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Workshop Registration
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
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The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
Hooked on Kindle
By Chris Roush
Tracking the Business Behind the Tomato
By Jonathan Higuera
Five Questions with Bill Choyke
By Jonathan Higuera
Finding the Economy's Silver Lining
By Dick Weiss
Double Whammy: Oil and Housing
By Jennifer Hopfinger
New Ventures Need Depth to Gain This Reader's Time
By Chris Roush
Oct. 1, 2007
Read the latest headlines, and you’ll see new formats for business journalism popping up.
The Fox Business Network launches Oct. 15. The Wall Street Journal says it will start an upscale business magazine called Pursuits next month. Conde Nast Portfolio’s third issue hit the newsstands last week.
I like it when the business journalism field expands. It means more jobs and more stories, as well as more exposure.
But there’s something disquieting about all of these new ventures – the content.
Fox Business Network says it’s going to focus on success stories and news for consumers, and I have no problem with that. Pursuits wants to focus on the lifestyles of the rich. While that’s not a topic I’m interested in, I’m sure someone out there is, right?
Portfolio has been aiming for the high-income reader as well with stories about culture and society, although I have to admit the story about Chiquita making payments to paramilitary outfits in Latin America is the type of business journalism that gets my juices going. There were other articles of a similar ilk in the October issue.
And to me, that’s the problem. When new business journalism ventures start, they should focus on these bread and butter types of stories that drive core readers. I’m talking about the untold stories about companies and people and how they make money and what they do with that money.
Sometimes, it involves doing stories that no one else has thought about doing or wants to do. It might involve some in-depth reporting that draws attention to the media outlet.
I’m beginning to see more and more of that type of business journalism in Portfolio, and it’s drawing me into its pages for longer periods of reading time each month.
I fear that Fox Business Network and Pursuits – based on what has been announced about their content – won’t be practicing the same type of business journalism.
Sure, there’s a place for success stories, business news for the average consumer and journalism about the lives of the rich and powerful. But if that’s all these outlets do, then I’m afraid others will follow.
And that could mean less of the business journalism that makes the field so great.
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Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
By Chris Roush
Tracking the Business Behind the Tomato
By Jonathan Higuera
Five Questions with Bill Choyke
By Jonathan Higuera
Finding the Economy's Silver Lining
By Dick Weiss
Double Whammy: Oil and Housing
By Jennifer Hopfinger
New Ventures Need Depth to Gain This Reader's Time
By Chris Roush
Oct. 1, 2007
Read the latest headlines, and you’ll see new formats for business journalism popping up.
The Fox Business Network launches Oct. 15. The Wall Street Journal says it will start an upscale business magazine called Pursuits next month. Conde Nast Portfolio’s third issue hit the newsstands last week.
I like it when the business journalism field expands. It means more jobs and more stories, as well as more exposure.
But there’s something disquieting about all of these new ventures – the content.
Fox Business Network says it’s going to focus on success stories and news for consumers, and I have no problem with that. Pursuits wants to focus on the lifestyles of the rich. While that’s not a topic I’m interested in, I’m sure someone out there is, right?
Portfolio has been aiming for the high-income reader as well with stories about culture and society, although I have to admit the story about Chiquita making payments to paramilitary outfits in Latin America is the type of business journalism that gets my juices going. There were other articles of a similar ilk in the October issue.
And to me, that’s the problem. When new business journalism ventures start, they should focus on these bread and butter types of stories that drive core readers. I’m talking about the untold stories about companies and people and how they make money and what they do with that money.
Sometimes, it involves doing stories that no one else has thought about doing or wants to do. It might involve some in-depth reporting that draws attention to the media outlet.
I’m beginning to see more and more of that type of business journalism in Portfolio, and it’s drawing me into its pages for longer periods of reading time each month.
I fear that Fox Business Network and Pursuits – based on what has been announced about their content – won’t be practicing the same type of business journalism.
Sure, there’s a place for success stories, business news for the average consumer and journalism about the lives of the rich and powerful. But if that’s all these outlets do, then I’m afraid others will follow.
And that could mean less of the business journalism that makes the field so great.
Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism