Talking Biz News

Information about business
journalism from the
Carolina Business News Initiative.

The Detroit Free Press has written a letter to Wall Street Journal managing editor Robert Thomson, demanding that the business newspaper correct a story in Monday’s paper that stated the Detroit paper ran stories about Medicare because health insurer Humana suggested them and ran advertising next to them.

The letter, posted on Jim Romenesko’s blog, is from editor Paul Anger and senior managing editor Jeff Taylor.

It states, “The article in Monday’s Wall Street Journal did a disservice to the Detroit Free Press. The headline does not characterize how the Free Press newsroom approaches its job. The context of the story suggests that the Free Press somehow compromised its integrity. Several points of fact in the story were just plain wrong.

“Here are the facts, painstakingly spelled out in answers to questions posed by the reporter.

“(1) The idea for the articles published last Sunday in the Free Press about the Medicare enrollment period did not come from Humana, as the article and headline suggest. Humana acknowledges as much in the story. The Free Press expanded its coverage of the issue because the Client Solutions Group at the Detroit Media Partnership was able to sell a special section devoted to the topic. This is not exactly a new concept; newspapers have been arranging adjacency positions for news content and advertising for … decades.”

The letter later notes, “And it would appear the Wall Street Journal did the same with a section it published on Monday, the same day the article about the Free Press appeared. The section was about investing in mutual funds, and it was full of ads from Vanguard, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, Oppenheimer, and others. Obviously, they chose to advertise in that section because they knew in advance there would be special coverage of mutual funds on that day.”

Read more here.

Reuters media reporter Robert MacMillan spent some time with Thomson Reuters CEO Tom Glocer and pressed him on whether the company was interested in expanding its media properties.

MacMillan writes, “I asked our chief executive, Tom Glocer, a question along these lines on a Thursday phone call he had with reporters to discuss the company’s third-quarter financial results.

“Here is what he said:

Thomson did a remarkable job, far earlier than any other company I know, of seeing what was coming and transitioning their business out of print for the most part… I don’t see any particular time or reason at this juncture why we should go the other way.

“Later on Thursday, when I interviewed Glocer, we returned to this theme. (I can’t help it, I’m a print guy.) I used the Financial Times, owned by Pearson Plc and beloved of its CEO, Dame Marjorie Scardino, as a sample target:

“Here is Glocer’s reply:

When I came to London, Marjorie was famous for saying she would never sell the FT, or it would go ‘over my dead body.’ There were many years in which the FT had fallen on harder times when people held that up as well: Marjorie has to go before the FT.

“That sounds like a ‘no’ on the FT. What about other properties?

Is it impossible that somewhere in the world that we’d take a print property and move it electronic? No, but we’re not looking to go out and buy consumer print publications. That’s not what we think our business is.”

Read more here.

Kyle Austin, a PR person, has an interesting take on David Carr’s column in Monday’s New York Times about the demise of business journalism and why some business stories just don’t connect with readers.

Austin writes, “It’s a valid argument. Heck, TIME is trying to leverage the resentment as a way to make money on its business coverage (cover above). Unfortunately, that isn’t a good story for TIME’s colleagues at Fortune, the Bill Bulkeley’s of the world or CEO’s looking to get their name in print –- or even Google searches. Those that consume business media consume, as Carr notes ‘hope and aspiration.’

“The issue of Fortune on newsstands now, adorned with a digital image of Obama and Google glasses will probably be one of the best-selling issues of the year. Just like this Economist cover probably was. Therefore, when I look back a few weeks ago to Bulkeley telling me in advance of a briefing that he and the WSJ Boston office were kept away from Obama’s cleantech discussion at MIT ‘because DC owns all Obama coverage,’ it was probably a bad sign on a variety of fronts.

“There just isn’t much hope in business journalism these days, unless you’re working on cable TV.”

Read more here.

Bob Price, who reported on business and economics twice an hour as the KCBS business editor, has retired from the San Francisco radio station.

Price did his daily KCBS financial reports from the Pacific Exchange in downtown San Francisco every half hour at :25 and :55. He also covered the market’s “Opening Bell” at 6:40 a.m. and the “Closing Bell” at 1:10 p.m. and died other reports throughout the day.

Throughout his career, Price received numerous awards including “Best Newscast” from the San Francisco Press Club, “First Place News Writing” from the Peninsula Press Club, and “Best Newscast” from U.P.I.

Price had been at the station for the past 24 years, manning the “MoneyWatch” desk for the past 12 years.

Here is a report about his retirement. Price plans to spend more time traveling with his wife.

CBS and PBS dominated the nominations for the seventh annual business and financial Emmy awards, which were announced Thursday.

CBS had 15 of the 31 nominations, while PBS had another five. BBC America and CNBC each received three nominations. ABC had two nominations. The Wall Street Journal/wsj.com was nominated in one category, as was NBC and HDNet.

Eight of the 15 CBS nominations were for stories on “60 Minutes.” Four more appears on the “Evening News with Katie Couric.”

“In these times of almost unprecedented financial uncertainty, good business reporting is more important than ever,” said Bill Small, chairman of the News & Documentary Emmy Awards, in a statement. “This year’s nominees are the best of an excellent selection of submissions, and show how hard broadcast journalists have worked to keep viewers informed about the economic events that affect their lives.”

The Emmy Awards for Business & Financial Reporting recognize outstanding achievement in business and financial reporting from July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2009.

The awards will be presented at a luncheon on Monday, Dec. 7, at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus in New York City.

Read more here.

The chairman of one of Mexico’s biggest business conglomerates, Ricardo Salinas Pliego, has agreed to be a keynote speaker at the SABEW annual conference in Phoenix next March, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers announced Thursday.

