Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post business columnist Steve Pearlstein has a word of caution for newspapers that are planning to jump on the hyperlocal bandwagon: "Too much local news is not sophisticated."

Speaking at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers annual conference, Pearlstein maintained that while local news was important, it can't come at the expense of a business section.

"Every newspaper should have a business section. If your business page is not as good as USA Today's business page, there ought to be a good reason for that."

Pearlstein questioned why editors would choose to run copy written by a "young journalist writing about a local news story" in lieu of a syndicated business column from a well-respected source.
 
"You may feel good as an editor because you're localizing a story... and you have done the best with the resources you have, but it is a mistake to confuse what you can do with the resources you have with what your readers want and need," Pearlstein said. "And what they want and need is a single source every day, basic comprehensive file of news and analysis from a credible source in convenient form."

He also offered up an assessment of the newspaper industry and more specifically the business news field, contending that "there are too many newspapers." In Pearlstein's view, a reduction in the number of newspapers will lead to improvements in business journalism because, in a hyper-competitive journalism market, business sections are the first to go in the name of cost-cutting.
 
"Things will probably get worse [for newspapers] before they get better, but they will get better," Pearlstein said. And they will get better because people will pay for news. Not everyone. We won't have as many customers as before, I suppose. But we will have customers, and they will pay more."

Sources: Poynter Romenesko,  Talking Biz News