How to Fix Business Media

So here we are. I write The Business Press Maven column four times a week for TheStreet.com, mostly criticizing and, in the odd, weak moment, praising the business media. It is probably the single easiest gig in journalism, as there's never a shortage of material.

The problem is, the business media keep making many of the same old mistakes. But by giving the business media a well-deserved tweak, I hope I've taught readers how to think for themselves, to avoid the business media's errors and even capitalize on their mistakes.

But where do the business media go from here? Criticism is, of course, an easy game. Offering solutions is much harder, which is why I'll run through the following section a bit more quickly with a ton more modesty.

What I think distinguishes the business media from most other areas of journalism is that those who practice it did not grow up interested in the subject. In one of my other incarnations, I do sports reporting, and this offers a good counterpoint to business media.

Sports reporters, whatever their flaws, almost always grow up obsessed with the subject they cover. Let's face it: Not many business journalists do, and it shows. Journalists grow up interested in sports, politics or the arts, but most people who grow up interested in business are smart enough to earn the money they can in business.