What a departing reporter liked about Crain’s Detroit Business

Bill Shea, who announced Monday his departure from Crain’s Detroit Business to cover sports business for The Athletic, writes about what he liked about working for the weekly business newspaper.

Shea writes, “It also was difficult to leave because Crain’s journalists do brilliant work. They hold the powerful accountable. They don’t just report business news, although they do that better than anyone. They shine spotlights on problems, they let the world know about up-and-coming entrepreneurs and about those that sometimes don’t get coverage otherwise.

“They want to tell stories you cannot get elsewhere. They will tell you before anyone else what thing Dan Gilbert has bought or done now, and how it affects things.

“That’s what I’ll be doing at The Athletic (minus the Dan Gilbert-buys-another-building part). I inherited the sports business beat at Crain’s about a decade ago when it was a third-string area of coverage, and with the help and support of my editors and fellow reporters, made it into a first-string focus area. We broke some serious news in that time. I’ve crammed a second formal education — how sports business works — into that time. I’m extremely fortunate and appreciate the opportunity.”

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