Reynolds Staff

The Reynolds Center, created through generous grants from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation of Las Vegas and operated by ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, is dedicated to improving the quality of business and economics coverage through training programs for business reporters and editors.

2013 Gerald Loeb Award finalists announced; Huey, Williams honored

By Reynolds Staff on May 16, 2013 in Basics, Best Practices, Featured, Networking

Barlett & Steele 2012 gold award winner David Barstow was among the nominees for the Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism announced today.

Judy D. Olian, dean of UCLA Anderson School of Management also announced that John Huey, former editor-in-chief at Time Inc. will receive the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award. Global enterprise editor at Reuters, Michael Williams, will be awarded the 2013 Lawrence Minard Editor Award.

Finalists in 14 competition categories were selected from more than 400 entries.

The Gerald Loeb Awards logo

FULL LIST and press release about the finalists of the 2013 Gerald Loeb Awards for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism

Huey and Williams will receive their career achievement awards at the 2013 Gerald Loeb Awards dinner on Tuesday, June 25, 2013, at Capitale in New York City, where the Gerald Loeb Awards will celebrate 40 years with UCLA Anderson.

The Gerald Loeb Awards were established in 1957 by the late Gerald Loeb, a founding partner of E.F. Hutton. His intention was to encourage reporting on business and finance that would inform and protect the private investor and the general public. For more information – Loeb Awards and dinner celebration.

2013 Loeb Award NOMINEES:

Beat Reporting Category Finalists

Erik Schatzker, Dawn Kopecki, Bradley Keoun, Stephanie Ruhle, Mary Childs, Christine Harper, Max Abelson and Rick Green for “Beached Whale: JPMorgan’s Huge Loss” – Bloomberg News
Tom Bergin for “Corporate Taxation Series” – Reuters
Tim Logan, Lisa Brown, Jeremy Kohler, Tim Bryant and Steve Giegerich for “Roberts Brothers” – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Scott Patterson, Jenny Strasburg, Chris Canipe, Mike Sudal and Sarah Slobin for “Dark Markets” – The Wall Street Journal
Steven Mufson for “Shale Gas” – The Washington Post

Breaking News Category Finalists

Elisabeth Behrmann, Brett Foley, Firat Kayakiran, Jesse Riseborough, Zachary R. Mider, Matthew Campbell, Simon Casey, Kevin Crowley and Jacqueline Simmons for “Glencore Xstrata: Deal of the Year” – Bloomberg News
Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Peter Eavis, Nelson D. Schwartz, Andrew Ross Sorkin, Nathaniel Popper, Edward Wyatt, Ben Protess and Mark Scott for “London Whale” – The New York Times
Alistair Barr, John McCrank, Rodrigo Campos, Olivia Oran, Nadia Damouni, Suzanne Barlyn and Ryan Vlastelica for “Facebook IPO Coverage” – Reuters
Thomas Lee, David Phelps, Janet Moore, Paul McEnroe, Tony Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy and Eric Wieffering for “Best Buy CEO Resigns Under Cloud” – Star Tribune
Anupreeta Das, Jenny Strasburg, Jacob Bunge, E.S. Browning, Telis Demos and Sharon Terlep for “Buying the Big Board” – The Wall Street Journal

Broadcast Category Finalists

Sharyl Attkisson, Chris Licht, Rand Morrison, Sharon Hoffman, Gavin Boyle, Keith Summa, Kim Skeen, Pia Malbran, David Small and Nancy Wyatt for “The Business of Congress” – CBS News
Joe Ducey, Lauren Gilger, Gerard Watson, Scott Sherman, Maria Tomasch and Aaron Wische for “Ford Escape: Exposing a Deadly Defect” – KNXV-TV
Byron Harris, Billy Bryant, Jason Trahan and Mark Smith for “Denticaid: Medicaid Dental Abuse in Texas” – WFAA-TV
Martin Smith, Michael Kirk, Marcela Gaviria, Mike Wiser, Jim Gilmore, Tom Jennings and Doug Hamilton for “Money, Power and Wall Street” – FRONTLINE

