Crain’s moves Daley’s news to business page with Wal-Mart angle
Brigid Sweeney
- Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley (right) and Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey appear at a store opening in this 2009 photo by Flickr user Joe Marinaro.
Proving that almost any story can have business legs, Brigid Sweeney, who joined Crain’s Chicago Business last month to cover retail, moves Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s decision not to seek re-election to the business page with a piece about how his decision could affect Wal–Mart‘s expansion in Chicago. She writes, “Without Mr. Daley’s deep-rooted alliances and power, many onlookers say, Wal-Mart never would have broken through a six-year stalemate to begin building two new stores on the city’s South Side.”
Today’s Tip: Check other news against your beat to see if you can find a story.
“If you are covering a beat, think about the main players and main people you are covering,” Brigid says. “When you have a specific beat, it’s easy to frame an overarching story into smaller terms.”
She says her editor came to her with the story idea, but she had to have the background knowledge to turn it around. A Chicago native who returned from Boston, she said she’d been following the story about Wal-Mart’s move into the area.
