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In decline, financial journalism needs experienced guts



It’s a rare thing to find a room full of journalists and financial eggheads in agreement on any one issue.

During a two-day conference** that saw journalists, politicians, academics and economists butting heads, almost everyone agreed on not just one, but two issues.

First, that the financial crisis is likely to get worse. Second, that no matter how important good journalism is in times like these, the crisis engulfing journalism will get worse. 



Financial journalism is in structural decline. Advertising revenues are bottoming out; mainstream as well as niche audiences often pay scant attention to the press. That financial journalists failed to sound the alarm bells effectively about toxic assets is almost without question. 



Who’s to blame?



Journalists are to blame, for being ignorant of complex financial issues, some said.

The blame lies with editors who prioritise stories with a Paris Hilton zing, others said. 

Or is it traditional media that’s to blame for not properly training its journalists?



If a plea for a paradigmatic shift by UC Berkeley research fellow Bernard Lietaer is to give an indication, perhaps journalists – just as central bankers and traders – should be questioning an outdated banking system itself. 

Or maybe the blame should be placed at the feet of the market: mainstream media consumers driven by a seemingly voracious appetite for entertainment rather than tough news. And short-termist traders for whom gloomy media warnings provide no more than the mood music for last minute deals. 



Too often, Manchester University’s CRSCC director Karel Williams said, criticism of trading practices serves no other purpose than providing “the background music to the trading taking place.”



Perhaps journalists are not ignorant at all but instead – and more seriously – have become co-opted by the financial world on which they report, and within which they may one day seek high-paying jobs.



“Journalists have become embedded in elite structures, in the culture of Wall Street,” said Dean Starkman, editor of The Audit at Columbia Journalism Review.


“What are financial journalists for? On the one hand they see themselves as an information-provider for stock traders,
and on other hand they have a watchdog role. Financial journalists have difficulties reconciling these roles,” said Damian Tambini, a senior lecturer at the London School of Economics.

All hands on deck



As the conference reached its second day, conflicts emerged that created ever more “on-the-one-hand,” “on-the-other-hand” dilemmas.



On the one hand, journalists should report facts rather than rumour. On the other, they are reporting on an industry with an entrenched culture of secrecy.



Their success depends on their ability to turn complex material into catchy headlines. At the same time they must avoid scare-mongering. 



On the one hand, the growing global sophistication of the public relations and lobby machine means journalists need to rely on what City University’s financial journalism professor Steve Schifferes called their gut feeling. And yet, experienced guts are in short supply in a cash-strapped industry that increasingly replaces seasoned reporters with cheap young hacks. 



There is one place where investigative and analytical journalism seems to be thriving – in expensive niche publications. Yet these often lack the bureau networks that would allow for a global view of complex financial issues. 



With so many contradictions to battle and pitiful (if any) funds for ammunition, there arose at times a whiff of defeatism. How much can journalists actually do against economic cycles that are so much bigger than any of us?



“The future is uncertain and nothing can be known,” Robert Teitelman, editor-in-chief of The Deal, shrugged. 



What did become certain over the two days is that journalists must arm themselves NOW with an intimidating list of questions to ask.

At best, their answers could provide an exit from journalism’s crisis of quality. At worst, they could provide material for some great stories.



Question time

On the story front, the list includes the future of Ireland as it threatens to follow Iceland into ruin; the changed geopolitical balance that awaits once the dust settles; the extent to which carbon trading can provide a bailout for wash-ups such as the UK and Iceland; the impact of the crisis on eastern Europe and reconstructions of insider trading in China. 



More broadly, journalists must ask themselves whether the days of corporate media are over. If so, what business model will secure funding for the sort of in-depth reporting that yields true and important stories – be it through a centralisation of the media, collaborations with the likes of The Daily Show, fiscal incentives or subsidies and grants.



Yet even if the funds are available, the central question remains this: once a piece of good journalism has been crafted, how will we make sure it is seen by people who matter and, for that matter, care?



** The European Journalism Centre’s ‘Covering the Crisis’ conference took place in Brussels on 9 and 10 November, 2009.

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