Commentary Category Finalists

Brian McGrory for “It’s Greed to Top All” – The Boston Globe
John Gapper for “John Gapper (Financial Times)” – Financial Times
Michael Hiltzik for “Michael Hiltzik on Business” – Los Angeles Times
Morgan Housel for “Morgan Housel: On the Economy” – The Motley Fool
Ilan Moscovitz for “On Financial Reform” – The Motley Fool

Explanatory Category Finalists

John Schmid, Mike De Sisti, Lou Saldivar, Emily Yount and Nick Lujero for “Paper Cuts” – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Mike McGraw and Alan Bavley for “Beef’s Raw Edges” – The Kansas City Star
Charles Duhigg, Keith Bradsher, David Barboza, David Kocieniewski, David Segal, Bill Vlasic and Hiroko Tabuchi for “The iEconomy” – The New York Times
Thomas Frank and Christopher Schnaars for “Green Inc.” – USA Today
Michael Kirk, Martin Smith, Marcela Gaviria, Mike Wiser, Jim Gilmore, Jason M. Breslow, Tom Jennings and Doug Hamilton for “Money, Power and Wall Street” – FRONTLINE

Images/Visuals Category Finalists

Kenneth Cukier, Peter Winfield and Ben Thompson for “Live Charts” – The Economist
Tom Giratikanon, Amanda Cox, Sergio Pecanha, Alicia Parlapiano, Jeremy White, Robert Gebeloff, Ford Fessenden, Archie Tse, Alan McLean, Shan Carter, Mike Bostock and Matthew Ericson for “Economy Interactives” – The New York Times
Samuel Aranda, Mauricio Lima, Andrea Bruce and Adam Ferguson for “The Euro Crisis” – The New York Times

International Category Finalists

Mehul Srivastava, Andrew MacAskill and Adi Narayan for “Mother India Starves Her Children” – Bloomberg News
Michael Forsythe, Shai Oster, Natasha Khan, Dune Lawrence, Henry Sanderson, Chloe Whiteaker, Fan Wenxin, Michael Wei, Phil Kuntz and Ben Richardson for “Revolution to Riches” – Bloomberg News
David Barboza and Sharon LaFraniere for “China’s Secret Fortunes” – The New York Times

Investigative Category Finalists

Ames Alexander, Karen Garloch, Joseph Neff and David Raynor for “Prognosis: Profits” – The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer
Patricia Callahan, Sam Roe and Michael Hawthorne for “Playing With Fire” – Chicago Tribune
David Barstow, Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab and Stephanie Clifford for “Wal-Mart Abroad” – The New York Times
Ryan Knutson, Liz Day, Travis Fox, Habiba Nosheen and Martin Smith for “Cell Tower Deaths” – ProPublica and FRONTLINE
Brian Grow, Anna Driver, Joshua Schneyer, Janet Roberts, Jeanine Prezioso, David Sheppard and John Shiffman for “Inside Chesapeake Energy” – Reuters

Magazines Category Finalists

Drake Bennett for “Marriage at 30,000 Feet (United/Continental Merger)” – Bloomberg Businessweek
David Evans for “Duping the Donors” – Bloomberg Markets
Richard Behar for “Hess Oil’s Russian Mob Problem” – Forbes
Francine McKenna for “Social Media’s Phony Accounting” and “Lying With Numbers” – Forbes
Connie Bruck for “Cashier du Cinema” – The New Yorker
Robert Capps for “Why Things Fail” – Wired Magazine

News Services Category Finalists

Jana Randow, Jeff Black, Gabi Thesing, Anchalee Worrachate, Simon Kennedy and James G. Neuger for “The Plan to Save the Euro” – Bloomberg News
Tom Bergin for “Corporate Taxation Series” – Reuters
Brian Grow, Anna Driver, Joshua Schneyer, Janet Roberts, Jeanine Prezioso, David Sheppard and John Shiffman for “Inside Chesapeake Energy” – Reuters

