Jessica Seaman covers energy, Dillard’s Inc., Windstream Corp. and Acxiom Corp. for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
She joined the Democrat-Gazette in May 2012 after graduating from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s in journalism and history.
She previously worked for The Daily Tar Heel and interned at four newspapers, including the Democrat-Gazette and the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. The other two are The Progress-Index, in Petersburg, Va., in 2010 and The Messenger in Mount Airy, N.C., in 2007.
Seaman spoke with Talking Biz News on Thursday by email about what her first year in business journalism has been like. What follows is an edited transcript.
Why did you decide to take a job in business journalism after graduation?
One of the things I did when I started my job search was email my editor from my internship at the Democrat-Gazette to see if any positions had opened up at the paper. Initially, I was looking for a job on the city desk as that was where I had interned, but there wasn’t one open at the time. I was told there was an opening on the business desk for an oil and gas reporter. I decided to apply because I thought the beat would be interesting to cover and the opportunity would allow me to develop new skills.
What formal, or informal training, did you have in business reporting?
The only training I had in business reporting was a semester-long internship at the Greater Wilmington Business Journal in Wilmington, N.C., in 2010.
With no training, how did you learn to cover your beats?
I learned to cover my beats by using skills I had already developed through school and internships. The first thing I did when I started the job was to talk with the Oil and Gas Commission to learn more about the history of the industry in the state. And when Dillard’s, Windstream and Acxiom were added to my coverage I met with each of the companies’ spokesperson and toured their headquarters. Also, before I moved to Little Rock I reached out to professors to for advice; Sarah Cohen, who was lecturing at Duke at the time and co-taught one of my classes, gave me some really good tips.
What was the hardest thing to get up to speed on?
The hardest thing was learning about all the documents public companies file.
How helpful have your co-workers been in improving your skills?
The reporters and editors here have taught me a lot. My editors have guided me but they also give me room to explore new story ideas.
What else did you do to learn about your business beats?
In my first month at the paper, I invested a lot of time in learning about the oil and gas industry in the state. To do this I spent a lot of time talking with companies. One of the companies even took me on a tour of a drilling and fracking site — I got to climb a drill rig to see how it operates!
I also met with homeowners who live in the counties where the Fayetteville Shale is located and spent a lot of time driving around the area to get a sense of the communities and how big of a presence the industry had in the area. By doing this I was able to find out (and write a story about) that companies were scaling back drilling in the shale and moving to operations to other states.
How helpful have the companies been that you cover?
Most of the companies have been willing to meet and talk with me.
If you could go back and do it all over, what would you do differently?
I would have taken a business reporting class at UNC. I had wanted to take at least one while I was there but I wasn’t able to figure out how to make it work with my schedule.
What advice would you give to someone starting in business journalism today?
My advice is to get out of the newsroom and meet your sources in person and develop a good working relationship with them. Sometimes, when you are covering business, it can become too easy to stay in the newsroom, so get out and find a story.
Do you see yourself staying with business reporting?
I think with the way the industry is right now, reporters need to be as versatile as possible and not limit themselves to one area of reporting. My career goal is actually to become a foreign correspondent and I think the skills I have developed as a business reporter will help me achieve that goal.While I want to cover conflict zones, I can also see myself as a business reporter in London, or another foreign city.
Why do you like the beat?
I like my beats because they are so diversified. One day I can be climbing a drill rig in 100 degree heat and the next I’m at Dillard’s headquarters interviewing buyers and designers.
