Business journalism is under more pressure — and more scrutiny — than at any point in the last two decades. The collapse of local newsrooms, the rise of financial social media, and the speed of algorithmic news distribution have created a landscape where a single poorly sourced story can move markets, and where the difference between good coverage and great coverage determines whether a company’s narrative is set by its communications team or its actual performance. For executives, founders, and communications professionals trying to build visibility in this environment, knowing which reporters to follow, and why, is not a minor research task. It is a strategic decision.
The impact of strong business journalism is concrete. Andrew Ross Sorkin’s DealBook coverage has shaped how Wall Street understands M&A deal culture for two decades. Gretchen Morgenson’s Pulitzer Prize–winning investigation into Wall Street conflicts of interest contributed to regulatory scrutiny that followed the 2008 financial crisis. Rebecca Jarvis’s ABC reporting on consumer economics translates Federal Reserve policy into stories that reach tens of millions of Americans. This is not ambient influence — it is journalism that drives decisions, policies, and reputations.
The fifteen journalists profiled below were selected on three criteria: track record of original reporting, measurable influence on their beat, and ongoing relevance to professionals who need to understand how business and finance are being covered today. The list spans broadcast, digital, print, and investigative formats — because business journalism is not a monolith, and the reporter who breaks a regulatory story is rarely the same person who explains that story to a mass audience.
Top business journalists
Henry Blodget | Business Insider
LinkedIn | Twitter | Wikipedia
Henry Blodget, a businessman and journalist, rose to fame as a web analyst during the dot-com bubble. After facing fraud charges, he co-founded Business Insider and became a media leader. He still writes about finance and technology, offering a critical perspective on the industry he once championed.
Henry Blodget’s career trajectory is a rollercoaster ride in the world of business journalism. He soared as a web analyst during the dot-com boom, picking winning tech stocks and becoming a Wall Street darling. However, his glowing recommendations came under scrutiny, leading to fraud charges for allegedly misleading investors.
Blodget never admitted wrongdoing but settled the case and was barred from the financial industry. Undeterred, he co-founded the influential Business Insider, becoming a media leader. Today, Blodget writes about finance and technology again, offering a critical eye on the very industry he once championed. His experience adds a unique perspective, shaped by both the highs and lows of the tech world.
Owen Thomas | Protocol
Owen Thomas is a journalist, blogger, and businessman. He worked as the founding executive editor of The Daily Dot, and earlier as a former executive editor of VentureBeat.
Currently, Owen Thomas works as a senior editor at Protocol, managing enterprise and financial technology coverage. Earlier, he was business editor at the San Francisco Chronicle and before worked as the editor-in-chief of ReadWrite, a technology news site. His writing experience incorporates performing as the West Coast Editor of Business Insider, executive editor at the Daily Dot, and managing editor of Gawker Media’s Valleywag. In addition, Owen worked in different positions at Time Inc.’s Business 2.0 magazine, the Red Herring, and Wired.
Thomas earned a bachelor’s degree in Civilizations from the University of Chicago and East Asian Languages.
Adam Parsons | Sky News
Adam Parsons was born in London. He started his career as a sports reporter for BBC News, appearing constantly on BBC One, and BBC Radio. He characterizes himself as a “jack of all trades”, being able to cover the topics from politics – and Brexit – through to terrorism, migration, business journalism, and breaking news. Earlier, he worked as a business correspondent, breaking a series of exclusives on no-deal Brexit planning, and the outcome of the financial crisis.
Before joining Sky News, Adam was a reporter on Wake Up To Money on BBC Radio 5 Live, and highlighted business news for Newsnight.
He’s recognized for delivering work to the tightest possible deadlines, as well as crafting long-form pieces that take months to finish. Aside from journalism, Parsons has a great talent for the commercial world, having been an executive board director at Travelodge Hotels, a $1bn business.
Alyson Shontell | Business Insider
Alyson Shontell started working in Business Insider in July 2008 as its sixth employee. She was a sales planner before entering the editorial team in 2010. There, she became a start-up writer and was the first to cover some of today’s largest tech enterprises, including Pinterest, Tinder, Uber, Instagram, and Snap.
Alyson was promoted to a senior correspondent, and later became Business Insider’s Executive Editor. In 2016, she was invited to occupy a position as editor-in-chief, at which point she became the youngest and only woman to manage a global business publication. Business Insider is now one of the largest media outlets in the world, with over 300 million monthly readers.
