Although More Faint, the Insurance Beat Goes On.

There was once a time when the traditional insurance media would go beyond the breaking news stories to cover the insurance industry.

Long before the advent of social media, blogs and podcasts, there were beat reporters at many news organizations who would regularly provide in-depth coverage of the industry and get the details behind a big story.

Those stories weren't all consumer-focused, either, as they commonly are now. Nor did insurers have to compete for coverage against the emerging tech sector and other industries.

"I might talk about this and discuss how modeling might help insurers better understand risk and produce rates that are more accurate, and maybe help reduce the number of insolvencies in the industry," said Robert Hartwig, who currently serves as director of the Risk and Uncertainty Management Center at the University of South Carolina's Darla Moore School of Business.

Hartwig recalled how, when he was in a leadership position at the Insurance Information Institute, he would rely on the media's help when he found himself locked in a battle with trial lawyers who claimed insurers were using loopholes to avoid paying a large number of claims after major disasters.

"What I was able to do was a survey of all of our member companies to get a sense of how many claims had been filed, how many had been closed, how many were in the process of being paid and how many were in dispute," said Hartwig. "I was then able to provide that to the insurance beat reporters, all of whom knew me and knew I was credible. It was solid information coming from a solid source. They were willing to sit and talk with me about that, and then they would go ahead and publish it, and it would become part of the narrative."

For his part, Hartwig said he would routinely speak with the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Hartford Courant, Miami Herald, New Orleans Times-Picayune and many others. Many of those daily newspapers had beat reporters dedicated to covering insurance.

"Someone who might have been a coveted interview back in those days would've been [Maurice R. 'Hank'] Greenberg in his glory days at AIG. He was selective in granting interviews and access to his inner chamber. That would've been considered an incredible get, even if you were the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times or Forbes or Fortune," Hartwig said.

There are some exceptions to the rule. For its part, the Wall Street Journal remains dedicated to the insurance beat. Leslie Scism retired last summer after covering the industry for 30 years, but Jean Eaglesham has since picked up insurance coverage for the paper.

Chris Sharkey, associate director of public relations for AM Best, said he's seen some publications bring back insurance-focused reporters as some news events that heavily impact insurance, such as climate change, grab headlines.

"That said, we still work with some folks who are new to insurance--perhaps a general reporter and their editorput an assignment in their lap that morning--and so in speaking to the specific issues that they are covering, we also try to educate them," he said.