Newspapers – Large Category Finalists

Patricia Callahan, Sam Roe and Michael Hawthorne for “Playing With Fire” – Chicago Tribune
Charles Duhigg, Keith Bradsher, David Barboza, David Kocieniewski, David Segal, Bill Vlasic and Hiroko Tabuchi for “The iEconomy” – The New York Times
David Barstow, Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab and Stephanie Clifford for “Wal-Mart Abroad” – The New York Times

Newspapers – Small & Medium Category Finalists

Ames Alexander, Karen Garloch, Joseph Neff and David Raynor for “Prognosis: Profits” – The Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer
Mandy Locke and David Raynor for “Ghost Workers” – The News & Observer
Colin Woodard for “Virtual Schools in Maine: The Profit Motive You May Not Know About” – Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram
Michael Sasso for “Gambling for Jobs” – The Tampa Tribune

Online Category Finalists

Jim Morris, Chris Hamby and Ronnie Greene for “Hard Labor” – The Center for Public Integrity
Matt Isaacs, Lowell Bergman and Stephen Engelberg for “Inside the Investigation of Leading Republican Money Man Sheldon Adelson” – Investigative Reporting Program at U.C. Berkeley, ProPublica and FRONTLINE
John Schmid, Mike De Sisti, Lou Saldivar, Emily Yount and Nick Lujero for “Paper Cuts” – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Alison Young and Peter Eisler for “Ghost Factories” – USA TODAY

Personal Finance Category Finalists

Lisa Gibbs, Ismat Sarah Mangla, Penelope Wang and Gary Weiss for “High Cost of Saying Goodbye Series” – Money Magazine
Andrew Martin, Andrew W. Lehren, Ron Lieber and Tamar Lewin for “Degrees of Debt” – The New York Times
Natasha Singer for “You for Sale” – The New York Times
Jason Zweig for “The Intelligent Investor” – The Wall Street Journal

The Business of Me: EIJ, Anaheim, Aug. 24

The Particulars

When:
Aug. 24, 2013
9 a.m. – noon

Where:
Anaheim Marriott
700 West Convention Way
Anaheim, Calif. 92802

Instructor:
Mark S. Luckie,
Twitter’s creative content manager
for journalism and the media

Host:
This morning workshop
takes place before
Excellence in Journalism
2013 Convention.

Hotel:
Anaheim Marriott
700 West Convention Way
Anaheim, Calif. 92802

Discounts are available
through the
Excellence in Journalism
Conference.

Registration is $25 for this
half-day workshop before
the Excellence in Journalism
Conference.

Registration for the rest of the
EIJ Conference is not required.

Photo by flickr user Victor1558

Whether you’re working in a mainstream news organization or striking out on your own with a blog, news site or freelance business, we’re all media entrepreneurs these days.

In this workshop before the Excellence in Journalism (EIJ) 2013 Conference in Anaheim, Calif., learn how to brand and market yourself and to pitch your ideas, plus understand the basics of financial and time management. And leave with five things to do when you get home to advance your career as an entrepreneur.

Mark S. Luckie, Twitter’s creative content manager for journalism and the media, shows you the ropes. He started the 10,000 Words blog and sold it to Mediabistro. He’s also the author of The Digital Journalist’s Handbook.

PLEASE NOTE: Attendees must sign up for this pre-conference workshop and pay $25. Registration for the rest of the EIJ Conference is not required.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

How to:

Turn your idea into a business
Brand yourself and project your worth
Pitch your idea
Build a community of followers
Find funding
Manage your time and finances

IS THIS HALF-DAY WORKSHOP FOR YOU?

This workshop is designed for both those thinking about setting up their own media business, as well as those within mainstream media organizations who want to approach their jobs with an entrepreneurial bent. Even if you’re not setting up your own business immediately, you’ll learn how to better brand yourself as an expert and increase your value to your current employer.

