Good morning, Quartz readers!
Halfway through 2020, it’s evident that systemic problems—a pandemic, a global economic crisis, nationalism, climate change, inequity, racial injustice—are connected by both cause and effect. Journalists have an urgent role to play: We can expose those connections, explain risks, and make sense of complex events. But business journalism in particular has not risen to the occasion.
Business publications have the access, context, and duty to tease out the financial forces underpinning all of these problems. But we are part of the system we report on, along with the companies we cover, our sources at and around those companies, our advertisers, and the business leaders and investors who consume business news. Our perspectives have been constrained by the expectations and incentives that limit every other part of the system, as well as our perceptions of those limitations.
If we want a better, more inclusive economy, we need a new, more demanding form of business and economic journalism, one that questions the assumptions our organizations, industries, and economies are built on; investigates not only how the systems that govern them are working now, but how they might be improved; and prepares readers to take action to improve them.
Being progressive and inclusive requires us to ask more fundamental questions about the companies we cover. What makes some companies more successful than others? What makes some people more successful than others? What are the racial and social inequities that have left many people out? And what is the purpose of each company we write about—the real one, which is often not clear in its mission statement. What useful thing has it set out to achieve? Who does it benefit, and who does it harm?
We need to ask these questions of the economy, as well. Who does capitalism benefit and who does it harm? What can it accomplish? And what are the alternatives? If an economy is a means to an end, we have to keep asking: What is the end?
In recent years, management theory and corporate messaging have swung away from the orthodoxy of Milton Friedman’s shareholder capitalism, back to a more balanced view of the purpose and beneficiaries of the firm: a company exists to serve not only its owners, including those who have contributed even small amounts of capital, but also its workers, customers, suppliers, and the community and environment surrounding it. Like business itself, business journalism can also be more oriented toward solving big problems. These were founding principles of Quartz when we started in the wake of the last financial crisis, and we are committing to them even more firmly now. — Katherine Bell, editor in chief
Five things on Quartz we especially liked
Walk the talk. Following the recent protests, every company—from banks to car dealerships—seems to have messaging in support of Black lives, although it’s too often vacuous. There is a better way, though it requires work, intent, and often a new business model. Sarah Todd’s deep dive into how to build antiracist companies draws nuanced lessons from a wide range of businesses—from the Watchmen writers room’s work to empower Black voices to Prudential’s tying of executive compensation to its diversity metrics. —Annalisa Merelli, geopolitics reporter
Clawing through the chaos of PPP data. How many ways can you misspell Chicago? The US companies filling out applications for Paycheck Protection Program loans—set up by the government to help companies pay staff and alleviate pandemic-induced hardship—managed to suggest at least 35 (my personal favorite: “CHICARGO”). The messiness of this dataset, which David Yanofsky expertly dissects, reflects the slipshod rollout of this imperfect (and dubiously effective) program and calls into question any data released as a result. —Alex Ossola, special projects editor
Dodging China tariffs. Donald Trump has raised taxes on Chinese exports to the US by more than 500%. As you might expect, people are cheating. Tim Fernholz and Dan Kopf look into how and by how much in this terrific analysis. They identify fishy trading patterns in products like paper towels and leather belts—and shed light on how Trump’s trade barriers might permanently alter global supply chains. —Ana Campoy, deputy economics editor
The less gory details. The murder of Fahim Saleh, a Bangladeshi-American tech entrepreneur, in New York City made headlines from Dhakar to Dumbo this week. While international tabloids focused on grizzly specifics and local media parsed crime rates and neighborhood trends, reporter Yomi Kazeem brought deep knowledge of Saleh’s Nigerian motorcycle-hailing startup, Gokada, to help readers understand who he was and why he mattered. And don’t miss Yomi’s follow up on the arrest. —Max Lockie, deputy news editor
Nollywood remakes the classics. Another great one from Yomi Kazeem shows how Nigeria’s bustling, colorful movie industry is barely 30 years old and already remaking some of its most popular flicks from its early days of lo-fi quality DVDs and VCDs. The box office is booming as the industry starts to emerge from coronavirus, and licensing dollars from Netflix and others are prompting producers and their backers to green-light remakes and sequels. It’s a model Hollywood itself has taken to in recent years. —Yinka Adegoke, Africa editor
Fun fact about the work week
Case of the Mondays. They haven’t always been days to dread: It used to be fairly standard to stay home on Monday. Most pre-industrial revolution workers in the West took Sunday to observe—with varying degrees of devoutness—a sabbath. From there, the idea was that you’d show up when you liked to do the work needed to get by.
