Joe Connolly is a disgrace to journalism
Unlike most twentysomethings, I still listen to the radio. AM radio, in fact. I wake up to WCBS 880 every morning to squeeze a bit of news, weather, and sports into my day before I trudge off to work.
But one thing about WCBS has always driven me up the wall. In fact, its only saving grace is that it gets me out of bed to turn off the radio. That one thing is Joe Connolly’s business news segments at :25 and :55 past the hour.
Of the five stories in his 7:55 report this morning, three of them started with the word “some” or “one.” As in, “some schools…” or “one business owner” but with no further specification of which schools or business, which would actually add some legitimacy to the story. Every morning, I jump out of bed because I want to reach through the radio and wring his neck and scream, “GOD DAMN YOU, GIVE ME SPECIFICS!”
Listen to this “Small Business Report” he did yesterday. Spending 45 seconds on one whole topic, he still manages to use the terms “some business owners,” “one business owner,” “this business,” and “one social media consultant” without ever mentioning a name or citing a source.
Oh, also, this is more the style of story he does in a BUSINESS NEWS SEGMENT. He doesn’t discuss earnings reports or layoffs or executive hirings and firings, and he’ll generally leave discussion of the Dow, Nasdaq, or S&P futures to a 2-second blurb between a story about “funemployment” and how “some people” are putting their resumes on doilies. No, he’ll leave real business news to legitimate journalists.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 7:22 am and is filed under The Media. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 21st, 2009 at 6:52 pm
Marc says:Chris, I totally agree. I have noticed for some time that he’s doing this anecdotal “this one said”, and it is crap to base reporting on the world of business on only one or two examples of small business owners. It surprises me that WCBS allows this lame-ass reporting to persist, since they pride themselves on “real” reporting, and it surprises me even more that WSJ lets him put their implied seal of approval on it. In my opinion, he’s the “Access Hollywood” of Wall Street.
August 11th, 2009 at 10:24 am
joe connolly says:Hi - someone just passed this on to me. You raise good points. I often leave out a name just to save time because the radio reports only run 70 to 90 seconds, and I try to get in as many units of infromation as posisble, and also because often the name is not a name anyone knows, or would remember or that would make any difference to the point. Guilty to using anecdotes. I usually find them more telling than the official annoucements of companies and thier spokespeople. Regards, Joe Connolly
August 18th, 2009 at 8:28 am
Gerard says:I like Joe Connolly’s reports specifically
for the reasons he outlines above, although at times the info borders on tedium–inconsequential job seeking quirks developed by some folks…a snooze for me, since I run a small business. His overall focus is great: small businesses, people’s ideas
that run counter to ‘accepted belief syndromes’ and big businesses that
screw up in ways that small business
owners carefully avoid, get people like me thinking and raise my alertness level
of what’s happening beyond the headlines. Thumbs up for Joe, even though every day isn’t the big story of the day. He does know the basic tenet
of reporting–a story doesn’t have to be huge, just a story, good enough for
his slant and focus. He has a great niche
and covers it well. The substance may
appear to be tidbits of information,
but in small business, what he’s covering
has supreme relevance in my world
February 6th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Chuck says:Joe Connollys business reports are extremely shallow and totally useless bits of information. I happened to be listening to the 880 a few mornings driving to work and wondered, what small business owner or investor could possibily learn from such info. One thing I did notice was his poor grasp of the current recession and unemployment figures. His rosy picture of the current economic crisis is inaccurate. One has to wonder if he really understands any challenges to the small business owner at all. I have heard him report that the recession was over, and businesses are getting customers back. How in the world can any business reporter speak in such generalities. One has to wonder how anyone can benefit from such reporting.
March 21st, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Richard says:Joe Connelly has begun the increasing practice of yellow journalism; that is, throwing out sound bites that seem meaningful and imply tacit support for complex issues that are really never discussed. In a recent broadcast he intoned Governer Christie’s pronouncement that “the time is now” to addresses the status of public employees, their salaries and benefits. That was it. No presentation of the issues, either historical or present. Connelly’s remarks implied support of the governer and reduced the topic to pablum. He did not mention that Christie has launched an irrational and destructive attack on the educational system of NJ, which is considered at the top of the heap when compared to most other states. He did not mention that this is due to his irrational hatred has for NJEA leadership who supported his opponent, which has put teachers and students in the crossfire. He did not mention that the new funding formula will result in the layoffs of 1000s of educators across the state who all pay taxes and consume. The list goes on. Whether one agrees with how education is funded and teacher pay an benefits or not, at least dignify the issues with some discussion. This a new journalistic low for Mr. Connelly.