By: Falastine Al-Remawi
RAMALLAH, July 14, 2011 (WAFA)- The Consulate General of the United States of America in Jerusalem Thursday held a meeting via video conference with the American Expert Economic Journalist, Professor Chris Rouch, and with the participation of Palestinian journalists and economists, on the business and economic reporting, at its HQ in Ramallah.
This meeting comes within the efforts of the US consulate in promoting the economic development and supporting the efforts of the Palestinian media institutions to improve the accuracy and quality of news coverage on the topics of local, regional and international economic development.
Rouch said “the better the quality of the economic journalism gets, the more the opportunities of economy growth increase.”
He discussed the mechanisms of press coverage of economic topics, the change a journalist can make in the economic status in his/her country, and the potential and skills that the economic journalist must have.
Rouch briefed the participants on the history of the economic journalism in the United States, where this kind of journalism started before 40 to 50 years, pointing out that there are more than 10,000 specialized economic journalists now in the US.
He called on the Palestinian universities and colleges to devote programs of study in the economic journalism, responding to an invitation from the Palestinian Businessmen Association about his readiness to hold training courses for Palestinian journalists in the economy field.
Rouch invited the interested in this issue to visit his personal blog on the website (www.talkingbiznews.com).
Chris Roush is the founding director of the Carolina Business News Initiative, which provides training for professional journalists and students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also the author of two books about business journalism ,’ Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication’ in 2004 and ‘Profits and Losses: Business Journalism and its Role in Society’ in 2006, as well as author or co-author of books about Progress Energy in 2008, Home Depot in 1999, Pacific Coast Feather Co. and Alex Lee Inc. in 2006. He has also taught business journalism at Washington & Lee University and the University of Richmond.
Roush has been quoted about business journalism in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and American Journalism Review and has written about business journalism education in Journalism and Mass Communication Educator and The Business Journalist, the publication of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
He also was managing editor of the SABEW web site and blogs about business journalism at www.talkingbiznews.com. For three years, he wrote a twice-monthly blog called “The Roush Rant” for the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, where he was a lead instructor for six years. He has also created a web site on the history of business journalism and a web site for college students interested in careers in business journalism.
In 2010, Roush was named the Journalism Teacher of the Year in the Scripps Howard Foundation's National Journalism Awards.