YOUR INSTRUCTOR

Mark S. Luckie

Mark S. Luckie became Twitter’s creative content manager for journalism and the media in June 2012. Prior to joining Twitter, he was the social media editor for The Washington Post.

He founded the 10,000 Words blog in 2007 and sold it to Mediabistro in 2010.

Luckie is an experienced journalism trainer and also the author of The Digital Journalist’s Handbook.

Self-guided training in being an entrepreneurial journalist

Please check out other Reynolds self-guided training on entrepreneurial journalism, branding and social networking:

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

This Excellence in Journalism Conference workshop is sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism. If you have any questions about the center’s training, please email Executive Director Linda Austin or call 602-496-9187.

Cracking Corporate Corruption at Wal-Mart: San Antonio: June 21

By Reynolds Staff on May 14, 2013 in 2013 Workshops, Webinars, Barlett & Steele Awards, Basics, Investigation, IRE

The Particulars

When: 9:40-10:40 a.m. June 21

Where:
San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter
101 Bowie St.
San Antonio, Texas 78205

Panelists: Pulitzer winners David
Barstow of The New York Times
and freelancer Alejandra Xanic
von Bertrab of Mexico City.

Moderator: Leonard Downie Jr.,
vice president at large of The Washington
Post and Weil Family Professor of
Journalism at the Walter Cronkite
School of Journalism and Mass
Communication

Host: This session takes place during the
Investigative Reporters and
Editors (IRE) annual conference.

Lodging:
San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter.

Conference hotel rates are
$170 a night, plus 16.75% tax,
through May 24 or until the room
block sells out.

Conference registration is
required.

Pulitzer winners David Barstow and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab headline this session at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference: Cracking Corporate Corruption at Wal-Mart.

The duo’s investigation into corruption in the world’s biggest retailer won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.

Barstow’s initial story on how Wal-Mart covered up its use of bribery to fuel its Mexican expansion (PDF) also won the 2012 Barlett & Steele Award for Investigative Business Journalism.

They will be questioned by longtime Washington Post editor Leonard “Len” Downie Jr. on how they obtained hundreds of confidential company documents and how they also used Mexico’s Freedom of Information Act. There will also be time for audience questions.

PANELISTS

The New York Times' David Barstow

David Barstow,a senior writer at The New York Times, is the winner of three Pulitzer Prizes. In 2013, he and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for “Wal-Mart Abroad,’’ a series that exposed Wal-Mart’s aggressive use of bribery to fuel its rapid expansion in Mexico.

In 2009, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for “Message Machine,’’ his series about the Pentagon’s hidden campaign to influence news coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In 2004, he and Lowell Bergman were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for articles about employers who committed egregious work place-safety violations that killed or injured hundreds of American workers. Before joining the Times in 1999, he was a reporter for The St. Petersburg Times in Florida, where he was a finalist for three Pulitzer Prizes.

Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab

Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab is a freelance journalist who shared the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting with Barstow. Xanic, as she’s known to colleagues, has worked for two decades as a reporter in Mexico. As a reporter with Siglo 21 newspaper in Guadalajara, she looked into the causes of a gasoline-leak explosion that destroyed several kilometers of homes. As a member of the paper’s investigative unit, she worked on stories ranging from drug trafficking to state corruption.

As a reporter in Mexico City, she worked for the Mexican edition of Gabriel García Marquez’s magazine, Cambio, and was an editor for four years at the business biweekly, Expansion. In 2010 and 2011, Xanic was part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists team that investigated big tobacco’s global lobbying strategies.

MODERATOR

Leonard Downie Jr. is vice president at large of The Washington Post, where he was executive editor from 1991 to 2008. He is also the Weil Family Professor of Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. During his 44 years in the Post newsroom, he was also an investigative reporter, editor on the local and national news staffs, London correspondent, and, from 1984 to 1991, managing editor under then-executive editor Ben Bradlee. As deputy metro editor from 1972 to 1974, Downie helped supervise the Post’s Watergate coverage. He also oversaw the newspaper’s coverage of every national election from 1984 through 2008. During his 17 years as executive editor, The Washington Post won 25 Pulitzer prizes.

