02nd Jun 2008
Belfast Telegraph and business
Today is business supplement day in the Belfast Telegraph. Traditionally seen as the North’s business paper, many clients rate a mention in the Tele’s weekly supplement above the Irish News or the Newsletter, although this is changing.
Over the past decade the Northern dailies have built up their business coverage and can boast some depth. The Irish News now has three full time journalists and the Newsletter two. Both produce a weekly supplement like the Tele and the Irish News is increasingly finding breath in its daily reportage. Strange then when I heard that the Bel Tel has no plans to replace its vacant business business editor post, leaving just one full time journalist on the business desk. Five years ago the same desk boasted four full time reporters.
This is a move which many in the business community will find hard to understand. There has never been more demand for quality business reporting and never has the opportunity been greater for sound analysis and investigative work in the world of commerce. It is widely known that the belts have been tightened at the Tele and syndicated work is getting more and more space on its pages. That said at a time when the private sector is showing real potential, energy has never been more front of mind and the all island economy is a reality it seems a little strange to be relegating the business desk in this way.
The Belf. Tele has a very limited local focus for a business market essentially just northern Ireland. Do you anticipate there is a market for papers like the business post to expand their portfolio in N.Ireland as north-south trade develops even further?
It’s encouraging to know that somebody in N.I. actually cares about business journalism but the standard at the BT has been consistently mediocre to the point of embarrassment as long as I can remember. How can you take a newspaper’s business coverage seriously when it ranks its Top 100 companies by numbers employed.
I would accept that the Irish News is a cut above its rivals but none of them have evolved much beyond the facile job counting that has passed for business journalism here. This is probably an inevitable consequence of public sector dependency: that is to say business is merely an alternative job creation scheme and is of no further interest to anyone.