Reading Eagle risks bank panic by under-reporting holdings by a factor of 1,000

by Steve Reinbrecht

The Reading Eagle tried to look like a real newspaper Thursday and tell us about banks in Berks.

But the editors are so clueless they didn’t notice their numbers were off by 1,000.

They reported that the banks in Berks have $9.8 million in deposits. Perhaps because my background in philosophy and poetry leads me to question the world around me, that number struck me as a bit low. I checked their source, the FDIC, to find that it’s really $9.8 BILLION in deposits, a more comforting number. 

Did an office full of journalists, entrusted to keep Berks residents informed about important news that affects our lives, catch this silly mistake as they were collecting and editing the information and proofreading their pages?

Nah. As usual, the main focus seems to be filling pages with words.

The Eagle wants to appear like a real newspaper and have business news, but it’s easy to see it doesn’t work too hard to get to the truth.

Probably because business is so behind the times here in Berks County, and the Latino population has been so neglected by established banks and businesses, that the Eagle’s advertisers don’t want to see the truth posted next to their ads.

Berks would better prosper if Latino entrepreneurs got easier credit, I bet.

In fact, the very edition of the Eagle's “Business Weekly” supports my idea.

In an interview with James Buerger, senior vice president and chief lending officer for Community First Fund, the Eagle asked “What is the greatest need in lending in the Reading area?”

“The Latino market is under-represented in the Reading market," he said. "We're [the fund is] involved in the Main Street program. It has a lot of potential and a long way to go. But it will help the core of Reading be revitalized, which will help revitalization spread out. As the core gets revitalized, then the next block will get revitalized and then the next block and so on. We're seeing this in Lancaster and elsewhere. … That's the whole concept: to start with the four or five blocks of Penn Street and work with the business community.”

But the Eagle rarely if ever has thoughtful stories about:

• Lending to Latinos
• The lack of progress with Reading’s Main Street program
• The city’s micro-loan or façade-improvement program
• Reading’s economic development efforts
• The city’s plan for downtown 

If it’s all smoke and mirrors, the Eagle should report that.

Business people are generally good at detecting bullshit. But they have reasons they don’t want people knowing the truth, so they are really good at producing bullshit.

Check out some of this week's business content:

 Duh.

 Frigid weather is over?

So which is it?

It’s the media’s important job to find the truth.