Catherine Clifford | CNBC
Catherine Clifford is a senior entrepreneurship writer at CNBC. Previously, she worked as a senior writer at Entrepreneur.com, the small business reporter at CNNMoney, and an assistant in the New York office for CNN.
In the 17 years that she has been a journalist, Catherine has worked at The New York Daily News, CNN, CNNMoney, Entrepreneur, and CNBC. She brilliantly can write quick hits and longer as well as character-driven stories.
After highlighting the evolution of the crowdfunding industry for years, she launched a web series on Entrepreneur.com, Crowdfund with Cat. Each episode gives her reader an inside scoop on crowdfunding news, best practices, and tips for running a crowdfunding campaign.
Though she was thrilled to get Crowdfund with Cat started, it only existed one season. Later, she joined the first team members to be part of getting CNBC’s new digital project, CNBC Make It, off the ground. After writing about entrepreneurship for years, the offer of being part of a journalistic startup within a larger company was convincing. She began it in August 2016 and since then the section has raised much faster.
Catherine has a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Dan Roth | LinkedIn
Dan Roth from New York is arguably one of the most powerful business reporters on the internet. As executive editor at LinkedIn, he’s responsible for ensuring that the most important articles of the day reached the most important people in their target industry.
Roth began his career at the Triangle Business Journal in Raleigh – the capital of the state of North Carolina. Currently, Roth is the editor-in-chief of LinkedIn – the world’s largest platform and publisher of business-relevant content. Before joining LinkedIn, he also worked as the senior writer and editor of Fortune.com, where he launched Dan Primack’s Term Sheet and other big brands.
Rhonda Abrams | USA Today
Rhonda Abrams is a famous writer, entrepreneur, and columnist in USA Today. She is recognized as one of the nation’s primary professionals on small business, entrepreneurship, and business planning. With her writing and powerful speeches, Rhonda has helped millions of young businessmen start and boost their own businesses. She became a successful columnist of the weekly small business and entrepreneurship column in USA Today. Her book, Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies became America’s bestselling business plan instruction and was sold with more than a million copies.
Rhonda’s 19 books on business planning and entrepreneurship have been translated into over 30 languages, adopted by more than 1000 business schools, including 22 of the top 25 Entrepreneurship courses in the US. Six-Week Start-Up, Business Plan in a Day, and Entrepreneurship: A Real-World Approach books became bestsellers.
Rhonda not only covers entrepreneurship topics; she lives it. She created four successful companies. Now she’s President and Chief Entrepreneur of PlanningShop, a publishing company creating content for small businesses. She was included in the 100 Most Influential Women in Silicon Valley and the Top 100 Small Business Influencers.
She studied at UCLA and Harvard University. Rhonda lives in Palo Alto, California, and her dog, ZuZu, comes to work with her every day.
Benjamin Pimentel | Top Business Journalists
Benjamin Pimentel is a San Francisco-based journalist specializing in enterprise technology and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. He has extensive experience covering major tech companies such as Oracle, Intel, Cisco, Nvidia, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, providing readers with insights into both corporate strategy and innovation trends. Pimentel’s reporting combines technical depth with a clear understanding of business impact, making his work essential for investors, entrepreneurs, and tech professionals tracking the fast-moving tech landscape.
Before focusing on technology journalism, Pimentel wrote for outlets including the San Francisco Chronicle and Dow Jones MarketWatch, building a reputation for thorough research and precise reporting. His work often highlights the intersection of emerging technologies, enterprise solutions, and business decision-making, offering actionable insights for readers seeking to understand the forces shaping Silicon Valley and the global tech industry.
Mario Toneguzzi | Freelance, Calgary
Mario Toneguzzi is a Calgary-based journalist with 37 years of experience covering business, real estate, retail, and economic news. For 35 years, he worked at the Calgary Herald, writing on a wide range of topics including commercial and residential real estate, small business, and city economics. His deep knowledge of local and national business landscapes has made him a trusted voice for both readers and industry professionals.
Now working as a freelance writer and communications consultant, Toneguzzi continues to bring decades of expertise to business reporting and media strategy. He provides insights for companies looking to navigate media relations, offering guidance grounded in his extensive experience as both a reporter and editor.
