Des Moines' biz section gets overhauled

The Des Moines Register’s business section has had renovation, and it includes everything from the stock pages to the number of pictures of local business people that it’s going to print, according to a column from editor Carolyn Washburn.

Washburn wrote, “We’re also bringing you a more meaningful package of financial/market information. We have been watching for several years as investors moved online to follow stocks and review their portfolios. We have now reached the point that research shows most people use the Internet and most investors use Web sites to follow stocks. That means the stocks pages are not the most efficient use of our space, which is one of our most important resources.

“Starting Tuesday, we will replace our stocks listing with a new market page. We’ll bring you more stocks of Iowa interest than before and more data on each stock. The page will help you chart meaningful trends in financial categories and provide smart analysis of what’s going on in the economy. Our goal is to bring you more context and more analysis so you understand what’s going on behind the numbers on Wall Street and in our economy.

“We will continue to run a list of stocks every Saturday that shows you how they performed that week.

“All of this adds to improvements we have been making to the Business section over the last few months – more Iowa stories on the Business cover, more focus on the people who are making the news, more in-depth stories about the issues facing our state.”

Read more here.