What is financial journalism for? Ethics and responsibility in a time of crisis and change
Source: Polismedia/London School of Economics
From the preface:

The current crisis in global banking, markets and economies has reminded us all of the importance of financial and business journalism. It has also raised a set of profound questions as to the quality of that form of reporting. Why didn’t we know this was coming? Did the journalists fail to put the financial system under proper scrutiny? Are they equipped to deal with the continuing complex story? Is this representative of a wider problem with the news media?…

Even before the current crisis, financial journalism was subject to unprecedented circumstances. Economic and business stories now move at a digitally driven speed that does not allow as much time for comprehension, let alone reflection. Much of the movement of financial data is automatic and unmediated by journalism. The Big Bang of the 1980s in the City coincided with the beginnings of cable and satellite TV and digitalised news gathering creating a 24/7 live reporting environment. The financial facts and systems are themselves much more complex. This is partly a function of new financial structures such as Hedge Funds and Derivatives but also because of the increasingly interconnected and globalised nature of markets. There are also the pressures of commercial interest. Public relations is spreading throughout all news but it is particularly powerful and prevalent in financial business. Then there are the ethical challenges for journalists who have access to information and an ability to either influence markets or gain personally.

Financial journalism has not been immune from the pressure on resources. The key resource is time. Time to get context, diverse views, and context and background facts. New technologies have made journalism more efficient but the business model for mainstream media is under strain. So the temptation for hard-pressed editorial management has been to spread those resources more thinly and prioritise productivity over quality.

+ Full Report (PDF; 341 KB)

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 14th, 2008 at 2:24 am and is filed under Business and economics, Ethics, International, Media and entertainment, Social and cultural issues, United Kingdom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.