Economic News Reporting Skills Pivotal As Tariffs Dominate Global Headlines

Barnama

19 hours ago

United States (US) President Donald Trump's shocking 'Liberation Day' announcement on April 2 to impose debilitating tariffs on 168 countries, including Malaysia, precipitated what was surely almost exclusive coverage of tariffs internationally for the trade war he started as a result.
KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 (Bernama) -- Journalists are keenly aware that knowledge in business and economics reporting is a pivotal component in covering domestic, regional and international issues competently, with tariffs now dominating global headlines.
And if the sudden imposition of tariffs was not enough, the daily flip-flops by the Trump administration, the 90-day pause, the US Federal court ruling the tariffs unlawful, the appeals court reinstating them, and the on-and-off trade tension between economic superpowers, the US and China, have only added to the overall confusion.
Ironically, even American politicians supporting Trump's policies did not fully comprehend what they were and how they would raise the prices of goods for which American consumers would ultimately pay.
Undeniably, journalists from all over scrambled to Google searches seeking information on tariffs, which are actually taxes or levies imposed on imports into the US.
But there is no time to complain, and neither can we complain, for it is incumbent upon us to tell the story to the world not only daily but on a real-time basis.
More often than not, we are called upon to do too many things.
This is a lot for journalists in Malaysia and elsewhere to digest. As the common adage goes, journalists can be 'a jack of all trades and master of none.'
This entails reporters who cover other beats to apprise themselves of what tariffs mean, their impact on economies, on business and break them down to explain in simple terms how it affects the everyday lives of global citizens.
Veteran business journalist and former editor of Malaysian Business and Focus Malaysia, Charles Raj, opines that knowledge of business and economic news in reporting is important, as nearly every area of journalism today involves it.
For example, crime and court reporters will need to be familiar with business and finance when reporting on commercial crime stories and financial and business-related court cases, said Charles, who has been a journalist for 40 years and is now a media consultant.
Even reporters on the political beat must understand data on economics, gross domestic product (GDP) or growth figures, trade and financial statistics as well as investments, he told Bernama ahead of the National Journalists' Day (HAWANA) 2025 themed "Journalism in the New Era: Embracing AI, Safeguarding Ethics' to be officiated on June 14 by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Business journalism specialisation makes career shifts more achievable
But there is a silver lining to all this.
'A business reporter has a faster route to specialisation on economics, finance, markets, commodities and corporate moves which lead to stronger access to influential sources,' says Datuk Yong Soo Heong, the president of the Malaysian Press Institute (MPI).
'The analytical skills and understanding of business and industry through business reporting make career shifts into communications, investor relations, financial public relations or even corporate strategy roles more achievable,' he said.
Yong, who is the former general manager of the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), with a total of 42 years of experience in journalism, 30 of which were in business journalism, quipped that 'this niche expertise also leads to higher salaries.'
Some business reporters transition into greater editorial leadership roles or jobs with global relevance because business stories like the ongoing tariffs issue have major international dimensions, he said.
Looking back, the Asian financial crisis in 1998, where Malaysia imposed capital controls to insulate the ringgit against excessive market speculation, can be considered a watershed event for reporters of that era.
The fact that it affected life not only in Malaysia but regionally as well forced even general news reporters who were more adept at covering politics, education, sports, health, and accidents to also cover business and economics news, for these issues now made headlines on a daily basis.
Initially, it was incumbent mainly on the business reporters who cover markets to churn out economic news stories on the financial difficulties, lay-offs, corporate closures and bailouts to tide the country over the financial crisis.
It was a crisis indeed as higher prices and costs were the adverse results from the ringgit's plunge to as low as RM5.20 at one point against the US dollar in the foreign exchange market, then affecting all and sundry.
No longer could one attempt to write banking and financial news and not know that when the ringgit's numerical figures go up vis-à-vis other currencies comparatively, it means its value has actually depreciated and not the other way around.
Like court reporting, economic news reporting can be somewhat intricate, demanding a certain amount of understanding of economic and trade policies.
Those covering the Prime Minister's beat have to be well read on how markets function, the intricacies of the forex market, how currencies are traded, interest rate fluctuations, takeovers and mergers, bonds and sukuk issuance, as well as GDP and inflation data, which eventually evolved into politically sensitive matters.
As stock markets roiled and companies closed down, Malaysian journalists brought news to the people of the measures taken by the government to mitigate the impact of the economic crisis and reassure the public.
Obviously, the ensuing higher costs from costlier imports impacted the everyday life of Malaysians, for which daily reports were the order of the day.
For instance, parents financing their children's overseas education suddenly found themselves in a financial quandary, having to pay almost double for the fees overnight.
This was due to the marked depreciation of the ringgit against a basket of foreign currencies, which included the US dollar, British pound, major European currencies like the Deutschemark, as well as the Japanese yen and Australian dollar – destinations frequented by Malaysian students seeking tertiary education overseas.
Street vendors and gig workers must understand how money moves, as it affects all
Veteran broadcast journalist and Bernama TV English Current Affairs producer, Gerard Ratnam, said there was a time when business news was just for boardrooms.
'But today, even the street vendor or gig worker needs to understand how money moves as it affects all of us.
'Take the word 'tariff' for example, and how it has become coffee shop talk. It is interesting to see how everyday people talk about it — and that is why business reporting is more important than ever, because today everyone needs to be in the know,' he said.
Just recently, it could be anybody's guess that the most-written and quoted word at the 46th ASEAN Summit and related summits with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and China, as well as ASEAN Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in May, chaired by Malaysia, would undoubtedly have been 'tariffs.'
The advantages that reporters nowadays have compared with their counterparts during the 1998 Asian financial crisis were the wide availability of information on the Internet, serving as vital background material.
Transcription apps and AI chatbots are modern-day tools for journalists
Technological advances such as electronic mail or emails, WhatsApp social media services on their mobile phones, transcriptor applications whereby volumes of audio recordings can be converted into written text within a matter of minutes, come in handy to facilitate the dissemination of news quickly on a real-time basis.
Even more useful is the availability of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots such as ChatGPT that can write news stories for the reporter in a matter of seconds, which many reporters of the days gone by might argue as killing journalistic creativity and worse still, smacking of plagiarism - a taboo in journalism.
Nevertheless, that is a topic for a later debate, but it is undoubtedly a new era for journalism, thanks to technology and AI.
But now what matters most to journalists, both seasoned practitioners as well as newbies, is to arm themselves with knowledge to comprehend business and economic news, trade tensions, free trade agreements and import levies.
By better understanding what is happening to the world due to the imposition of tariffs, they can write their stories in as simplistic a manner as possible and demystify complex issues, and in the process adhere to the often-used adage in newsrooms that even housewives should understand the most intricate of issues affecting the economy.
As media practitioners celebrate HAWANA 2025, new reporters and students bent on pursuing journalism as a career might ask how one becomes a specialist in economic news and business reporting.
The tools are similar to other journalistic disciplines, which include expanding one's knowledge via constant and voluminous reading, making contacts, writing as much as possible and as often as possible, but most importantly, being passionate about journalism by treating it as a vocational calling.
-- BERNAMA
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