Talking Biz News

Information about business
journalism from the
Carolina Business News Initiative.

CBS dominated the nominations for the fourth annual Emmy Awards for Business & Financial Reporting, with 15 nominations. Nine of the 15 nominations were for segments done by the “60 Minutes” staff.

NBC was a distant second with five nominations, while CNBC garnered four nominations, according to a news release from the National Television Academy. CNN and PBS each received three nominations.

The Emmy Awards for Business & Financial Reporting recognize outstanding achievement in business & financial reporting telecast from July 1, 2005 thru June 30, 2006. A total of 33 nominations in seven categories were announced Tuesday.

At the ceremony, the National Television Academy will present its Lifetime Achievement Award in Business & Financial Reporting to Paul Steiger, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, overseeing U.S. and international print and online editions, and vice president of Dow Jones & Co. CNN’s Lou Dobbs received the lifetime award in 2005.

“The importance of economic journalism became paramount to consumers over the past year,� said Peter Price, President/CEO, National Television Academy, “as we strove to understand skyrocketing gas prices, the real estate downturn, the ups and downs of the stock market, and a myriad of financial issues. This year’s entries demonstrated the real value of business and financial reporting to the consumer, and the nominees represent the best of an excellent body of work.�

A complete list of the nominees and the categories can be found here. The awards will be presented on Thursday, Dec. 7 at the Rainbow Room in New York City. The event will be sponsored by Condé Nast Portfolio, a new business magazine launching in spring 2007.

The new records in the Dow Jones Industrial Average have meant more viewers for business news cable network CNBC, according to the TVNewser.

TVNewser stated, “CNBC’s Business Day programming, from 5am to 7pm Monday through Friday, averaged 70,000 viewers in the coveted 25-54 demo in Oct. 2006 — its best time period performance in two and a half years (since April 2004).

“Business Day was up 71 percent versus an Oct. 2005 average of 41,000 demo viewers. Every CNBC show from 6am to 8pm increased its demo audience over last October.

“The network’s ‘year-to-year gains were largest during market hours (94,000 A25-54 from 9:30-4:00p), up 92% versus last October (49,000),’ according to an internal ratings release… ”

Read more here.

Andy Serwer, who has been an editor at large, has been named managing editor of Fortune, according to a news release issued by parent company Time Inc. and obtained by Talking Biz News.

Serwer, 47, succeeds Eric Pooley, who will work with Time’s editor in chief John Huey and managing editor Jim Kelly on investigative projects. The appointment is effective immediately.

“No matter what project Andy takes on, he handles it with intelligence, wit and energy,â€? Huey said in the release. “It is also safe to say that no journalist knows today’s business story better than Andy Serwer. I am confident that he will bring his knowledge of both the story and the multimedia landscape to the helm of Fortune in exciting ways that will work to its great advantage in the future.â€?

“I really am thrilled to be running a magazine with such a rich history and such a bright future,â€? Serwer said. “I look forward to working with my longstanding colleagues – the best business journalists on the planet. We’re going to have a blast.â€?

As editor-at-large at Fortune since 1998, Serwer writes the “Street Life� column as well as stories about the personalities and behind-the-scenes action on Wall Street. His work has ranged from his provocative column in every issue to major cover stories on everything from the young Michael Dell to Michael Price (“The Toughest S.O.B. on Wall Street�) to the business of the Rolling Stones to the first look inside the financial and philanthropic workings of America’s richest family, the Waltons.

In addition to his magazine work, Andy became one of the industry’s first internet stars nine years ago with his daily market round-up on Fortune.com, also called “Street Life,” that has more than 50,000 e-mail subscribers. He has also been the very successful business anchor of CNN’s American Morning news show. He will continue to have an on-air presence on CNN.

Serwer joined Fortune in 1985 as an intern from the Columbia Journalism School, and was later promoted to associate editor. He quickly went on to become one of its most insightful, popular and productive writers. In addition to covering Wall Street, investing, information technology, and entertainment for the magazine, Serwer has also edited and written the front of the book section of Fortune, which includes breaking news and features focusing on business personalities, media, and technology.

Gawker writes that Serwer’s appointment shocked “anyone with a stake in the matter, apparently — an inside source dismisses his work as ’stock chit-chat stuff, pretty shallow.’” It also quotes Huey’s internal e-mail explaining the appointment: “We all know that the world of business journalism has increasingly become a multi-media proposition, involving not only the magazine but its brand representations on the internet, on television and radio, wherever the reader wants his or her information. And no one is more qualified to lead FORTUNE on those multiple fields of battle than Andy.”

Bernice Kanner, a former reporter for The New York Times and The Daily News who was also editor of WomensBiz.US, died Oct. 24, according to a story in the Times. She was 57.

Dennis Hevesi wrote, “Ms. Kanner also wrote first-person features for New York magazine, based on experiences like working as a cab driver and behind the counter at Wendy’s. ‘One of her stunts was to see how hard it was to buy a gun,’ her daughter said.

“In 1999, Ms. Kanner wrote ‘The 100 Best TV Commercials … and Why They Worked,’ based on a survey of leading advertising professionals. ‘It’s chic to say you’re immune to advertising,’ Ms. Kanner said, ‘but it does invade our pores.’”

Read more here. Kanner began her career at Advertising Age in 1974.

An obituary in Ad Age noted, “She may be best known for writing, for 13 years until 1994, ‘On Madison Avenue,’ a weekly marketing column for New York Magazine, where she was also a senior editor. Ms. Kanner got her start covering marketing as a senior editor at Advertising Age, and during her career was a columnist for the New York Daily News and a writer at JWT.”

The Economist has acquired GalleryWatch, a company that tracks legislation for businesses, according to a story in the Washington Business Journal.

The article stated that GalleryWatch would become part of Roll Call, which The Economist also owns. It said, “The 10-year-old Austin company provides real-time online legislation information, and allows users to search, track and analyze the federal and Texas legislatures.

“‘We are very excited about the acquisition of GalleryWatch,’ Roll Call Publisher Laurie Battaglia says in a statement. ‘We believe there is great opportunity for growth because of its potential scalability.’”

Read more here.

Julia Seymour of the Business & Media Institute critiques CNN’s coverage of the economy and noted that with the exception of Fortune editor Andy Serwer, most of the comments are negative.

Seymour wrote, “Firing the first shot, host Jack Cafferty said on October 28, ‘The Gross Domestic Product was a little on the gross side when it came out on Friday morning, disappointing to say the least.’

“Andy Serwer, editor-at-large of Fortune magazine, and a show regular, responded with a voice of reason to Cafferty’s attack.