Why regional newspapers are cutting business coverage; how to fix it

Newspapers’ business sections typically have been edited and written by journalists who love the big national stories and are too lazy to dig out the local stories. That newspapers are cutting business coverage is discussed by Ken Doctor over at Content Bridges. Hat tip to SeekingAlpha.com.

Most business journalists are liberals, and they go for the negative, scandal story over the positive profile of a local employer or industry sector such as printers, agribusiness firms, bankers, Realtors, etc. Even worse, local business sections pander to advertisters such as retailers, auto dealers, Realtors, home builders and supermarkets. Coverage of those advertisers is 95% puff and 5% news. This saps their credibility as business news sources.

Creating a successful business section is not that hard. Just cover the local markets and employers. Report on contracts municipalities have up for bid. Report the winners and losers in local and state government contracting. Report on both publicly-owned and privately-held local employers, investor-owned, not-for-profits and nonprofits. Cover local charities as businesses and employers as well as do gooders. Make local CEOs of all types of organizations high-profile personalities, reporting on their failures as well as their successes. Cover the rumors. Rumors sell papers. Readers sell advertising. Increased advertising would pay for the labor-intensive coverage.

The problem with most newspapers is that they’re run by sales people (publishers) who hire lousy editors and skimp on the editorial product.

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