Across the country, newspapers are eliminating the standalone business section, folding business coverage into other sections. CJR, which bemoans change a little bit too much for my tastes, bemoans this trend too.
Subtitle of its article: They were thin, sure, but they were something.
The reasoning behind these moves is pretty straightforward, or so it would seem. Declining readership, declining ad dollars and cost cutting. The newspaper biz is a rough place to be, and for the folks who ran the business pages, these moves hurt.
But why were there ever standalone business sections in the first place? Most stories have some kind of business angle, and conversely most "business" stories have some kind of angle that's relevant to a non-business audience. Business isn't like Sports. Business is everywhere. It's in Metro and it's in Arts & Leisure.
It always seemed like a disservice to readers to draw these artificial barriers. Basically, business sections just give people an excuse to ignore business news. "Oh, I'm not really interested in business." So yeah, sic transit and all.
Comments