Fort Wayne biz editor explains Fresh Starts

Lisa Green, the business editor of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette in Indiana, writes to Talking Biz News about how its Fresh Starts special section on Labor Day, which focused on entrepreneurs, was developed.

Green writes, “Northeast Indiana has been hard hit by the recession because of our heavy manufacturing base and ties to the auto industry. Many national news stories have indicated people laid off will find it hard to land new jobs because of employers downsizing and increased competition for jobs.

“I think many people dream of owning their own business, but may not fully realize the planning, the risk, the finances and everything else involved to have a fair chance of being successful long-term. Our managing editor and top editor approved the idea for a special theme section in mid May when I pitched it.

“I suggested it as a Labor Day publication because I like the idea of, when possible, having strong local enterprise tied to Labor Day. I also had to consider pre-planned vacations in the business news department and wanted to ensure that while we worked on ‘Fresh Starts’ stories we were still covering breaking news and providing the regular copy for our weekend business sections. After requesting input from reporters, story assignments went out in mid June with the first deadlines in mid July. All of the copy and art was in and to our copy desk by Aug. 20.

“Also, I’m not sure if you noticed, but we did have 1A stories on Sunday and Monday to help advance/promote the section. The Sunday 1A story by Jenni Glenn focused on businesses that started since the recession and the Monday 1A story by Devon Haynie focused on businesses that started before the recession.”