News organizations are pretty good at asking questions.
Just don’t expect them to answer questions posed by other news interests. That’s when they curl up like P.R. people with an aversion to dealing with … with … with the media.
For instance, you may be curious about why Dow Jones & Company/Wall Street Journal recently and suddenly pulled the plug on its well regarded two-year-old Environmental Capital blog.
You won’t learn much from the official online posting at the site, headlined “So Long, And Thanks for All the Fish.” That posting, by reporter Keith Johnson, will tell you that after two years and 2,000-plus posts, “Environmental Capital is closing its virtual doors.”
Which, of course, now has happened. “It’s been, in equal measure, a fun, grueling and educational ride,” he wrote.
Perhaps a hint lies in Johnson’s final posting that “the biggest thanks of all goes to our readers - both of you.” But again, no details. He did say that readers can “get your fix of environmental and energy news” at the Journal’s environment and energy/oil/gas sites. For many, that likely sounded unconvincing.
But why, exactly, was environmentalcapital suddenly being shuttered? Did it somehow not measure up to what was expected of it? And, if so, how?
Did top editorial managers fear it was drawing reporters’ time and energy from the “dead-trees” version of the paper? Was it losing money, and were revenues key in the decision to close it down? Will the new news void be filled elsewhere … really filled?
Those are questions Dow Jones Vice President for Communications Robert H. Christie chose not to address … so we regret we can’t knowledgeably answer them here. (It’s little comfort that the Columbia Journalism Review, in its observatory blog, hit a similar brick wall in getting to the bottom of the demise of environmentalcapital.)
Instead, Christie’s (non)response in full, after being asked by both e-mail and voice message:
As a matter of policy, we don’t discuss editorial decisions or financial performances of our publications, but we remain committed to covering environmental business issues in our news pages.
The end. So be it. Imagine how that no-comment response might have sat with one of Dow Jones’ own intrepid reporters.