How Barry Newman became the WSJ front-page king

Barry Newman spent 43 years at The Wall Street Journal with one goal in mind: Getting a broader readership for his front-page stories than just business executives and economists. “The real challenge was not whether to write business news or not,” said Newman on Monday. “The leap was to write for a general news audience […]

A monkey or a business reporter?

Olivia Barrow, a reporter for the Milwaukee Business Journal, writes on LinkedIn about how she tries to go beyond reporting stories that a monkey could do, such as rewriting news releases and earnings. Here are two of her suggestions: Know your value, and don’t get bogged down in anything that doesn’t provide value. I can write […]

A good business journalist needs a calendar

If you are a business reporter covering a particular sector or group of companies there is one item you definitely need in your toolbox: A calendar. And it should look a lot like the calendars of the CEOs on your beat. This is a big difference between business journalism and general news. Police busts and […]

How business journalists can develop a personal brand

Journalists must invest in creating “professional assurance” for themselves, said Dorie Clark, author of “Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future,” during a training call hosted by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers on Monday. “It’s not just what you do on social media, but it’s important what people think about you and how people […]

Breaking the news about American Airlines’ bankruptcy

Terry Maxon, the airlines reporter at the Dallas Morning News who is preparing to retire, writes about breaking the news that American Airlines was preparing to file for bankruptcy court protection, the story he calls the most intense of his career. Maxon writes, “When I arrived home from work around 7 p.m. Monday, Nov. 28, […]

This is a drill. This is only a drill

Practice makes perfect. Luckily for business journalism, there are plenty of opportunities for practice. The trick is taking advantage of those opportunities so when lightning strikes, you’re prepared. Every week various economic numbers are released. Some have peripheral importance, others have medium importance, and some are very, very important. But every one of them is […]

Being fast and smart while reporting the jobs number

One of the regular tests of business news competence and execution is coming this Friday: the jobs number. It’s always an important number — the primary thermometer of how the economy is doing. This time around it will attract even more attention, given the market anxiety over the Fed’s September interest rate decision. For business […]

Judge denies WSJ request for records

A Texas judge has denied The Wall Street Journal’s request to see secret government requests for electronic surveillance in criminal cases. Jennifer Valentino-DeVries of The Journal writes, “The applications the Journal seeks to unseal include at least one that relates to the use of ‘stingrays,‘ phone trackers that act as fake cell towers, according to Brian Owsley, […]

Looking forward to expensing a pint of beer

Mark Kass, the editor of the Milwaukee Business Journal, interviewed new manufacturing reporter Olivia Barrow, who joins the paper after working at the Dayton Business Journal, which is also an American City Business Journals newspaper. Here is an excerpt: Q: Tell us about your newspaper background. A: “I started my career in Dayton at the […]

Lessons learned from Fortune’s Carol Loomis

Josh Brown of The Reformed Broker listed to a recent podcast with legendary business journalist Carol Loomis of Fortune and came away with several lessons. Here are some of them: 2. Don’t fear the unknown – the Fortune system didn’t involve specific beats for reporters. Stories were assigned and writers were sent out with next […]