Many journalists can't provide the value-added journalism that is needed today

Journalists pretend they spend their time investigating the intricacies of international affairs, covering the inner workings of the economic system, and exposing abuses of political and economic power. Although many aspire to do so (and occasionally do with great effect), the reality is far from the imagined sense of self.

Most journalists spend the majority of their time reporting what a mayor said in a prepared statement, writing stories about how parents can save money for university tuition, covering the release of the latest versions of popular electronic devices, or finding out if a sports figure’s injury will affect performance in the next match.

Most cover news in a fairly formulaic way, reformatting information released by others: the agenda for the next town council meeting, the half dozen most interesting items from the daily police reports, what performances will take place this weekend, and the quarterly financial results of a local employer. These standard stories are merely aggregations of information supplied by others.

At one time these standard stories served useful purposes because newspapers were the primary information hubs of the community. Today such routine information has little economic value because the original providers are now directly feeding that information to the interested public through their own websites, blogs, and Twitter feeds. Additionally, specialist topic digital operators are now aggregating and organizing that information for easy accessibility.

Town councils place their agendas and voting reports on their own websites, many police and fire departments operate continuously updated blogs and twitter feeds that provide basic emergency reports and what is being entered in their blotters and logs, performance centers and concert promoters offer websites and digital notifications of upcoming activities and events, and companies and business information media offer direct distribution of financial reports and news releases to the public. All of these are stripping the value from newspaper redistribution of those kinds of information and making people less willing to pay for provision of that news.

To survive, news organizations need to move away from information that is readily available elsewhere; they need to use journalists’ time to seek out the kinds of information less available and to spend time writing stories that put events into context, explain how and why they happened, and prepare the public for future developments.  These value-added journalism approaches are critical to the economic future of news organizations and journalists themselves.

Unfortunately, many journalists do not evidence the skills, critical analytical capacity, or inclination to carry out value-added journalism. News organizations have to start asking themselves whether it is because are hiring the wrong journalists or whether their company practices are inhibiting journalists’ abilities to do so.

How Companies Can Help Your Business Succeed

At the root of many successful businesses is an effective cash flow structure that is able to manage accounts receivable and lending against receivables. Cash flow management is vital to the profitability of a business, because commercial enterprises must also pay bills, just like everybody else.

A factoring service is designed to simplify accounts receivable management, by making it possible for the business to get a loan against receivables, based on the credit rating of the person who owes the money to the business. This type of service is an option for any business that has been having trouble collecting on unpaid invoices. Factoring companies are used in many industries and for businesses of all sizes, because they can assist in creating an efficient financial processing framework.

Factoring companies are responsible for helping a business convert accounts receivable into cash. A factoring company, sometimes referred to as accounts receivable financing, will help any business manage their financial resources more effectively and efficiently. The goal is for the business to enhance its collections during day-to-day business operations and convert its existing receivable assets into immediate cash flow. These newly available funds can then pay the necessary bills that are generated from running of a business.

It's important to first understand how accounts receivable funding is different from a standard loan obtained from a bank. Accounts receivable funding, or factoring loans, is not a loan in the common sense, but instead a transfer of assets (receivables in this case) to a third-party. While banks can take months to approve a regular commercial loan, an advance on receivables from the correct agency can help a business convert its own resources to cash within days and provide money for day-to-day operations. The factoring service merely provides the money already owed to the business, in advance of receiving payment from the business' customers. Businesses that take advantage of this kind of service do not have to wade through a bank's red tape in order to receive the cash it needs to keep its bills paid on time.