How to Fix Business Media

Editor's Note: This is an edited version of a speech given May 20 at the annual conference of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.

Before the day I entered journalism, I worked on Wall Street. That means instead of speaking with expertise on writing or high finance, I should instead be pontificating to you on the topic of woefully misguided career moves.

Pay issues aside, the two fields are actually more similar than most would expect. Both are inordinately focused on the news of the moment, often subservient to the passing thoughts of the day. In journalism, all the day's chaos is tidied up into a convoy of snappy articles, and in high finance, the economic, political and company news streaming out at any one time all somehow condense into individual numbers called stock prices.

But when I was on Wall Street, as a stockbroker and later as a money manager, I had the opportunity to behold business journalism from the perspective that should be enjoyed by any future critic. I was on the outside of journalism -- with a growing appreciation of the craft, but no direct connection or stake in how things had always been done. And I was on the inside of high finance, with a good grandstand seat to see how well the business media captured what was going on around me. From that grandstand, I used to bite my nails to the quick.