Blogging from the 2008 NAB-RTNDA conference in Las Vegas.

Patti Dennis, VP/news director at KUSA-TV: Lynn Jimenez, business reporter for KGO-AM; Carrie Schwab Pomerantz, chief strategist for Charles Schwab; and FBN’s Stuart Varney participate in a financial reporting discussion.

Fox Business Network anchor Stuart Varney moderated a discussion on the business of business reporting. With the U.S. economy either in or nearing a recession, the talk took on a more urgent tone about the importance of including business reporting in local news broadcasts.

KGO reporter Lynn Jimenez talked about how being a business reporter meant being a reporter, first. “Last week I was covering the [elusive] torch relay” through San Francisco. To which someone in the audience joked “when you could find it.”

At the end, Varney asked the crowd made up of reporters, producers and news managers, what the importance of business reporting boils down to: “To educate the public” or “for ratings.” Most of the crowd rose their hands for the former.