Business journalism and the nut graph

There is probably nothing more squandered in business journalism than the nut graph. And as what is arguably the most important money event of the year is about to hit, the business press as a whole is likely to do it again. The nut graph: That’s the paragraph where you tell people why the story […]

An over-reliance on events is bad for business journalism

PandoDaily founder Sarah Lacy writes that media operations that rely too much on events to bring in revenue are hurting themselves. Lacy writes, “An over-reliance on the events business is hollowing out American Journalism — maybe at a faster rate than even sponsored content has managed to. In the process, it’s killing what was a […]

Style drift in business journalism

Seen any style drift lately? Yes you have. And you’re likely to see more. Style drift? It’s the term that applies when a business news service covers a story that isn’t really business news. Remember that white dress/blue dress debate? All the biz majors – text, digital, and TV — were on top of that […]

The business news cycles that keep a media mogul awake

If you’re a news mogul, you need to keep an eye on turf fights, especially among your platforms. Why? Well, TV producers want people watching TV all the time. Web folks want people clicking all the time. Radio and podcasters want people listening all the time. So the platforms compete. It’s noticeable in news media […]

The problem with small business news coverage

“Hi, I’m a small business owner.” Does anybody introduce themselves like that at a party? Airport bar? School picnic? No. It’s “I’m in shoes” or “I’m a restauranteur” or “I do software consulting.”* Yet business news outfits insist on covering small businesses as, well, “small business.” And, in large part, they fail; no huge audience […]

WSJ seeks personal finance columnist in New York

The Wall Street Journal is seeking a columnist to cover personal finance from New York. The successful candidate will be the leading voice on personal finance matters in print and online, have a deep knowledge of personal finance, an eye for spotting news and a proven ability in writing insightful and engaging columns that would […]

The issues with covering Trump and his net worth

Timothy O’Brien of Bloomberg View, who wrote a book about Donald Trump, writes about the difficulties in covering the net worth of the Republican presidential candidate’s net worth, which Trump pegged at $10 billion. O’Brien writes, “But Donald had no idea how hard it was to get this right! On a single day in August […]

The pros/cons of pitching biz reporters through social media

At public relations firms specializing in financial services, it’s a good rule of thumb — and often suggested — that PR practitioners also start following relevant business reporters for their clients on Twitter. New PR pros thus glean insight into the daily activity of reporters, including their drinking habits, hobbies, when they ace a Buzzfeed […]

Why “ticker packing” is a danger to business journalism

Have you bumped into any “ticker packing” lately? Probably not, thankfully. But we might start seeing it more in the hot new sales sector: Video. (Deep sigh). “Ticker packing” is the practice of jamming as many stock symbols as you can into a story. Why do that? Well, stock symbols are what the major portals […]

Bloomberg, Micklethwait ready new commentary and analysis service

Joe Pompeo of Capital New York profiles new Bloomberg editor in chief John Micklethwait and reports that Bloomberg is getting ready introduce a new platform for commentary and analysis that is expected to be endowed with substantial resources and manpower. Pompeo reports, “Sources familiar with the project likened it to The Financial Times‘ Lex column, […]