Salinas Pliego, chairman of Mexico’s Grupo Salinas, ranked in 154^th place on the 2008 Forbes magazine list of the world’s richest people.

The conference will be held in downtown Phoenix on March 19-21 and will include a special focus on North American integration, including immigration, a sensitive topic where business and social interests intersect.

Salinas Pliego is one of Mexico’s most storied businessmen. His booming companies are involved in retailing (Grupo Elektra), media (TV Azteca and Azteca America), pension fund investing (Afore Azteca), banking (Banco Azteca), insurance (Seguros Azteca) and cellular phones (Grupo Iusacell).

Read more here.

Bloomberg LP’s Norm Pearlstine sent a memo Thursday to BusinessWeek’s staff noting that  the magazine’s two executive editors and its managing editor would remain with the publication after it is sold to Bloomberg at the end of the month.

Ellen Pollock and John Byrne are the executive editors, while Ciro Scotti is the managing editor. Editor in chief Steve Adler already announced he’s leaving.

Roger Neal, the senior vice president and general manager of BusinessWeek.com, is leaving, according to the memo.

The memo reads:

“We are pleased to bring you a report on progress as we work toward the December 1 integration.

“Foremost on our minds are issues involving people, and we are striving to make this process as transparent and expeditious as possible. Bloomberg expects to retain a majority of BusinessWeek’s employees. Each business area will follow a somewhat different selection approach, except in Europe and certain countries where local requirements govern the process. Look for a communication shortly for details in your area. Our goal is to provide clarity around post-integration roles by November 20.

“In terms of the leadership organization, we are pleased to announce that Jessica Sibley, Carl Fischer and Tania Secor will join Bloomberg.  Jessica will serve as Publisher of BusinessWeek, overseeing print and digital ad sales. Carl will be head of Marketing and Communications, and Tania will have an expanded finance role with Bloomberg News that will include Bloomberg Markets and BusinessWeek. We will make additional announcements about leadership in the near future.

“We continue with the selection process for a new Editor-in-Chief and are pleased that Ellen Pollock, John Byrne and Ciro Scotti will continue in their editorial leadership roles.

“Roger Neal has informed us of his decision not to join the integrated company. We are grateful for the tremendous foundation that he has built for the digital properties. Roger’s Digital team will report to Bloomberg’s Kevin Krim.

“Looking at facilities, we expect to move all BusinessWeek offices and bureaus globally (except New York and Austin, Texas) to existing Bloomberg offices on December 4. Employees based in New York will continue to work at 1221 Avenue of the Americas until space is available at Bloomberg’s 731 Lexington Avenue building. Details will be provided by office as they become available.

“In the U.S., BusinessWeek staff members who join Bloomberg will receive a paper paycheck on December 15 to provide income continuity, particularly during the holidays. Since this will be a special, out-of-cycle payment, we cannot accommodate direct deposit. FICA deductions will restart with the move to Bloomberg’s payroll.  Going forward, most new employees will be paid on a monthly basis. The balance of December pay will be made on January 4, 2010.

“Additionally, BusinessWeek staff members in the U.S. will remain on the McGraw-Hill medical, dental and vision plans through year-end but, in keeping with Bloomberg’s benefit plan, will not pay a premium. In December, we will conduct an open enrollment for new employees to enroll in Bloomberg’s health and insurance plans for 2010.

“Answers to a range of additional questions about expenses, mobile devices, flexible spending accounts, supplies, technology and other issues, are forthcoming.

“We look forward to meeting many of you at information sessions over the next few weeks.”

Vince Veneziani of The Business Insider has compiled a list of the top 15 mistakes made in the past few years on business news network CNBC.

His list includes tech reporter Jim Goldman’s mistake in Microsoft’s earnings recently, Charles Gasparino dropping an F-bomb on the air and a toilet flushing in the background while White House economic advisor Larry Summers is interviewed.

The recent walk-out by White House economic advisor Paul Volcker on Maria Bartiromo also makes the list, as does Newsweek tech writer Dan Lyons and his attack on Goldman’s reporting of Apple.

Here is my favorite, which also makes the list:

Thomson Reuters, the parent company of the business-focused wire service, reported a decline in revenue in its markets and legal divisions, but its CEO said its future performance would improve.

Robert MacMillan of Reuters writes, “Markets division revenue fell 4 percent to $1.86 billion excluding currency in the third quarter. The legal unit, the largest part of the company’s professional division by revenue and operating profit, posted a 1 percent decline in revenue.

“Revenue from ongoing businesses, excluding the impact of foreign exchange rates, fell 2 percent to $3.21 billion. That compared to the average analyst forecast of $3.23 billion.

“‘Financial firms are watching costs and being very careful on spending money, so a lot of discretionary expenses regarding services are being cut back,’ said Benchmark Co analyst Edward Atorino.

“The company, formed last year by the merger of Thomson Corp and Reuters Group Plc, said underlying operating profit rose 3 percent to $711 million, from $690 million a year earlier.”

Read more here. Revenue in the media operations fell to $90 million from $105 million in the same quarter a year ago.

The Wall Street Journal launched a San Francisco Bay Area edition focusing on local news and events, on Thursday.

The content appears locally every Thursday in the A-section of the print Journal. In addition, WSJ.com will provide regularly updated local news and information at WSJ.com/SF.

The Journal plans to offer coverage of a wide range of topics of interest to local readers in the San Francisco Bay Area, including local business news, economics, technology, cultural activities, sports, politics and education issues.

The Journal has covered local news in the Bay Area since the opening of its San Francisco bureau in 1929, shortly before the market crash. The bureau currently leads the Journal’s coverage of the tech industry and Silicon Valley, California state politics and a wide range of general California news, from housing to economics.

The Journal reaches an audience of more than 92,000 readers in the San Francisco market.