Local Interest in a World Economy

By Dick Weiss

May 8, 2008

Chances are most of your bylines come from the town where you work or occasionally from a neighboring state. Overseas trips are rare at all but the largest of our newspapers even as U.S. dependence on a global economy keeps rising. Even so, it’s important for us to continue to understand how what happens over there affects our readers here and to explain it effectively.  These selections from the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times make the U.S.-world connection exceptionally clear.

Note that our top pick didn’t require an airline ticket, just a good understanding of what makes the world economy tick. Note, too, how these writers use their words economically. That’s a key for readers especially when we cover topics that may seem off their beaten paths.

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Note: Each headline contains a link so you can read the stories online. Some sites will require you to register first. It's worth taking the time.

3 Outsourced to India: Stress
Laurie Goering of the Chicago Tribune
Goering presents a fascinating look at how workers at call centers in India have imported some of the stresses and strains of American lifestyles. Writing from Bangalore, she cites unfortunate side effects with which many night-shift workers in this country could identify. Though she’s writing about Indian workers, Goering finds the common threads in their workplace experiences that will interest her American readers.

2 Migrants Send Less Money Back to Mexico
Ken Ellingwood of the Los Angeles Times 
Ellingwood, writing for the Times from Tejaro, Mexico, explains how the downturn in the U.S. economy and crackdown on migrant workers are affecting families back in Mexico. Migrant workers in the U.S. are sending back less money and fewer of them are willing to take the risk of entering this country. Here, we find Ellingwood doing what all good reporters must – challenging the conventional wisdom concerning immigration, getting the facts on the ground (along with those from the experts) and explaining it in a fashion that’s easy to follow.

1Dollar’s Fall Forces New Standard of Frugality
Sam Zuckerman of the San Francisco Chronicle 
Zuckerman shows that you don't have to flash your passport to write about the world economy. His easy-to-absorb primer on how our overseas debts are affecting American consumers didn't take a penny out of the Chronicle's travel budget. His big picture look at the path our economy is taking is thought provoking.

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