Karen Yuan | Fortune
Karen Yuan is Fortune’s newsletter editor, responsible for the supervision of their daily and weekly newsletters.
Earlier Karen was an assistant editor at the Atlantic, where she co-launched and edited its premium newsletter. She also created stories about the commercialization of Instagram poetry and the impact of a million-member Facebook group on the Asian diaspora, which was awarded by Princeton’s Asian American Studies department for its academic dexterity. Working on CNN’s social desk, she was one of the first reporters to write stories through innovative formats such as Twitter Moments and news bots.
Karen studied at Columbia University, where she organized a rare campus visit from Snap cofounder and CEO Evan Spiegel, interviewing him in front of hundreds of Snapchatting students. She lives in New York City.
Rey Mashayekhi | Fortune
Rey Mashayekhi is a writer at Fortune. He started working in the publication in late 2018 and primarily is writing about finance and politics.
Before joining Fortune, Rey has been working for New York City-based real estate news outlets The Real Deal and Commercial Observer, where he wrote news and trends in the world of commercial real estate.
He began his career as a commodities journalist writing news about the metals industry for trade publication American Metal Market, a division of business publisher Euromoney Institutional Investor. After graduating from Eugene Lang College at The New School, he served as news editor of The New School Free Press, his alma mater’s student-run publication. He also was part of a team that won two Associated Collegiate Press awards in 2012. A native of the Washington, D.C. area, Rey lives in Los Angeles.
Liz Claman | Fox Business Network
LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram
Liz Claman is a veteran business journalist and anchor of The Claman Countdown on Fox Business Network, known for her energetic delivery and in-depth interviews with top figures in finance and business. Previously at CNBC, she covered key financial markets and landed high-profile interviews, including with Warren Buffett. Claman’s reporting combines market insight with storytelling that makes complex business topics accessible to a wide audience.
Beyond her on-air work, Claman is recognized for her versatility and engagement with the broader business community. She balances journalism with philanthropy and athletics, leveraging her platform to highlight financial literacy, market trends, and key developments in global business.
Andrew Ross Sorkin | The New York Times / CNBC
Andrew Ross Sorkin is a multi-faceted figure in the world of business journalism and media. Sorkin is a financial columnist for The New York Times and co-anchors CNBC’s Squawk Box. He’s known for his insightful reporting on Wall Street, mergers and acquisitions, and the broader financial landscape. His work has garnered numerous accolades, including two Gerald Loeb Awards, a prestigious recognition in business journalism.
Sorkin founded DealBook, a financial news service published by The New York Times. This platform provides in-depth analysis and breaking news on mergers, acquisitions, and corporate maneuvers. DealBook has become a go-to source for business professionals and those interested in the intricacies of the financial world.
Sorkin delves beyond pure finance, exploring the ethical considerations corporations face. He advocates for businesses to address societal issues like gun violence and has played a role in influencing corporate policies on these matters.
Rebecca Jarvis | ABC News
LinkedIn | Twitter | Wikipedia
Rebecca Jarvis is a prominent figure in American business journalism, known for her investigative reporting and insightful analysis. Jarvis serves as the Chief Business, Economics, and Technology Correspondent for ABC News. She excels at uncovering stories and delivering in-depth analysis of the American economy, making her a trusted source for complex financial matters.
Her career path is impressive. Before joining ABC, she held positions at CBS News, including co-anchoring “CBS This Morning Saturday” and serving as Business and Economics Correspondent. She also gained experience at CNBC,reporting from major stock exchanges and contributing to other NBC networks.
Jarvis began her journalism journey writing for publications like Crain’s Chicago Business. Interestingly, she also has a background in investment banking and foreign currency trading. A lesser-known fact: she was even a finalist on season 4 of Donald Trump’s reality show “The Apprentice.”
Jarvis isn’t just about crunching numbers. She’s the host, creator, and managing editor of “Real Biz with Rebecca Jarvis,” showcasing her ability to translate complex economic issues into an engaging format for a wider audience. She also hosts podcasts like “No Limits with Rebecca Jarvis,” demonstrating her versatility as a journalist.
Gretchen Morgenson | NBC News Investigations
Gretchen Morgenson is a powerhouse in investigative business journalism, known for her relentless pursuit of exposing wrongdoing on Wall Street and in the corporate world.