Then along came factories with their tireless machines. Irregularity worked poorly for factory bosses, who offered a more structured, but ultimately more restrictive, pattern. Thus, the Saturday-Sunday weekend was born—a victory for labor reformers, though it would take another century to fully catch on.
Read more about the work week past, present, and future. Want to get Weekly Obsessions (they’re free!) delivered straight to your inbox?
✦ For members: Where is VC funding going?
Silicon Valley receives far more venture capital investment than any other region, but can you guess the top cities for VC funding outside the US? Here’s a hint: four of the top five are in Asia. One is in Europe.
In the 90s, US companies took home about 95% of all VC investment; today it’s about 50%. As recently as 2013, just four cities in the world were home to unicorns—startups worth at least $1 billion—but by 2019, 84 cities could claim at least one.
The geography of startups and tech is changing rapidly, and the rest of the world is catching up to the US. This week’s presentation for Quartz members looks at that change, including the barriers faced by startup hubs in developing economies, and the advantages they have over traditional clusters like Silicon Valley, New York, and Boston.
Find out more about where the next tech giants will come from by becoming a Quartz member. You’ll also get access to our guides on The VC Boom and Why Startups Fail and to our presentation on how Covid-19 is changing venture capital.
Five things from elsewhere that made us smarter
A dethroned leader. The US Centers for Disease Control used to be one of the world leaders in public health. During the pandemic, the agency has fallen short in leadership. This failure comes from what should have been a perk: being apolitical. Unfortunately, as Nicholas Florko writes for STAT, politics are the only game where if you don’t play, you lose. Being physically isolated from the rest of Washington in Atlanta, Georgia, and having few Health and Human Services appointees means that the CDC has been stripped of its power to help respond to the greatest health threat of this century. —Katherine Ellen Foley, science and health reporter
Towers of terror. In Mexico, technicians repairing mobile phone towers dread a common discovery: parasite antennas installed by drug cartels that piggyback on telecom company infrastructure. Reuters reports that some workers have been threatened and even kidnapped to repay cartel equipment, while others are extorted for protection money. Some of that cash in turn comes from US and Chinese firms like AT&T and Huawei that operate in Mexico. One thing is clear: The Mexican government is looking the other way. —Tim Fernholz, senior reporter
When a Qatari prince made LA his playland. If you couldn’t get enough of the 2019 college admissions scandal, this one’s even more of a doozy. This deeply reported narrative by Harriet Ryan and Matt Hamilton for the Los Angeles Times chronicles sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani’s time as a student at the University of Southern California, where his non-scholarly pursuits allegedly included a $300,000 trip to Vegas, bribing a Department of Motor Vehicles employee to get a vanity license plate with his initials, and sponsoring an illegal kidney transplant for his trainer. Please, pass the popcorn. —Liz Webber, senior news curator
A game of chicken. The US poultry industry is actively exposing its workers to Covid-19, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is protecting corporations over workers, and the National Labor Relations Board —typically a bipartisan group of five members—only has three seats filled, all by Republicans. I had an inkling of the damages the Trump administration has done to our working class, but, writing for The New Yorker, Jane Mayer showed me precisely how serious the problems are. —Sudie Simmons, support manager
Music’s power in protest. After 23-year-old Black violinist Elijah McClain died at the hands of police, string musicians from across the country flew to Aurora, Colorado to play at a protest against local law enforcement. For The New York Times, Giulia Heyward’s inspiring piece shows how the moment went viral and cued up a chain of musical protests across the country. —Nicolás Rivero, tech reporter
Our best wishes for a relaxing but thought-filled weekend. Please send any news, comments, protest songs, and favorite city misspellings to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app and becoming a member. Today’s Weekend Brief was brought to you by Katherine Bell, Chika Dunga, Walter Frick, and Susan Howson.