Are Newspapers Missing the Mark?

By Chris Roush
Jan. 15, 2008

Sometimes I look at what's happening in business journalism and say to myself: What are they thinking?

First, newspapers cut stock listings from the daily newspaper even though the primary audience for this information are above-50 readers who are unlikely to go to the newspaper's Web site to find this information. Thus, they have alienated one of the main business news audiences out there today.

Second, newspaper owners and managers decided that's not enough, so they cut the standalone business section altogether and place it in the back of sports or metro. Now, they'veconfused the readers they have left as to where business news is located in the paper, which turns off more of them.

Next, these very same newspapers decide that their business news hole has been cut so much that they no longer need to staff the department with a full-time editor or as many reporters.

Business is folded into metro, where the business reporters spend some of their time attending weekend county fairs and calling the local sheriff's office to get info for crime briefs that will run in tomorrow's paper when they could be reading SEC filings trying to uncover the next Enron.

To add the cherry on top, our major business news outlets in recent months have wasted newsprint and on-air time to such "breaking" business news stories as whether a fringe presidential candidate actually experienced a UFO encounter more than two decades ago and the underwear-wearing cowboy who sings in Times Square nearly every day.

Is it any wonder that some media outlets are cutting business coverage when they look at the top of the business news hierarchy and see such stories? I'd be thinking the same thing: Let's run something beside business coverage so we don't embarrass ourselves like those guys.

I'm all for change, and journalism is changing dramatically before our eyes. I firmly believe we will be getting our news differently in a decade than we do today. But for the love of the craft, and for the sake of readers, let's start thinking a bit more clearly, and rationally, about the decisions we're making.

Yes, journalism is a business, and newspapers, magazines and TV stations that cover business have to make money to remain in existence.

When more than half of the U.S. households own stock, no amount of explaining about how much money you're going to save by cutting stock listings, for example, convinces me that you truly have the best interests of your readers in mind when you make such decisions.

Please enter your friend's e-mail address

Please enter your e-mail address

If you would like to include a message, please add it here:

Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism