A recent Voice of the People letter reminded me of the calls and e-mails I regularly receive about the coverage of business news.
Uniontown reader Barbara Norris asked why Firestone would consider coming back to Akron “after all of the bashing it has received” from the Akron Beacon Journal.
It’s common for people to blame the media for business problems. In regard to both Firestone and Goodyear, it seems the newspaper has become the target for people who expect it to be an active supporter of those companies.
One caller from Firestone said last week that in the halls of Firestone, the paper is known as the Goodyear Journal. I’m sure that would surprise a lot of people at Goodyear, where some executives have been critical of the paper’s coverage of Goodyear’s stock and sales performance.
So when I attended a panel discussion last week, I was intrigued by the title: Business & the Media, Can We Get Along? Sponsored by the Leadership Akron Alumni Association, it promised a lively discussion between members of the media and the business community.
All of the panelists professed a strong desire to work together and saw few serious problems getting along. The business participants talked about building relationships; the media participants explained the process of pitching a story.
Eric Mansfield, Pax 23 news anchor, said TV reporters can use help from businesses when they cover events. He evoked a chuckle when he said, “I know a little bit about a lot of things, but not a lot about anything.”
The audience raised a number of interesting questions. One person asked: How can we take TV news seriously when it doesn’t take itself seriously by using “celebrity journalists”?
Panelists said television responds to ratings, which show that viewers watch celebrity journalists. (“If you didn’t watch them, they wouldn’t be there.”)
Another person asked: Why shouldn’t businesses have a “fear factor” when dealing with the media after seeing so much negative and controversial news? When this question was asked, a lot of heads nodded in the audience, which was composed mostly of business people.
That question hit home for me, as public editor, because it touches on two of the most frequent complaints that I hear from readers. Many of you believe the media take advantage of innocent people to get a good story. And I often hear the complaint that the paper never writes “good news” stories.
Mansfield addressed the criticism of TV “ambush journalism” by saying, “If you’ve got nothing to hide, you shouldn’t worry if I come knocking on your door.”
He said that many companies see TV cameras and bar the doors, without ever asking whether the story might be helpful to them.
Panelist Diane Evans, a business columnist at the Beacon Journal, said readers perceive coverage as negative when, in fact, a high proportion of stories actually are positive.
I’ve found it’s almost impossible to categorize stories; we each bring a unique perspective. When Goodyear announces lower profits, that’s bad news for shareholders and good news for competitors.
Mansfield suggested that good news vs. bad news is not the right way to look at stories. “Look at it from the perspective of usual vs. the unusual.”
That’s a concept that news people long have advocated. News, almost by definition, involves events and information that are out of the ordinary.
Tires are supposed to be safe. Fortunately, that’s the standard and not very newsworthy. When tests show that some tires can cause accidents and deaths, that’s the unusual and has strong news value.
Companies such as Goodyear are supposed to provide value to shareholders. That’s the usual. When the stock price drops, that’s when readers get interested and want to know why. A sharp increase also would qualify as unusual.
One question that wasn’t asked at the panel discussion, but one that I often get, is: Why don’t the media do more to promote local business and industry? I hear many business owners say, “It’s hard enough surviving in business without having the media say negative things about you. You should be helping us, not hurting us.”
The answer to that usually doesn’t satisfy those who complain. That’s because stories and photos about business and industry exist to serve the readers, not the businesses.
Even when the newspaper covers a store opening or a new product announcement, the purpose never is to help out the business. The purpose always is to inform the readers.
It’s the difference between publicity and news — businesses seek one and the media chase after the other.
So when I see a panel discussion titled Business & the Media, Can We Get Along?, my answer is a short one. Not always. The objectives of the media and business are too different. Some people — including a few in the halls of Firestone and Goodyear — won’t accept that.
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Send comments about the Beacon Journal to Public Editor Mike Needs. Phone: 330-996-3860. E-mail: mneeds@thebeaconjournal.com.
