Avoiding the Black Hat-White Hat Syndrome

By Dick Weiss
Dec. 4, 2007

One of the wonderful gifts that you as a business writer can give to your readers is a story that explains how life plays out underneath all the conflict and controversy. You take care to shine a light on motivations and human behavior. You use numbers sparingly and judiciously. You avoid putting black hats on some people and white hats on others.

That’s what these three stories have in common from free-lance writer Loretta Tofani, Jackie Crosby of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Jeff Coplon of New York Magazine. Each inform readers, but they also help them understand the people caught in a maelstrom that threatens their lives or their livelihoods.

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3 The Human Cost of Doing Business
Loretta Tofani special to MediaNews
While we were all concerned about what Chinese products, particularly toys, were doing to our families and children, Tofani, a 1983 Pulitzer Prize winner and international correspondent, developed a different angle. What were these products doing to the Chinese workers who were making them? She found that many were dying or suffering from debilitating illnesses. Solving this problem isn’t nearly as simple as it sounds. Take note of Tofani’s nuanced approach as her story swings between a compassionate look at the plight of Chinese workers and a sophisticated appreciation for what it takes to drive the Chinese and American economies. 

2 Struggling to Escape the Subprime Swamp
Jackie Crosby of the Minneapolis Star Tribune
The subprime mortgage crisis has ensnared many a family. But few reporters have captured the angst and anxiety as well as Crosby. She has done a masterful job of providing readers with the big picture – an almost primer-like explanation of what went wrong in the housing market. Then she focuses on the Christophersons – a wonderful family who are uncommonly resourceful and yet still mired in debt. You’ll find yourself hungering for a followup. That’s always something to shoot for: Leave readers wanting more. 

1 How Race is Lived in America
Jeff Coplon for New York Magazine  
When New York Times editor Howell Raines departed The New York Times in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal, another top executive left with him. His name was Gerald Boyd – a man considered the Jackie Robinson of the Times – the newspaper’s first African-American managing editor. In the wake of the scandal, there had been much speculation over Boyd’s role in the Blair matter and management of the newsroom in general. Boyd was a former of colleague of mine at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and so I’ve read a great deal about him. Most stories failed to address my questions and lacked authenticity. Coplon’s reporting and the way in which he put the story together is a case study in getting the facts right and using the right facts.

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