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Laying it on the ‘Lyne’ – Lansons interviews the BBC’s Joe Lynam

Has the recession/financial crisis changed business news reporting?
The financial crisis has had a huge impact on business news reporting as it has brought so many issues into the mainstream - two years ago terms like quantitative easing would not have been familiar to many people. The increased focus on the financial markets has meant that editors are keen to get insight from business correspondents and there is a lot more scope for in-depth business stories as consumer appetite has increased.

Consumer financial literacy has also been bolstered considerably – most people are now familiar with ‘the credit crunch’, the workings of the FSA and how the banking sector is one of the main building blocks of society.

Which topics, apart from the financial crisis, do you see as hot topics for 2009?
People will increasingly assume this year that the Tories will form the next government so will pay far more attention to the PM in waiting David Cameron and far less attention to this Labour administration.

Would you like to be approached with insights/thoughts by companies at a point where you can develop the stories with them?
For the last year I have been working on stories reacting to the news agenda. Before that there would have been more scope for proactive stories although the piece would need to be strong and impartial enough that so when I pitch it into my editor, he thinks its my idea.

Who would you most like to interview?
A man from Chicago called Barack Obama

If you weren’t a journalist what job would you see yourself doing?
I would like to be an architect and leave a lasting impact of my designs.