An eye-opening account of how the information gap in business journalism is eroding civic life and impacting the economy––and how we can fix it

Business owners, consumers, and employees have long relied on the news to make financial decisions—what to buy, who to hire, and what products to sell. In the twenty-first century, that news has shifted. Only the big businesses and executives can afford expensive subscriptions, while most consumers and small business owners are left scrambling to find the news they need to succeed and thrive. The Future of Business Journalism explores how the field evolved into this divide and offers solutions on how business journalism can once again provide the stories and content that a broad society needs.

In The Future of Business Journalism, veteran business journalist and professor Chris Roush explains the causes, reveals the consequences, and offers potential solutions to this pressing problem. Roush delves into how the crisis occurred, from the disintegration of the once-strong relationship between businesses and media to the media’s focus on national coverage at the expense of local news. He reveals how these trends result in major “coverage deserts.”

Roush’s proposal for a way forward shows how businesses, journalists, and media can work together to support the economic and financial literacy needed for an informed citizenry. He recommends that media organizations take advantage of technological innovations to provide better business news content, suggests that journalism programs require budding reporters to take more business courses, and encourages businesses to fund journalism school programs. This insightful overview of the current state of business journalism reveals its strengths and weaknesses and shows how Main Street can regain access to the news it needs.

Chris Roush is the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University. He previously spent seventeen years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he started its business journalism program. He is the author or coauthor of ten books, including the textbook Show Me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication. He has won awards for business journalism teaching and has taught business journalism on five continents.

Foreword by David Callaway

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part I: Causes of the Information Gap

1. A Symbiotic Relationship

2. The Business Model Failure

3. The Dominators

4. The Public Relations Factor

5. The CEO Can Do Better

6. Societal Changes and Economic Forces

7. Political Polarization

Part II: Consequences and Their Impact

8. The Stock Market Is Overcovered

9. Failing Employees and Consumers

10. Health Care Coverage Is Sick

Part III: Solutions to the Problem

11. Using Technology to Improve Coverage

12. The Education Imperative

13. Fixing Business Journalism

Appendix: Timeline

Notes

Bibliography

Index