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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

COMMENTARY: Despite Appearances, Spot on Bankers List Not for Sale

Despite Appearances, Spot on Bankers List Not for Sale From The Newsroom by Michael Hart We’ve all seen the special “Best of ” editions that every publication under the sun publishes at least once a year (and more often if they think they can get away with it). Every paper from the Los Angeles Times to the Pasadena Weekly and back again gives us what they call the unvarnished truth on where in its coverage area you can find anything from the best taco to the most romantic drive to the liveliest place to listen to Dixieland jazz between Avenue X and Street Y on Thursday nights from 8 to 11 p.m. the paper’s choice often sounding suspiciously like the same joint that has a four-color ad on the facing page. Publishers do their best to insist that categories like “Best Woman-Owned Saddle Shop” or “Best Place to Get a Haircut While Listening to Hip Hop” are “editorially-driven” and that it’s just a coincidence that some of their longtime advertisers happen to fit into them. The poor editors of these newspapers, buried under the extra work these special editions require made larger because of all the extra ad revenue they generate can do little but nod in agreement and hope somebody believes them. Only if you’re the kind whose lips move as you’re reading this will you be surprised to see what comes next: Me wanting to say, “That’s not us.” This issue includes a special report identifying what the San Fernando Valley Business Journal believes are the Valley’s most highly respected bankers. The process by which those individuals were selected is similar to that we used earlier this year when we featured the Valley’s top attorneys and 25 Economic Engines that drive the local economy. It is similar to the way we will soon select a list of highly respected accountants to be featured in a special report late next month. The criteria clearly is qualitative rather than quantitative, which has to be a given considering this is an industry in which there is every kind of client imaginable and perhaps the most important quality any of them expects from their banker is a reputation for honesty, credibility and ethical behavior. And those who sell ads for our paper had nothing to do with deciding who would appear on the list. Now you get the chance to decide whether you believe me which, I admit, is hard to do given that there will likely be ads nearby telling you how proud certain banks are of their employees whose names happen to appear on the list. Suddenly I feel I’m in the same boat as all those beleaguered editors whose integrity is questioned as they select the “Best Place to Get a Spinach and Mushroom Calzone on Sunday Night When All the Other Calzone Places Are Closed.” Here’s a rough idea of how the individuals who appear on our list of the Valley’s Top 25 Bankers got there: First, we asked readers for nominations, and got quite a few from both in and out of the banking industry. Second, I personally solicited suggestions from a wide number of people I believed would be familiar with the industry. Patterns developed, the same names were mentioned more than once, information was passed around the newsroom, and before you know it there was a list. It is a collaborative process but, ultimately, I am responsible for making the decision on who is on it. At some point, that list falls into the hands of the non-editorial members of our newspaper staff when they invite those being honored to a reception. And yes, the list also falls into the hands of advertising account representatives. Consequently, you will see ads in this issue identifying individuals on the list of bankers we’re honoring, and you might reach the conclusion because you’ve seen it happen in other publications that those on the list paid to be there. I’m probably, by nature, more cynical and suspicious than most of our readers, so I’d think it too. But it isn’t the case. Every issue of the Columbia Journalism Review has a couple of pages of Darts (accounts of journalism organizations that got it wrong) and Laurels (the ones that got it right). Naturally, the Darts are always more fun to read and most of them have to do with inappropriate activities on the part of editorial staffs to further the cause of their publishers which typically is to generate revenue. People like me live in fear of seeing their names on that page. The line that divides the editorial and sales staffs at a newspaper is characterized as “that of church and state,” the “Chinese wall” and “non-existent” by some, and warrants hours of discussion in newsrooms all over the country. That is because it is not nearly the black-and-white issue that many of us wish it were. As with many of the philosophical issues that guide the journalism profession, there are few absolutes with this one. Nevertheless, the baseline a newspaper must start with to have credibility with its readers is editorial independence; and if a newspaper does not have that, it is useless to its advertisers as well. As far as I can tell regardless of whether their banks bought ads or not the 25 individuals in this special report on Valley banking are highly respected in their industry. And note just for the record there is no “Best Banker Who Can Loan You Money Between 2 and 4 p.m. on a Saturday Afternoon” category. Michael Hart is editor of the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].

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