Business news gets more attention in the media

More private investors mean more readers for business journalism

The media deals more and more with household finances, consumption, investments, and other business news, and this development is now being scrutinised in a new book edited by Associate Professor, Peter Kjær from the Department of Organization at CBS.

Business journalism has gained ground in all types of media, both in national newspapers, in radio/television, in new magazines, and on the Internet. Today, the media does not only focus on economics, but also on businesses and companies, and this is mainly due to the fact that there is a much broader target group for this kind of journalism today, for instance because individuals are investing more than ever before.

- Society has become liberalised and globalised, which leads to private markets becoming more important compared to the national economic scene. In this way, more people have become interested in business news, says Peter Kjær.

The media as a political tool

Business PR departments have taken advantage of the increasing interest from the media. They have become prolific when it comes to writing stories about themselves, for instance about survey results that put their business in the best light. By doing this, they hope to find their way into the business news.

- When business coverage increases, businesses get more exposure and they become political players, judged on their views, for instance, on the environment and immigration. In this way, the media plays an important role, says Peter Kjær.

The business editorial teams have been questioned for their lack of critical judgment in relation to the many finished stories, but Peter Kjær finds the debate one-sided.

- Business news has many different functions: information about the market, counselling, supervision, and gossip. We must not only focus on investigative journalism if we want to understand what is going on, he says.