Morgenson’s crowning achievement is her 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting. This prestigious award recognized her “trenchant and incisive” coverage of Wall Street, where she revealed deep conflicts of interest among powerful brokerage firms and analysts. This investigative work helped shed light on practices that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis.
Throughout her career, Morgenson has consistently challenged the status quo. She spent nearly two decades as a financial columnist and assistant business editor at The New York Times, where she wrote the popular “Fair Game” column. She later moved to The Wall Street Journal and currently works as a senior financial reporter for NBC News’ Investigations unit.
Morgenson’s expertise extends beyond investigative reporting. She co-authored the New York Times bestseller “Reckless Endangerment” with Joshua Rosner. This book delves into the causes of the 2008 financial crisis, exposing the greed, corruption, and lack of regulation that led to the economic meltdown.
How to engage with business journalists
- Research First: Understand the journalist’s beat, past stories, and preferred formats.
- Pitch Relevance: Tailor your pitch with data and angles that match their coverage.
- Respect Timelines: Journalists often work under tight deadlines; give them lead time.
- Avoid Generic Press Releases: Personalized, insightful pitches are far more effective.
- Follow Up Strategically: If no response, wait a week before a concise follow-up.
- Offer Expert Access: Exclusive insights or interviews increase the likelihood of coverage.
Engaging effectively with business journalists requires a foundation of thorough research into their specific beat, historical reporting, and preferred story formats. Once you understand their focus, you must tailor your pitch using relevant data and unique angles that align closely with their current coverage. Because these professionals often operate under high-pressure deadlines, it is vital to respect their schedules by providing significant lead time rather than requesting immediate turnarounds.
To stand out, move away from generic press releases in favor of personalized, insightful pitches that demonstrate a clear understanding of the journalist’s audience. If you do not receive an initial response, follow up strategically by waiting at least a week before sending a concise check-in. Finally, you can significantly increase the likelihood of coverage by offering exclusive access to expert interviews or providing proprietary insights that they cannot find elsewhere.
Alternative visibility strategy: PRNEWS.IO
Earning coverage from the journalists profiled in this guide is genuinely difficult — and that difficulty is precisely what makes such coverage valuable. A mention by Andrew Ross Sorkin or Gretchen Morgenson carries weight because those reporters are selective; a story that survives their editorial judgment is, in effect, endorsed by it. That process cannot be compressed or shortcut.
But editorial timelines do not align with communications timelines. A product launch, a funding announcement, a regulatory milestone, or a market entry has a window — and waiting six months for a long-form profile to materialize is not always operationally feasible. This is where a parallel commercial track becomes relevant, not as a substitute for earned coverage but as a separate tool with a different function.
PRNEWS.IO operates as a marketplace for sponsored content placement, giving communications teams the ability to select from a catalog of verified, niche-relevant media outlets and guarantee publication within a defined timeline — without the editorial approval dependency that makes earned coverage unpredictable. The platform’s industry filter allows you to narrow placement targets to outlets that are specifically relevant to your sector: financial services, enterprise technology, consumer brands, or others. Placements are indexed and carry do-follow link structures, which means they contribute directly to search visibility alongside their direct audience reach.
The critical distinction — one that sophisticated PR operations maintain carefully — is that these two tracks serve different purposes. PRNEWS.IO placements are appropriate for controlled, time-sensitive visibility: confirming your presence in a market, supporting an SEO strategy, reaching a specific audience that a particular outlet serves. Editorial coverage from the journalists listed above is appropriate for reputation-building that no commercial placement can replicate: the independent credibility that comes from a reporter choosing to tell your story.
The organizations that manage this most effectively treat both tracks as permanent, parallel infrastructure. They work PRNEWS.IO placements into their content calendar for predictable, controlled visibility. They invest the time to build genuine relationships with reporters — sharing data, providing access, becoming a credible source — so that when a story emerges that is genuinely worth telling, the reporter already knows who to call.
Conclusion
This list highlights some of the best business journalists shaping media, covering finance, entrepreneurship, technology, and corporate news globally. While no list can capture every influential voice, it provides a strong starting point for media engagement. I will continue to update this guide annually — and welcome reader nominations for emerging journalists making a real impact in business reporting.
