Watch out for these red flags when editing business stories

Chris Wienandt, business copy chief at the Dallas Morning News, offers advice on 15 red flags when editing business copy at the conference of the American Copy Editors Society in Phoenix.

Image by Flickr user Victoria Reay.

Chris Wienandt, business copy chief for the Dallas Morning News, made an impassioned plea today to attendees of the national conference of the American Copy Editors Society:

“You see a quote [in a business story] from a company executive. Paraphrase it. Ask yourself:  ‘If it weren’t from this company executive, is this material you would put in the story?’”

That’s just one of the pithy reminders – watch out for PR masquerading as news – he offered those editing business stories. He’ll reprise his presentation on 15 Red Flags When Editing Business Stories in a live Reynolds Center Webinar at noon or 4 p.m. EDT March 29; you can sign up for the free training here. | Watch a video, with PowerPoint, of Wienandt’s ACES session.

Here are some of his other “Warning, Will Robinson” moments when it comes to editing business copy:

• Don’t confuse revenue, sales and net income. Not all revenue is sales. Quoting from “The Financial Writer’s Stylebook,” he defined revenue as: “The amount of money that a company receives or will receive for the sale of its goods and services, by renting goods or property, and through investment.” Sales is defined as “the disbursal of a good or service by a company in exchange for money.” And net income (or loss) is what’s left from revenue after subtracting the costs of doing business. The stylebook, by University of North Carolina professors Chris Roush and Bill Cloud, also notes that losses “narrow” and “widen.” They do not “rise” and “fall.”

• Get the names of companies and regulatory agencies correct. Which of these is right: Toyota Motors Corp., Campbell’s Soup Co., General Motors Corp. The answer is none of them. It’s Toyota Motor Corp., Campbell Soup Co. and — since emerging from bankruptcy — General Motors Co.

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  While the soup can says, "Campbell's," the company name is Campbell Soup Co. Photo by Flickr user Robert Couse-Baker.

  Know your executives. It’s easy to confuse CEO, CFO and COO in a headline. “I’ve done this myself. It’s very embarrassing when the rim catches the slot in a mistake,” he said. Know who’s in charge now. Don’t trust information from file photos or archived stories.

• Don’t say something has happened when it’s still in the works. This problem often comes up with offers to buy a company, which may not go through because another bidder steps forward or regulators disapprove of the sale. It can also happen with foreclosure postings — which may or may not result in an actual foreclosure — and with businesspeople accused of fraud who haven’t been convicted.

• “Specialty reporters have a tendency to write for their sources rather than their readers…Let’s try to reach as many people as possible with as clear a language as possible,” he said. Among the jargon he’d outlaw — most acronyms.
• “Parking is not a product. A checking account is not a product. How did those get produced?” he asked, adding, “A restaurant chain is not a concept; it’s a chain.”

• “If you have a little bell going off in the back of your head, don’t ignore it. It’s probably a real warning that something is wrong.”

The copy editors conference is being held March 17-19 at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix.