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Workshop Registration
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
Online Seminars
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
Hooked on Kindle
By Chris Roush
Tracking the Business Behind the Tomato
By Jonathan Higuera
Five Questions with Bill Choyke
By Jonathan Higuera
Finding the Economy's Silver Lining
By Dick Weiss
Double Whammy: Oil and Housing
By Jennifer Hopfinger
Tackling the challenge of a one-person business staff
Q. Do you have any suggestions for someone who is the only business reporter on her newspaper's staff? I could use some help structuring my coverage and focusing my energy effectively.-Sydney Leavens, Concord Monitor, Concord, N.H.
A. Being the only business reporter on your staff is obviously a tough challenge, but the good news is that you get to handle all the best business stories -- and that's what I'd advise. I'd decide what the most interesting businesses and business subject beats (meaning local industries) are in your region and focus your energy on those. There will likely be pressure -- sometimes subtle, perhaps more overt -- to write "good" stories about businesses and to focus on "what's good for the local economy" but I would resist this challenge and instead focus on the local businesses that are making interesting products, illustrating important trends in the broader economy (i.e., are they sending manufacturing jobs overseas? are they "offshoring" work to India or Ireland?) and are the engines of economic activity for your region. I'd let the wires handle whatever regional and national economic/business stories they can, and focus your energies on a few well-defined business beats that make sense for your region.
And I'd make alliances with others on the staff -- perhaps a regional reporter with some interesting businesses in that part of your circulation area, the city hall reporter who may come up with interesting biz stories through planning/zoning boards, the courts reporter who regularly checks filings -- who can be your "eyes and ears" for biz stories and pass along tips, as you obviously can't be everywhere. And I'd make it clear to your editors just what your goals are, so they don't have you wasting time and energy focusing on "perennials" that will remove your focus from potentially really good business stories.
--Jodi Schneider, Economics Editor, Congressional Quarterly. She is a former assistant managing editor at U.S. News & World Report, past president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, local business editor at The Washington Post and business editor at The Orlando Sentinel.
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Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
By Chris Roush
Tracking the Business Behind the Tomato
By Jonathan Higuera
Five Questions with Bill Choyke
By Jonathan Higuera
Finding the Economy's Silver Lining
By Dick Weiss
Double Whammy: Oil and Housing
By Jennifer Hopfinger
Tackling the challenge of a one-person business staff
Q. Do you have any suggestions for someone who is the only business reporter on her newspaper's staff? I could use some help structuring my coverage and focusing my energy effectively.-Sydney Leavens, Concord Monitor, Concord, N.H.
A. Being the only business reporter on your staff is obviously a tough challenge, but the good news is that you get to handle all the best business stories -- and that's what I'd advise. I'd decide what the most interesting businesses and business subject beats (meaning local industries) are in your region and focus your energy on those. There will likely be pressure -- sometimes subtle, perhaps more overt -- to write "good" stories about businesses and to focus on "what's good for the local economy" but I would resist this challenge and instead focus on the local businesses that are making interesting products, illustrating important trends in the broader economy (i.e., are they sending manufacturing jobs overseas? are they "offshoring" work to India or Ireland?) and are the engines of economic activity for your region. I'd let the wires handle whatever regional and national economic/business stories they can, and focus your energies on a few well-defined business beats that make sense for your region.
And I'd make alliances with others on the staff -- perhaps a regional reporter with some interesting businesses in that part of your circulation area, the city hall reporter who may come up with interesting biz stories through planning/zoning boards, the courts reporter who regularly checks filings -- who can be your "eyes and ears" for biz stories and pass along tips, as you obviously can't be everywhere. And I'd make it clear to your editors just what your goals are, so they don't have you wasting time and energy focusing on "perennials" that will remove your focus from potentially really good business stories.
--Jodi Schneider, Economics Editor, Congressional Quarterly. She is a former assistant managing editor at U.S. News & World Report, past president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, local business editor at The Washington Post and business editor at The Orlando Sentinel.
Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism