How to get a reluctant source to talk on the record
Yardena Schwartz of the Columbia Journalism Review writes about how New York Times business reporter Emily Steel got a woman sexually harassed by Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly to speak on the record. Schwartz writes, “Then one day, says Walsh, ‘She tells me, ‘You have to go on the record. We need a face.’ I said no, I don’t need […]
NY Times’ Henriques on getting Madoff to talk
Cindy Adams of the New York Post interviewed former New York Times reporter Diana Henriques about how the got Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff to talk as the HBO movie based on her book “The Wizard of Lies” launches. Adams writes, “‘I was at my NY Times desk 4:15 when he was arrested. I’d covered him before and […]
Quartz launches obsession on propaganda
Financial news site Quartz will launch a new obsession on propaganda on Saturday. Instead of describing the world in terms of a set of fixed subject-matter categories, such as the “beats” at traditional newspapers, Quartz see it as a collection of evolving phenomena. It calls those obsessions, and they include things such as the future […]
Tenacious reporting defines Kish’s career
Suzanne Stevens, the editor of the Portland Business Journal, writes about reporter Matthew Kish, who earlier this week was named a Knight-Bagehot fellow at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Stevens writes, “The Columbia Journalism School program is highly competitive. Just 10 fellows are selected for the honor each year. Matt’s class includes reporters from […]
Business journalism is about death and destruction
Candace Beeke, the publisher of Albuquerque Business First, writes about why death and destruction are important business news stories. Beeke writes, “But before I went into reporting, I tried very hard not to. Although I had always been drawn to writing — my grandfather owned a typewriter business, for goodness’ sake — I knew that […]
How NY Times biz reporter Steel got sources to trust her
Kaitlin Menza of Marie Claire profiles New York Times journalist Emily Steel, the media business reporter whose recent stories led to the departure of Bill O’Reilly from Fox News. Menza writes, “In her more defeated moments, Steel found inspiration—in an instance of life imitating art imitating life—in the movie Spotlight. ‘I would listen to what […]
Sloan: Key to business journalism is writing simply
The key to being a successful business journalist is taking complicating topics and writing about them in a way the average person can understand them, said financial journalism legend Allen Sloan during a talk Wednesday at Stony Brook University. Daniel Gatta of The Statesman writes, “Sloan’s ability to take complex issues and break them down so that the […]
Know the difference between revenue and earnings
The eighth installment in the “Fast and the Furious” had the roads to itself and inched past the $100 million benchmark in the final moments. Studio estimates say “The Fate of the Furious earned a chart-topping $100.2 million over the holiday weekend. (Associated Press) Those weekly reports of movie box-office receipts are notable not only […]
The WSJ’s “no surprises” brand of journalism
Jack O’Dwyer writes about how The Wall Street Journal practices “no surprises” journalism in which it gives the subjects of critical stories a chance to respond. O’Dwyer writes, “The policy was explained to the April 6 meeting of the Arthur W. Page Society by WSJ ‘activism’ reporter David Benoit. “Some attendees thought what Benoit was saying is […]
Bloomberg on automated business news stories
Michael Bloomberg appeared on “60 Minutes” on Sunday night, and he talked briefly about how his company’s media operation is beginning to use computers to help tell stories. Bloomberg showed Steve Kroft an example of a story about Snap Inc. that was computer generated. “We want the reporters to analyze the data,” said Bloomberg. “We […]