More on the Award-Winning Wal-Mart investigation:

The stories that won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting:

ProPublica’s interview of David Barstow about the Wal-Mart stories in January 2013
Barlett & Steele winner David Barstow: Unraveling the Wal-Mart bribery story on BusinessJournalism.org.
Transcripts of Democracy Now’s two interviews of David in January 2013: Part 1 | Part 2

2012 Barlett & Steele Award Winners from Reynolds Center on Vimeo

Getting the Goods — Interviews that Work: Self-guided training

By Reynolds Staff on May 07, 2013 in Best Practices, Self-guided training, Writing/SEO

This webinar is for journalists on all media platforms. Photo by Flickr user dmjarvey.

The free, two-day webinar, “Getting the Goods – Interviews that Work,” was held May 8-9, 2013.

Pulitzer Prize winner Jacqui Banaszynski explores the core purposes, techniques and ethics of the interview process. She reveals different interview approaches that work best in different situations and that apply to any genre of journalism.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

SESSION 1: Interviewing for article; getting access and getting the goods
SESSION 2: Interviewing for story; creating storytelling partners

SELF-GUIDED LESSON
At your own pace, review the session materials below to strengthen your storytelling with excellent interviewing skills.

Session recording

PowerPoint presentations

Additional resources

MORE ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR

Pulitzer Prize winner Jacqui Banaszynski is the Knight Chair in Editing at the University of Missouri School of Journalism. She worked as a projects editor at The Oregonian in Portland and at the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota. She spent 18 years as a beat reporter and take-out writer at newspapers in the Northwest and the Midwest. While at the Pioneer Press, her series “AIDS in the Heartland” – an intimate look at the life and death of a gay farm couple – won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in feature writing and a national Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

She has written from Kurdistan and Antarctica, and has made Page One with dog obituaries and criminal investigations. She has edited several award-winning projects, including the work of The Oregonian’s Tom Hallman Jr., which won the 1997 ASNE Best Writing Award. Banaszynski, a native of a Wisconsin farm village, is a 1974 graduate of Marquette University.

She has taught journalism at the Poynter Institute, the National Writers Workshops, APME NewsTrain, the University of Kansas and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul. Banaszynski has served four times as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes.

Need funding for an investigative story? Apply for a FIJ grant

By Reynolds Staff on May 03, 2013 in Investigation

Do you have an investigative project you’re hoping to pursue but lack funding to pull it off?

The Fund for Investigative Journalism will award multiple grants for journalists pursing in-depth stories focused on domestic issues.

Deadline to apply for consideration in the next round is June 10. Grants average $5,000 and help cover reporting expenses. Applicants must include a proposal, resume, proposed budget, writing samples and a letter of commitment from a media outlet willing to publish the finished story.

On May 2, the Fund awarded $42,000 for 10 investigative projects. (Read the full release here.) Recipients include:

Rick Cohen, whose reporting focuses on nonprofits and foundations
Laura Kasinof, freelance reporter
Trey Kay, radio journalist and documentary maker
Chris Kromm, Facing South, North Carolina-based online magazine
Erin Siegal McIntyre, Tijuana-based investigative writer and photographer
Brandon Quester and Tarryn Mento, Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
Alexandra Robbins, author
Matt Rusling, reporter specializing in covering Asia
Joseph Sorrentino, Albuquerque-based journalist and photographer
Laird Townsend, director, Project Word

Shell Companies and Fraud: An Investigative Primer: San Antonio, IRE, June 21

The Particulars

When: 2:25-3:25 p.m. June 21

Where:
San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter
101 Bowie St.
San Antonio, Texas 78205

Instructor: Kelly Carr, Reynolds
Center senior online producer and
freelance investigative reporter for
Reuters.

