Keep your business section and thrive

Watchdog, explanatory journalism about business will help business desks maintain their sections by proving their relevance to readers, said business editors at a Monday morning panel at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers annual conference.

“We at the Charlotte Observer are not thinking about combining our section right now,” said Patrick Scott, business editor of the Observer. “Right now, you need a platform for the great enterprise work. The argument is that you can continue to be relevant to readers and give meaning to them.”

It also helps if your managing editor is a former business editor, added Scott. The ME at the Observer is Cheryl Carpenter, who was business editor in the early 1990s at the paper.

Frank Ahrens, a business reporter for the Washington Post who covers the media industry, said that his paper’s business section is redesigning itself so that it carries less wire stories. It has also struck a deal to carry content from Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.Â

“You want to show your editor, your managing editor, that you’re still producing a valuable section,” says Ahrens.

However, others disagreed.

“I think business sections are great, but I’m sorry, they’re going away,” said Anne Stanley, assistant managing editor of Marketwatch. She said she was “shocked” when the San Francisco Chronicle cut its standalone section two days a week.

“At Marketwatch, we have an unlimited amount of space. I can publish as much as you can produce.”

When asked by another journalist, however, Scott admitted that newspapers were shooting themselves int he foot by continuing to cut the staff that generates the needed content to maintain readers. But he said that’s necessary while the industry finds a new delivery model.

All three panelists, however, agreed that business desks will survive by covering the stories that they do best. They need to cover the hometown companies and the topics that are important to their readers. “Trust your judgment,” says Stanley.

Rick Christie, the business editor of the Palm Beach Post, says his paper cut its standalone section twice a week. “The reader reaction has been negative,” says Christie. “The most loyal business readers are somewhat upset.” Those readers are primarily older readers.

“For the vast majority of our readers, it really hasn’t been that bad,” says Christie.

Bernie Kohn, the assistant managing editor for business at the Baltimore Sun, and Bill Choyke, the business editor at the Virginian-Pilot, said they have both worked with the paper’s advertising department to come up with ideas to create revenue for the business section, helping to maintain their standalone sections.