Katrina Re-Prioritizes Coverage for The Times-Picayune

It's not often that a business desk has its priorities turned upside down practically overnight. But such a scenario has played out in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

The storm that devastated miles of the Gulf Coast of this country in August has altered the make-up of countless papers across the region. The business beat is among the many sections of the newsroom that is charged with reporting this massive story.

Readers and businesses depended on their local papers to deliver the news they could get from no other source. To learn how The Times-Picayune in New Orleans has approached this monumental task, Managing Editor Kevin Sweeney spoke with Picayune Money Editor Kim Quillen.

1. How have priorities changed on the business desk as far as story assignments?

We realized in the weeks after Katrina that our pre-storm beat structure was no longer effective. There were large new areas of coverage that we needed to address, like insurance, a severe labor shortage, and the obstacles businesses were facing as they tried to get back up and running. So we held a staff brainstorming session to identify these new core themes, and we've made coverage of those themes a top priority. We plan to meet every few months to re-evaluate and re-prioritize so that our major areas of coverage will evolve as the story unfolds.

2. How are staffers dealing with the workload associated with covering this massive story?

Well, it's tough. We're all working hard and putting in long hours. An even bigger issue for us, however, has been the fact that half of the current business staff has been displaced by the storm.? So our people are coping with major personal issues in addition to a heavy workload. Everyone's holding up pretty well. And we've been trying to support each other. We've continued, for example, our tradition of celebrating staff birthdays in the office. These little morale-boosters make a difference when people are being pressed to their limits.

3. What format of stories has worked best?

Stories featuring the personal accounts of local people and businesses have been especially effective. Everyone down here has a story to tell, and most of them are pretty compelling. The anecdotes make our stories easier to relate to. We've also been running a question-and-answer column on Sundays that addresses readers' post-Katrina questions. People e-mail in their questions - most of which deal with insurance, mortgage and rebuilding issues. We do research and reporting and answer as many of these questions as possible each week. In doing so, we've been able to provide practical hands-on information to readers, and we've positioned our section as a resource for people as they go about the process of rebuilding their lives.

4. Have more business stories been featured on A1?

We have had a few more stories - especially our insurance stories - land on A1. So it's raised our exposure somewhat and revealed how important some of these business issues are for our readers. Every section of the paper, however, has been coming up with big stories to pitch for A1, so I think the competition for story slots on the front page has increased.

5. Has space increased or decreased since the storm?

Our space has decreased. As a result, we've had to greatly abbreviate our stock tables, a move that is probably going to be permanent. We're also no longer a stand-alone section on weekdays. In other words, we're usually on the back of the features or sports section.

6. What lessons have you learned?

I'm learning the importance of taking things one day at a time. Each day it seems like another dozen story possibilities pop up, and maybe it's just my personality, but there's a part of me that wants all of them done...yesterday. This is a situation where there are more stories than we can get to. So we're trying to pick our shots and do our best work. It's important to define your priorities and try stay focused on them. We'll be covering this story for a long time.

Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism