Five Questions with....Charles Crumpley

By Kanupriya Vashisht
June 4, 2007 1:22 PM

Charles Crumpley, editor of the Los Angeles Business Journal and former business editor of The Times-Picayune, relays some lessons and advice from his distinguished career to Kanupriya Vashisht.

1 What have you found to be the biggest differences between being editor of a weekly business journal and business editor of a daily newspaper? What challenges are unique to business weeklies?

The audience is different. Instead of a daily newspaper's mass audience, a business journal's audience tends to be executives, business owners and people of higher income.

What's more, we are a supplement, not a first read for most subscribers. Therefore, we don't repeat a story, even a big story, that's been thoroughly covered by the dailies. Instead, we might do the story behind the story, put a forward spin on it, or look at the story through the prism of the business person.

And we use no wire stories. Everything we publish we produce ourselves. That can be a big challenge in a slow news week, or a particularly hectic news week.

2 Are there some unique traits or beats of the Southern California business scene that affect how you cover it?

On the one hand, business is business pretty much everywhere. The nuts and bolts of business coverage are the same. On the other hand, Angelenos have greater awareness of environmental matters, energy conservation and organic products. Many of our stories reflect those sensibilities.

As for beats, the entertainment industry is big in Los Angeles, of course. But it is difficult for a weekly to cover it, what with two daily newspapers and daily cable television shows devoted to the industry, along with good coverage by the local and national newspapers. So we strive to pick off stories that are less star-oriented and more of interest to the local business community.

Most other beats that are big in L.A. are fairly standard. We give particular attention to these industries: The legal business; real estate; media; trade (the ports); retail and hospitality; fashion; banking and finance; technology; health care and biotechnology; advertising and PR; government as it relates to business and, perhaps surprisingly, manufacturing, which is still big here.

3 During your years as an editor of business stories in several places, what kinds of stories and projects seem to resonate most with readers?

People always appreciate a new take on an old story.

Also, I've always gotten good response to stories that don't just point out trends but explain them and demystify them. Beyond that, stories that explain motivation are always good.

4 What was one of the most difficult projects you have ever handled as an editor?

That's hard to answer. Most projects that are good are difficult in some way. Maybe the editor doesn't like it. Maybe the project involves skewering a friend of the publisher or a big advertiser. Often, the story is complicated and needs to be dramatically simplified. Of course, reporters (and I'm guilty of this) sometimes fall in love with one source or one side in a story and the editor has to step in and try to make sure that all sides are fairly represented. Projects often have several of these difficulties at the same time. In the end, a good project is the most satisfying to get published.

5 What do you expect of fresh reporters entering the field of business coverage? Do you have advice for them?

Lots of young reporters are concerned about demonstrating their experience. And while experience is important (we try to hire reporters who've had at least some experience at a daily newspaper), I'm more concerned about three qualities: talent, intelligence and curiosity. If a reporter has the talent to write well and has the intelligence to learn and the curiosity to want to learn, the reporter will do well.

Here are some tips:

• Read your publication thoroughly. Read, or at least scan, the Wall Street Journal and business magazines.
• Think of your audience when you write. Try not to write up or down to them.
• Learn to schmooze. Young reporters today excel at online research, but they seem weak on the art of the interview.
• Remember we cover business, not sports or lifestyle. Wear clothes appropriate to meet business professionals.
• Stories larded with numbers are lethally dull. Strive to have no more than two numbers in a sentence and no more than three in a paragraph.

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