Talking Biz News

Information about business
journalism, from SABEW and the
Carolina Business News Initiative.

Both TVNewser and Jossip are reporting that Fox Business Network reporter Shahnaz Hussain has been fired, but the question remains as to whether her departure was due to her poor skills or for some other reason.

Steve Krakauer of TVNewser writes that Hussain ”was said to have been fired for complaining about being sexually and racially harassed.

“Jossip has the full story, and from the sound of a Fox insider, there may be another reason for her departure — she wasn’t a very good reporter. ‘She could not do live television,’ the insider said. Jossip has video of some of her reports, done for local affiliates (apparently she ‘never made it on the FNC or FBN airwaves’).

“The tip, and the Jossip post, hint at a possible lawsuit, so this may just be the beginning of the story.”

Read more here and here.

John Abell of Wired theorizes that Netscape founder and tech guru Marc Andreessen may have given his last interview to a business journalist.

Abell writes, “Of course the only difference in a world where a source speaks exclusively to a reporter and a world where s/he speaks to everybody simultaneously doesn’t make a whole lot of difference to the reader. Andreessen will continue to be excerpted by reporters (see above) and even possibly quoted out of context. At least there will be primary record, he asserts, that no one can take away.

“As a journalist I’d like to think I could get to someone like Andreessen if I had a question that only he could answer. I’d also like to think that interviews are more like conversations than interrogations, and I have never objected to being recorded by the person I’m interviewing — for the record.

“There is maybe a little more of a clue about Andreessen’s new laconic style in an earlier post in which he argues that good financial reporting is unusual:

“Financial journalists — who can be outstanding writers with journalism degrees from the best schools, and in many cases know almost nothing about the companies they are covering or the products those companies make, which does not keep them from writing all kinds of nonsense. High-quality business journalism is distinctly the exception, not the rule; every CEO knows it, and the noise from inaccurate bad press can again actually damage your company.”

“Fair enough, but that’s not exactly news, is it?”

Read more here.

Colin Pope, the managing editor of the Austin Business Journal in Texas, has been promoted to editor, according to a short story on the paper’s Web site.

Pope replaces Lance Williams, who left to become editor of a sister paper, the Nashville Business Journal.

The story stated, Pope “joined the Austin Business Journal in 1998 as a staff writer — mostly covering government, health care and law — and has more than 12 years of experience in journalism.

“Prior to his management of the Austin Business Journal’s newsroom, Pope worked as director of corporate communications at Austin-based NetSpend Corp., and as the communications manager at Strategic Partnerships Inc.

“‘I look forward to continuing to steer the Austin Business Journal in an exciting direction,’ Pope says. ‘I take a lot of pride in the fact that, as other newspapers around the country struggle to keep subscribers, staff and pages, the business journal is making significant gains and only getting stronger. We’ll continue to provide readers with in-depth coverage of local, breaking business news via our weekly print edition, and readers should keep an eye out for major improvements soon for our Web site and hugely popular daily email news blast.’”

Read more here. 

Yvette Kantrow, executive editor of TheDeal.com, writes Friday about how personal finance reporting has lowered itself to depths never seen before.

Kantrow writes, “But a funny thing happens when you try to dumb down finance to make it palatable and useful. It becomes, well, dumb. If you tuned into Fox Business last week, you caught Susan ‘Stop the Insanity’ Powter (remember her?) urging people to exercise and, of course, buy her book; MainStreet.com told readers how to take a page from Drew Barrymore and deal with a hit-and-run accident.

“Now we don’t mean to pick on Fox or MainStreet.com (OK, maybe just a little). It’s hard to get people to tune into or read about money, especially when everyone’s gloomy. But the WSJ, of all places, provides a classic example of personal finance’s slippery slope to cluelessness: Terri Cullen’s ultrachatty ‘Fiscally Fit’ column Wednesday on her family’s decision to fire its lawn-care service and buy — the drama! — a lawn mower instead.

“It’s a first-person account (natch) of Terri’s bickering with her husband, Gerry, over how to best care for their one-acre lawn (one acre!) in New Jersey. Gerry wants to buy a riding lawn mower; Terri worries about how that will interfere with Gerry’s summer boating schedule; we wonder how much money this couple has. We learn about Gerry’s ineptitude as a comparison shopper (and how Terri saves the day); we watch son Gerald hang around the garage; we hear Terri predict Gerry will give up mowing next year. By the time we finish, we’re still trying to figure out exactly what financial lesson we just learned and why Gerry puts up with Terri.”

Read more here.

