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Why being a business flak is a lot better than you think

Home Tomorrow's Business Why being a business flak is a lot better than you think

Flaks sometimes get very down on the business press. They are heard to complain: Why are you just out to get us all the time?

I actually think business hackery is more adult, more measured than most other sorts.

For a start newspaper owners are pro-business. And business hacks understand why a good company that does what it is supposed to do — make a profit, pay tax, look after its staff — is a hugely important thing.

It’s easy to imagine the local, tired, sports reporter hoping that town’s team fails. Far harder to see the local business hack wanting his town’s biggest employer to go bust.

In general, the tone of business coverage is generally more measured than, say, political reporting, which too often looks like a bunch of people shouting at each other.

They throw gasoline onto fires rather than explain why there’s a blaze in the first place.

There’s an angry piece here from James Delingpole of The Spectator partly about that, and the decision to shut down This Week.

Political reporters seem to think their job, especially on TV, is to destroy their interviewee.

Jeremy Paxman once said that his starting point for any interview was: why is this lying bd lying to me?

I don’t think many business reporters start from the same place, unless they’ve good reason, based on experience.

So if you’re having a bad day, think of this: at least you aren’t PR-ing a politician or a football team.**

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