Unauthorized books and business journalists
Madeline Will, a business journalism student at UNC-Chapel Hill, writes about the difficulty some business journalists face in getting companies to cooperate with them while writing books about their operations. Will writes, “Many companies decline to cooperate altogether, forcing journalists to obtain information in other ways. Other companies grant limited access, with a list of […]
Grant to help improve coverage of company earnings
The David and Helen Gurley Brown Institute for Media Innovation has awarded one of its 2014-2015 “Magic Grants” to a team of students who want to improve how business reporters cover earnings. In direct response to criticisms of the rigor of business journalism, Earnings Inspector will provide business journalists a new tool to make the […]
Reuters America editor: Most stories need to be no more than 500 words
Reuters America editor Dayan Candappa sent out the following message to the staff on Tuesday: We often get asked two questions about Reuters’ mission. What do you want us to focus on? And what do you want us to do less of so we can make time for it? Here’s an initiative that we believe […]
Humanizing the cyber security beat
New York-based Bloomberg News reporter Dune Lawrence has been helping Bloomberg break news since 2004, when she joined the company, reporting on stocks and investors. She now covers hacking and cyber security. Lawrence spoke with Lauren Meller of Bloomberg’s public relations staff about how she covers her beat. Here is an excerpt: What challenges do […]
How to take the economy’s measure
An economist told business and financial journalists Saturday to beware of aggregated data because sometimes it hides important trends. “Companies are increasingly managing and mining data to augment government sources,” said Scott Anderson, chief economist of Bank of the West. “What I see happening is a blurring of the lines between traditional government economic data […]
Making business journalism that doesn’t taste like medicine
Delivering informative news and not making it taste like medicine is one of the key challenges of business journalism. On Saturday afternoon, Kevin Delaney, Quartz editor in chief and co-founder, and NPR’s Planet Money’s Caitlin Kenney discussed different ways to innovate business journalism and make it compelling for readers. Reynolds Visiting Professor of Business Journalism […]
Business journalism and corporate fraud
By Claire Williams For business journalists, catching crooked companies requires skepticism and close attention to the details that should cause hesitation, said journalists in a workshop Saturday. Roddy Boyd, founder of the Southern Investigative Reporting Foundation, said the foundations of detecting corporate fraud are in the “things that make you go hmmm.” Boyd, who worked […]
Daily writing is a sprint, but book writing is a marathon
For journalists used to the sprint of daily newswriting, writing a book can seem like a brutal marathon, a panel of journalists said Friday. “Your body’s wrecked, your mind’s wrecked, you think, ‘why did I ever do this?’ A couple of days later, you say, ‘I want to do another one,’” said John Wasik, the […]
Lewis, SABEW winner, finds stories in markets
Everything is a market to best-selling author Michael Lewis. From the story of football player Michael Oher in “The Blind Side” to the drafting process of the Oakland A’s in “Moneyball,” Lewis said he writes about markets, not business. Lewis answered questions from “Wizard of Lies” author Diana Henriques on Friday afternoon at the annual […]
Personal finance should be biggest biz desk beat
With roots and connections to every niche of business journalism, covering personal finance should be the biggest beat in the business, a panel of top journalists in the field said Friday morning. But a misunderstood lack of variation in subject matter — on the surface — makes it seem repetitive and less relevant than other beats, […]