Conde Nast Portfolio’s Jeff Bercovici reports that CNBC show “The Big Idea” hosted by Donny Deutsch is off in terms of viewers.

Bercovici writes, “Well-tanned ad guru Donny Deutsch’s show is off 15 percent in the ratings year-to-date versus the same period in 2007, according to Nielsen. That’s both among total viewers and within the prime 25-54 age group.

“Worse, The Big Idea frequently ’scratches,’ or draws an audience too small to mention. That’s been the case half of the time so far in May.

“The good news is the sagging ratings don’t seem to be affecting Deutsch’s shirt-shucking brio. Always fond of baring his reasonably-well-preserved torso, the Matthew McConaughey of business news recently whipped it off for the University of Pennsylvania’s alumni magazine. Let’s see you try that one, Cavuto.”

Read more here.

Saul Hansell of the New York Times writes about the synergies that CBS will be able to bring to its acquisition of tech news provider CNET Networks.

Hansell writes, “For one, CBS is also a company with well-known brands and sluggish growth. So CNet adds some luster to CBS, even if it would drag down other theoretical buyers like Yahoo.

“Interestingly, on a conference call with investors Thursday morning, CBS said that its own Internet properties — like Sportsline and the Web site for the Grammy Awards — are actually growing faster than CNet is.

“CBS, of course, gave the normal synergy talk: The network’s relations with auto, financial services and drug companies will bring new advertisers to CNet, and CNet’s tech advertisers will add customers to CBS properties. CBS can obviously cut some of CNet’s overhead costs. (If the deal goes through, it also cures a big headache for CNet’s management: the agitation for reform from Jana Partners, a hedge fund.)

“CNet has been diversifying away from technology into some other areas that may be of use for CBS. It is building its BNet service for small businesses. Intriguingly for CBS, CNet also owns TV.com, which it has been trying to use to create an entertainment and television fan portal. Owning CNet’s News.com domain name might even lead to a revival strategy for the once great CBS News.”

Read more here.

Mary Yanni, a page designer for the Newark Star-Ledger, has posted some top designs from business sections around the country on her web site “Today’s Front Pages.”

Frankly, some of the designs are stunning. I’m posting a few on Talking BIz News, but you can see the rest here.

Dan Gillmor, writing on his Center for Citizen Media blog, argues that the Loeb Awards need to add a new category to honor business and financial journalism.

Gillmor writes, “Another conspicuous — and related — issue is the shutout of serious online-only journalists, even in the commentary category where in the finalist list is in the new online category, dominated by Big Media online operations. Again, the work cited is for the most part superb. But some of the best economic journalism, especially in commentary, is being done by new-media folks. Perhaps they didn’t know they were eligible for the Loeb awards, but the total absence of their work is noteworthy nonetheless.

“If the Loeb team really wanted to spur on great economic reporting, it could add a category: a foresight award for people who were way ahead of their peers in spotting issues that only later — usually too late — are understood by the herd. The Pulitzers could use something like this, too.

“In the case of the credit bubble, there would be ample reason to look at some online work, especially among bloggers who saw the bubble early and talked about it incessantly, backing up their work with detailed analysis and data-based evidence. They were too early, however, for a journalistic establishment that rarely acknowledges a crisis until it’s causing or about to cause massive pain.”

Read more here.

Marketwatch media columnist Jon Friedman takes a look Friday at CBS News correspondent Anthony Mason, who weaves stories about business and finance in the tradition of Charles Kuralt.

Friedman writes, “Mason, who has been reporting for CBS since the 1980s, said he ‘raised his hand’ a decade ago to volunteer for the business beat, but he never expected to stay on it for quite so long.

“‘If you had told me I would be covering business for 10 years, I would’ve told you were absolutely insane,’ he said. ‘When I was a kid, it was something my brother, a banker, and my father, who started the Japan Fund, did. I was more interested in covering global crises.’

“His biggest career regret is being unable to report from the New York Stock Exchange in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He recalled that an NYSE official told him, ‘If you can get here, we’ll let you in, but good luck.’”

Read more here.

Dealbook, a blog edited by mergers and acquisitions reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times, was named the best business news blog in the annual EPpy awards, presented by Editor & Publisher and Mediaweek.

In addition, BusinessWeek’s web site won the award for best business web site with more than 1 million unique visitors per month.

Kiplinger’s Personal Finance won the award for best business web site with less than 1 million unique visitors per month.

See all of the winners here.

The winners were announced Thursday in Las Vegas. This is the 13th year for the contest, which has been broadened beyond its original focus on the interactive newspaper industry to reflect the maturing of the Internet industry, where media-affiliated sites compete for both users and revenues.