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La identidad de The Economist
Abstract
The Economist posee una identidad única, distintiva, que resulta de un conjunto de cualidades mantenidas a lo largo de siglo y medio, y otras incorporadas conforme se ha desarrollado su actividad de difusión de ideas, juicios, opiniones y hechos. Al hilo de su historia, el presente estudio procura analizar la identidad de la revista desde una triple dimensión: editorial, empresarial, corporativa.
... Taking such a stance, the influential journalist, who would direct the Pall Mall Gazette between 1880 and 1883, participated in the intense discussion between supporters and detractors of anonymous journalism, aligning himself without reservation with the latter (Maurer 1948). That debate constituted a turning point in the slow but progressive conversion of the English press from traditional and rigid anonymity, inherited from the eighteenth century, to the modern system of bylines (Arrese 1995). ...
... From a management perspective, another of the important aspects of anonymity is how it inhibits the recognition of the real market valuation of The Economist's journalists. Peter David, head of the international section, commented in 1992 that, especially in the case of young journalists, ignorance about their real contributions to the magazine is only overcome by external professionals after a considerable amount of time (Arrese 1995). ...
... However, in addition to its contribution to the consistency of The Economist's brand messages, anonymity is also an essential feature of the newspaper's brand identity. In 1992, Nicholas Colchester, one of the journalists who were more aware of the peculiarities of the weekly, highlighted three key values of The Economist brand: "Independence"-derived from the special status and role of the editor; "compactness"-that prevented newsroom bureaucracy and enabled interdisciplinary work; and "anonymity"-editorial consistency and quality guarantee (Arrese 1995). More recently, John Micklethwait has connected anonymity with The Economist brand's ethos: ...
The Economist is nowadays, at its 177 years, the only major news brand that remains loyal to the rule of anonymity with which it was born in 1843. As a unique exception, but also as a journalistic model admired and respected around the world, the magazine’s long romance with anonymity, and the reasons why this tradition has been maintained, despite going against the tide, makes interesting reading today, both from a professional and a business point of view. This article analyses and discusses the practice of anonymity in The Economist from its inception to the present, with the idea to connect its perceived advantages with some current debates on the problems of journalism. In order to do that, the article will focus on three editorial and business dimensions—editorial consistency, newsroom management and brand identity—with which the anonymous ethos of the weekly has contributed to strengthening its capacity to remain a unique news brand. Although the advantages of anonymity are the central point of this work, some related problems will also be noted.
... Not surprisingly, as economic information became more abundant, datasets from newspapers and journals allowed for more sophisticated and informationintensive products (yearbooks, business histories, monthly statistics, etc.). Already in the nineteenth century, typical examples of "data-driven journalism" were statistical products of The Economist such as the "Statistical Supplement", "Commercial History & Review", "The Investor's Monthly Manual", and "The Monthly Trade Supplement", among others (Anonymous 1943;Arrese 1995). ...
... In the twentieth century, the experience of some business news media in managing big amounts of data and information led to the creation of data-driven business news departments; examples include, but are not limited to, the Economist Intelligence Unit from The Economist, Dow Jones News from The Wall Street Journal, and Fintel from The Financial Times and Extel (Arrese 1995;Kynaston 1988;Wendt 1982). But again, the logic of the informative potential of data was longstanding. ...
This article argues that the logic of data journalism has been a driving force in journalism since its beginnings, particularly in the case of economic journalism. Economic journalism has historically integrated five central aspects of data journalism: working with data and databases; the development of a conceptual infrastructure for data analysis and storytelling; the regular use of visualization tools; the application of new technologies to the peculiarities of economic data; and the integration of different professional profiles in the newsrooms. By analyzing economic journalism - the first among equals of data journalism - the article argues that data journalism can extract some lessons from economic news in order to improve the extension of data stories to every news beat. Four recommendations are drawn: the importance of a balanced management of data exuberance, their newsworthiness, and the analytical and conceptual tools used to interpret them; the aim of visualization should be more conceptual than descriptive, in order to simplify and clarify complex issues, and relationships between data, to make the explanation of current affairs more relevant and understandable; data journalism needs a harmonious integration of investigative projects with day-to-day coverage; and data journalism should avoid the perils of technological determinism.
