Business journalism is the part of journalism that tracks, records, analyzes and interprets the

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

, economic and

financial Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

activities and changes that take place in societies.

Topic Topic, topics, TOPIC, topical, or topicality may refer to: Topic / Topics * Topić, a Slavic surname * ''Topics'' (Aristotle), a work by Aristotle * Topic (chocolate bar), a brand of confectionery bar * Topic (DJ), German musician * Topic ...

s widely cover the entire purview of all commercial activities related to the economy. This area of journalism provides news and feature

articles Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: ...

about people, places and issues related to the business sector. Most newspapers, magazines, radio, and television-news shows include a business segment. Detailed and in-depth business journalism may appear in publications, radio, and television channels dedicated specifically to business and financial journalism.

History

Business journalism began as early as the Middle Ages, to help well-known trading families communicate with each other. Around 1700,

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

—best known for his novels especially ''Robinson Crusoe''—began publishing business and economic news. In 1882 Charles Dow, Edward Jones and Charles Bergstresser began a wire service that delivered news to investment houses along Wall Street. And in 1889, '' The Wall Street Journal'' began publishing. While the famous muckraking journalist Ida Tarbell did not consider herself to be a business reporter, her reporting and writing about the

Standard Oil Co. Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co- ...

in 1902 provided the template for how thousands of business journalists have covered companies ever since. Business coverage gained prominence in the 1990s, with wider investment in the

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange, as ...

. ''The Wall Street Journal'' is one prominent example of business journalism, and is among the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

's top newspapers in terms of both

circulation Circulation may refer to: Science and technology * Atmospheric circulation, the large-scale movement of air * Circulation (physics), the path integral of the fluid velocity around a closed curve in a fluid flow field * Circulatory system, a bio ...

and respect for the

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

s whose work appears there.

Personnel

Journalists who work in this branch are classed as "business journalists". Their main task is to gather information about current events as they related to business. They may also cover processes, trends, consequences, and important people, in business and disseminate their work through all types of mass media.

Scope

Business journalism, although common in most

industrialized countries A developed country (or industrialized country, high-income country, more economically developed country (MEDC), advanced country) is a sovereign state that has a high quality of life, developed economy and advanced technological infrastruc ...

, has a very limited role in third-world and

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed Industrial sector, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is al ...

. This leaves citizens of such countries in a very disadvantaged position locally and internationally. Recent efforts to bring business media to these countries have proven to be worthwhile.

References

External links

Definition and history of business journalism in the ''Encyclopedia of Journalism''
{{Authority control News Journalism by field

History

Personnel

Scope

See also

References

Further reading

External links