Ofuoma Odje on Business Journalism

Is business journalism now a blend of political and business Reporting?
by Ofuoma Odje

Long ago Business journalism used to be about Walls Street, stocks, businesses, finance, entrepreneurs and so on.

Business journalism today however seems to be a blend of Washington, Capitol Hill, Politicians, Legislation and many other socio-political issues along with core business reporting.
It appears that September 2008 collapse of the Global Financial System along with the recent worldwide recession is redefining Systemic Financial Procedures, consumer sentiment/spending, Lending and Borrowing practices, as well as Business Journalism.
One example was the recent frenzy about bailout nation. Main Street has been furious about the Fed’s actions that was seen by many as mortgaging the future of all Americans to bailout major Financial Institutions that have been irresponsible in conducting their business.
Many argue that these institutions should have been allowed to fail even if it meant the collapse of Capitalism and that those institutions left standing after the collapse should have been allowed to benefit from the demise of these failed institutions.
There has also been the auto crisis. With GM and Chrysler on the verge of Bankruptcy and Ford struggling to stay healthy, many have questioned why the Government should throw good money after bad money.
Both the Bailout of the Financial Institutions and the Auto Crisis were hot button topics during the 2008 Presidential Elections.
Mainstream business media including the likes of CNBC and Bloomberg have been caught in the middle of business and political reporting. They often interview politicians on business shows/airtime who sometimes have no business background or full understanding of the subject matter in play but are influential in passing important legislation that would impact the business community.
They also report on the behavior of these politicians and how they sometimes base their vote on legislation that impact the economy on pure political and main street sentiment, even when those sentiments are not in the best interest of the economy.
Then there are the politicians who are lobbied by Walls Street with cash and gifts to influence how they vote on legislation.
Many argue that the 2008 collapse of the Global Financial System has permanently scarred Capitalism forever, and that trust would almost never be wholly restored.
As for Business Journalism, one could also argue that it would never be strictly about business, finance and the markets from this point on.

Ofuoma Odje