Host:
This session takes place during the
Investigative Reporters and
Editors (IRE) annual conference.

Lodging:
San Antonio Marriott Rivercenter.

Conference hotel rates are
$170 a night, plus 16.75% tax,
through May 24 or until the room
block sells out.

Conference registration is
required.

In a Reuters' special report, Carr explained the difference between shell and shelf companies.

Unraveling financial schemes often involves tracing a myriad of corporations incorporated across the country and sometimes around the world.

Corporate entities called shells – companies with no significant assets or operations – and the people involved with them are often at the center of plots ranging from bogus investment firms to money-laundering endeavors to pump-and-dump stock scams.

This one-hour session is part of the Investigative Reporters & Editors annual conference in San Antonio, and is designed to help you understand shell companies and their role in fraud.

The training will be led by Kelly Carr, a Reynolds Center staffer and freelance investigative journalist whose reporting on the use of shell and shelf companies won a 2012 Gerald Loeb Award.

This session will also help you understand the characteristics of shell companies, their legitimate and illegitimate purposes in the business sector, and methods for backgrounding and connecting intricate webs of firms and individuals scattered around the globe. You’ll gain tools for tracking corporate investigations in your coverage area.

The Reynolds Center will also present the pre-conference session, Breaking Local Stories with Economic Data on June 19 at 2 p.m., and another IRE conference session with Pulitzer winners David Barstow and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab on June 21 at 9:40 a.m.

Can’t make it to IRE?

Check out Carr’s one-hour webinar on the same topic, May 21 at noon or 4 p.m. ET.

IS THIS SESSION FOR YOU?

This session will be useful for any journalist covering almost any beat. Shell companies can be incorporated in any state and around the world. They play a role in stories about various frauds in a large variety of sectors, from health care and politics to investing and online enterprises.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

The basics: what shell companies are, why they exist and the legitimate and illegitimate uses for these entities.
How shell companies play a role in global corruption and how to begin track those schemes locally.
Tactics for backgrounding shell companies through state incorporation documents, other public records and various online tools.

YOUR INSTRUCTOR

Kelly Carr

Kelly Carr joined the Reynolds Center in 2007 after working as a journalist for multiple publications, including The Arizona Republic. She is the center’s senior online producer. As a freelance investigative reporter for Reuters, she won the a 2012 Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism for a series detailing the use of U.S. shell and shelf companies.

The series also won the National Press Club Award for Consumer Journalism (Periodicals), the New York Press Club Business Reporting Award and the 2011 Foreign Press Association Media Award for Financial/Economic Reporting.

Kelly has a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction from Goucher College and holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from West Virginia University. She also was an adjunct journalism professor at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School, a fellow at The Poynter Institute and a contributing writer for Cancer Stories: Lessons in Love, Loss & Hope.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

This free webinar is sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

The Reynolds Center is funded by a grant from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation in Las Vegas. Besides its free regional workshops and online training, the center runs BusinessJournalism.org, offering daily tips, training and resources for those who want to do a better job of covering business.

Those who successfully complete three regional workshops or webinars presented by the Reynolds Center are eligible to receive a “Circle of Achievement” award certificate. If you have any questions about the webinar or the center, please email Executive Director Linda Austin or call 602-496-9187.

Finding Your Best Investigative Business Story: Madison, Wis., Sept. 28

The Particulars

When:
9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sept. 28, 2013

Where:
Room 2195, Vilas Communication Hall
University of Wisconsin-Madison
821 University Ave., Madison, Wis.

Instructors:
Alec Klein, journalism professor at
Northwestern University;
Chris Roush, business journalism professor
at the University of North Carolina

Host:
Madison Pro Chapter of the
Society of Professional Journalists

Lodging:
Doubletree, 525 W. Johnson St.
UW’s Union South, 1308 W. Dayton St.
UW’s Lowell Center

Parking: Type “Vilas” in the search box,
and tick the box for
public parking on this map.

