Maven: When Stories Don't Add Up

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You don't have to be a forensic specialist in the ways of the business media like The Business Press Maven to realize that most reporters are more comfortable with words than with numbers. Almost all go into journalism because they like writing and have a knack for framing issues in an efficient manner. But they drift sideways, at best, once the subject matter goes from A B C to 1 2 3.

The end result is not usually gross miscalculation but small oversights and misunderstandings that are just subtle enough, if left unexamined, to confuse the pants off investors who then lose their shirts. That's especially due to the subliminal power of a well-written article. You hardly notice the numbers are wrong, because the words sound so good and move so fluidly.

I've found a couple of examples on this average Monday, starting with The New York Times, still covering the debacle that was February advertising numbers for the newspaper business a week after they were reported. But what was eye-catching here was a third-paragraph highlighting of a piece of good news. The mere mention of good news in the newspaper business gave The Business Press Maven goose bumps.

As I've mentioned repeatedly, no one wants newspapers to survive more than I do, because I get paid by them, I believe they serve society well, and I enjoy nothing more than a counterintuitive turn of fate. Plus, think of my kid's hamster cages.

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