Five Questions with...Lisa Gibbs

By Kanupriya Vashisht

Associate editor Kanupriya Vashisht conducted this interview with Lisa Gibbs, business editor of The Miami Herald.

1Have staff additions in the last two years helped The Herald's business section?

We had been lucky enough in the last two and a half years to fill all our vacant positions, add another editor and take a clerk from part-time to full-time. This, obviously, was an enormous help in allowing us to beef up local business coverage and raise the quality and quantity of enterprise, both for the front page and special projects. In particular, we have really ratcheted up our coverage of small business, a major beat in our region. We are now publishing special sections on small business, launched a small business website, and do several special packages geared to that audience. However, now, with the current state of the industry, we have given back some of those gains. I lost a reporter position last year, and am not able to fill a new vacancy.

2In your experience as editor, what kind of business stories resonate most with South Floridians?

Very generally, this has been a wild housing market over the last few years, on the way up and the way down. So anything we write about the real estate market gets a lot of attention. But also, insurance costs have soared here, as have overall living costs. Stories about these consumer issues attract enormous response.

3How do you give your section a distinctive feel and personality?

This is Miami, so the "distinctive feel and personality" finds us! Rather than Fortune 500 companies and manufacturing plants, we're dominated by tourism and entertainment, and international business. For us, what happens in Latin America and the Caribbean is a "local" story.

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

There have been many, but when you love the journalism, the bad memories fade fast. I'd have to say the most difficult task I've had as business editor has to do with the bane of every business editor's existence: Cutting stock agate. Here in South Florida, with our large retirement community, any cut or even change to agate draws vehement and voluminous response. But we always manage to work through it -- until the next time.

5How is online affecting your business staff and your overall coverage?

Like everyone, we are having to adapt what we do to an online world. Although we're not moving as fast as I'd wish, we regularly post breaking news to the web, collect audio and video with stories, and I have two reporters who blog. As I mentioned, we launched a Small Business channel on MiamiHerald.com, which includes an expert who does online Q&A. Just recently, a group of reporters started working on a weekly local business radio short program. A lot more plans are in the works.

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