... With the emergence of the economic journal, titles such as the French Journal des Economistes (1841), which would become one of the pillars of French economic liberalism, and the Giornali degli economisti (1857) in Italy, played a leading role. In this group of publications, Britain's The Economist (1843) stands out as one of the first examples of economic journals with a marked journalistic character (Arrese 1995;Dudley-Edwards 1993). The editorial evolution of The Economist, especially under the editorship of Walter Bagehot, is representative of the changes that were taking place in the British journalistic market and in the field of economics as a matter of public and scientific interest. ...
The news and economic activity are two closely related phenomena. Ever since writing helped human beings to manage in society, the recording and transmission of relevant information about events related to their economic and commercial activities have been essential tasks. However, it was not until the sixteenth century, one hundred years after Gutenberg developed the use of movable type, and during a period of great commercial expansion resulting from the discovery and exploitation of the New World, that we can speak of the creation of stable and advanced systems for the dissemination of economic news. Since then, the development of economic journalism has been marked by the intersection of historical events in several interrelated fields: the history of economics and finance, the history of economic thought, the history of technology, and the history of media and journalism. This chapter examines this evolution in five stages, coinciding with the development of commercial capitalism (price currents), industrial capitalism (economic magazines), financial capitalism (financial newspapers and business magazines), state capitalism (economic newspapers, business sections in general dailies, and the first audiovisual business news), and popular capitalism (popularization of business and economic news and development of multimedia content). In all of these phases, economic and financial booms and busts, the struggle between new and old economic ideas, certain social and political changes, the emergence of new professions, and the implementation of technological advances have been the key factors in the configuration of economic and business journalism.
... W.R. Greg supported him unreservedly; Herbert Spencer must have found it much harder not to be listed as an author at the bottom of his articles. 20 For their part, Hutton and Bagehot, both under Wilson and when they succeeded him, were active supporters of anonymous text in the newspaper, although both would, on various occasions, collaborate in other media by signing their works. Bagehot was particularly aware of the importance of anonymity for the continuity of publications, both from a publishing and business point of view. ...
The Economist is the only major news brand today that has remained true to the tradition of anonymity with which it was born in the mid-nineteenth century. As an exception, but also as a journalistic model admired and respected around the world, The Economist’s long practice of anonymity, and the reasons that, at different times in its history, have led it to maintain that tradition, despite going against the tide, have interesting readings today from a journalistic perspective. At the same time, the analysis of how the publication has managed to relax, little by little, the no bylines rule in order to adapt to an era of increasing visibility and transparency, without losing the basic virtues of anonymity, serves as good example of the interest in managing in a strategic way personal and collective identities into the newsrooms.
LA ECONOMÍA es la única ciencia en la que dos investiga-dores pueden ganar el Premio Nobel diciendo exactamente lo contrario ". Esta afirmación sobre los economistas, que forma parte de un amplio catálogo de chistes y comentarios sarcásticos -por lo demás habituales en cualquier profesión-, refleja una de las dificultades fundamentales a la hora de informar sobre acontecimientos económicos con el necesario rigor, haciendo uso de los avances de las ciencias económicas. La Economía no es una ciencia exacta, tampoco pertenece al ámbito de las ciencias naturales, sino que plantea muchos de los problemas propios de las ciencias sociales. Teniendo en cuenta esta realidad, cabe esperar que los medios de comunicación jueguen un papel fundamental en ese proceso. Sin embargo, conforme la Economía como ciencia se ha ido haciendo más sólida y compleja, y los medios de comunicación han pasado a ser masivos, se han ido levantado una serie de barreras entre los profesionales que la investigan y quienes tienen la función de informar sobre la actualidad económica. Esas barreras se concretan en el desencuentro entre ambas profesiones, un desencuentro que se debe superar si, como parece, es un bien deseable la mejora de la cultura económica del ciudadano.
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