Panicky Markets

By Jonathan Higuera
January 25, 2008 05:56 PM

What a roller coaster week on Wall Street, the kind that can leave a business reporter’s head spinning.

The stock market’s ups and downs garnered all the attention of large national newspapers, which threw their considerable weight into telling the story with detail, context and analysis. But the smaller, regional papers took a more measured approach.

“You have to respond in some way,” said Tony Gnoffo, business editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I see this more as an economy story than a market story…What I try to keep in mind is that the shares my readers are most interested in are those of the companies they work for.”

As the week wore on and the market frenzy seemed to lessen, at least initially, many newspapers increasingly focused local coverage on President Bush’s economic stimulus plan.

As Congress and the White House hashed out a deal, papers picked up their coverage of how the plan would affect readers. They mostly covered how much the average taxpayer might receive and whether the plan would truly stimulate the economy.

The issue even leapt over to blog discussions, where readers commented on how they would spend a refund.

Still, business editors and reporters continued to keep a close eye on the stock market and the Federal Reserve.  

At the Pittsburg Post-Gazette, the emphasis was on everyday investors.

“We’re trying to get a sense from investors about what they are thinking and offer advice on whether they should reorient or not,” said Dan Fitzpatrick, a business staff writer at the paper. “We’ll also go a step beyond the interest rate cuts and try to give people a sense of how the local economy will perform.”

At the Philadelphia Inquirer, Gnoffo’s business team spent time calling local brokers and analysts as well as watching the stock of local public companies. One reporter trailed a stock broker to see if investors were making panicky calls.

Getting local man-on-the-street reaction was pursued by some publications. At The Detroit News, business reporter Louis Aguilar hit the floor of The North American International Auto Show.

“The sense I got is we’ve bottomed out,” he said, noting that Michigan’s economy has already been in a three-year slump. “So for those lucky enough, it could be time to get bargains if they don’t have much debt.”

On the flip side, larger national papers, such as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, naturally took a broader look at the week’s events, relying heavily on thoughts from analysts, economists and even political candidates.

Greg Ip of The Wall Street Journal quoted presidential candidates. In retrospect, perhaps Republican presidential candidate John McCain said it best. “The U.S. economy has proven to be quite resilient. I am concerned about financial market events, but with the right leadership and pro-growth policies, the economy can weather this upheaval.”

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