they occur in the story.
“‘Companies will often bury certain information in tables.’ Readers no doubt will be shocked to learn that such behavior occurs in financial reporting but apparently it does.
“Since Dow Jones has been around awhile, it has an archive of 40 years of every story that has been published the Wall Street Journal, on the wire, and in Barron’s — so clients can back test to their hearts’ content. It is also adding 15,000 items per day from its current reporting.
“One result is that the percentage of firms making some use of unstructured data has grown from around 5 percent in 2008 to over 30 percent. That suggests firms are still learning to use it. Lanza said they might develop trading strategies that work around numbers — if the CPI increases a certain percent then trading engines would sell one part of the market and buy another. If the number hits a different marker, it could generate a different trading strategy.”
Read more here.
Financial Times launches new commentary section
by Chris Roush
The Financial Times has launched a new commentary section called the A-List that will feature high-profile columnists such as former Treasury secretary Larry Summers.
The launch comes less than a month after Bloomberg LP launched its commentary section called Bloomberg View.
An item on the FT’s website states, “Starting on Monday June 13, the FT A-List will publish exclusive and original daily comment from its network of globally renowned leaders, policymakers and commentators. Topics will range from economics and finance to world politics and diplomacy, with the headline commentary accompanied by at least one response from a related expert.
“To mark the launch Lawrence H. Summers will write the first of a series of monthly columns appearing in the FT addressing the crisis of America’s jobless recovery. Nouriel Roubini will then launch the A-List commentary addressing the eurozone’s prospects. Readers will be able to participate in the debate and comment online.
“The A-List includes financier and philanthropist George Soros, chief executive of Pimco Mohamed El-Erian, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Jim O’Neill, political scientist Francis Fukuyama, professor of politics Anne-Marie Slaughter and former EU trade commissioner Peter Mandelson.”
Read more here.
Chicago Trib media columnist to begin writing general column
by Chris Roush
Phil Rosenthal, who has written a media column for the Chicago Tribune business section, will now write a more general-interest business column.
Associate managing editor for business Michael Lev wrote in an e-mail to the staff:
Phil is nationally recognized for his writing talent, wit and ability to analyze media trends. Those skills will serve him well as he takes on his new role, continuing a rich tradition at the Tribune of providing our readers with an array of columnist voices on different subjects.
Along with the splendid reporting and writing that our business staff provides every day, I’m certain Phil’s contribution is going to help take us to the next level.
We’ll make an announcement in the coming days on media beat coverage.
Please join me in congratulating Phil on his new assignment.
Read more here.
How Google tries to manipulate the biz media
by Chris Roush
Ben Jacklet of Oregon Business magazine writes Thursday about how Google’s PR team has tried to get free publicity from the business media for its new Groupon-like venture.
Jacklet writes, “The problem with Google is, for all of its laudable ideals about open access to information, the company is exceedingly closed with its own information. Google controls its corporate PR just as 
zealously as do Monsanto and ExxonMobil. When the news story involves the marketing launch of a new Google product, the information flows freely from company to journalist to the web, where it is searched for and found through Google. When the news story involves electricity use at a Google server farm, user privacy concerns, or other less promotional subjects, Google does not comment, and the information flows less freely, if at all.
“The pitch I received the other day from Google was really a marketing ploy. It was not a news story. This fact was verified the following day, when a Google rep showed up at our office with free cookies from the coffee shop being used to launch the new Google product in Portland (I turned him away). News stories generally don’t come with free cookies. PR blitzes do. The one specific question I asked the Google PR rep about Google’s coupon deal involved revenue sharing between the local business and Google. How exactly does this arrangement work, and how does it differ from Groupon? Didn’t get an answer.
“As a business journalist, I spend a lot of time dodging PR campaigns disguised as news stories. When it’s Google calling, my interest perks up. Perhaps we will finally get some relevant information about Google’s August 2010 purchase of Instantiations and the resulting work being done in Portland. Or the server farm in The Dalles. Or exciting new open source initiatives in Oregon. No such luck. The last news story Google shared with Oregon journalists involved Google Hotpot, the company’s response to the success of Yelp”
Biz media fails to provide Icahn context
by Chris Roush
TheStreet.com media critic Marek Fuchs comments about how the business media doesn’t mention corporate raider Carl Icahn’s mixed record of investing in companies.