Photo by flickr user spectacle productions

Business stories – or stories with strong business angles – have won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in each of the last eight years. Business is fertile territory for investigative reporting, but all too often is overlooked by local reporters.

Get the skills you need to identify and develop local investigative business stories at a free, daylong workshop in Madison, Wis., on Saturday, Sept. 28.

Sign up here for this free workshop.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

How to:

Find public information on private companies
Ask 15 smart questions about small businesses
Find and pitch your best investigative business story
Develop sources and get people to talk to you
Find and utilize public records in investigative business journalism

IS THIS WORKSHOP FOR YOU?

This workshop is for any journalist who wants to find and pursue investigative business stories. Novice or veteran, business journalist or general-assignment reporter, you’ll take away something that will help you the next time you pursue a business investigation.

YOUR INSTRUCTORS

Alec Klein

Alec Klein joined the Medill journalism faculty in fall 2008 after eight years at The Washington Post as an investigative business reporter. His investigation into the reuse of single-use medical devices won the Society of American Business Editors and Writers award for special projects and prompted an investigation by the Government Accountability Office, as well as industry reform.

His best-selling book, Stealing Time: Steve Case, Jerry Levin, and the Collapse of AOL Time Warner,was named one of the “Best Business Books” by Library Journal and Strategy + Business. The book built on his coverage of AOL at The Post, for which Alec won the Gerald Loeb Award, business journalism’s highest honor. Before coming to Northwestern, Klein taught journalism at Georgetown University and American University. He was a business writer-in-residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Chris Roush

He is the author of Show Me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication and co-author of The SABEW Writer’s Stylebook: 2,000 Business Terms Defined and Rated.

AGENDA: Finding Your Best Investigative Business Story

9:30-10 a.m.: Registration and continental breakfast
10-10:10 a.m.: Welcome, introductions
10:10-11:10 a.m.: Uncovering public information on private companies – Chris Roush
11:10-11:30 a.m.: Case study – Where would you find the info? — Roush
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. 15 smart questions to ask small businesses — Roush
12:30-1 p.m.: Box lunch provided
1-2 p.m.: Finding and pitching your best investigative business story – Alec Klein
2-2:20 p.m.: Exercise – Write the first paragraph of your editor’s memo pitching your investigative story. Critique those willing to share. — Klein
2:20-3:20 p.m.: Developing and interviewing sources in investigative business journalism — Klein
3:20-3-30 p.m.: Break
3:30-4:30 p.m.: Finding and using public documents in investigative business journalism – Klein

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Please do not register unless you are sincere about participating. Signing up and not participating deprives someone else of the opportunity.

Those who successfully complete three regional workshops or online seminars presented by the Reynolds Center are eligible to receive a “Circle of Achievement” certificate.

This free seminar is sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism. If you have any questions about the workshop or the center, please email Executive Director Linda Austin or call 602-496-9187.

Uncovering the Best Local Business Stories (Fayetteville): Self-guided training

By Reynolds Staff on Apr 12, 2013 in Business Beats, Self-guided training, Training Archives

Photo by flickr user Jon Sittner

The free workshop, “Uncovering the Best Local Business Stories,” was originally held at the University of Arkansas on April 12, 2013.

Geared to the needs of generalists on small staffs, this training will arm you with resources, tips and ideas to bring more meaningful coverage of this important topic to your community. Though examples used are focused on Arkansas businesses, the techniques used to gather data can be duplicated in any state.

This workshop was also held in Kentucky and Texas in 2012. Check out additional resources and videos at the 2012 self-guided training page.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

How to find good stories in the business of government, including budgets and contracts,
How to cover economic-development agencies at the state and local levels,
How to find public information on private companies,
How to find stories in publicly available databases, such as incorporation records and real estate transactions,
How to find stories in small businesses, including 15 questions to ask for small-business profiles, and
How to localize national and international stories for your audience.

YOUR INSTRUCTORS

Linda Austin is the executive director of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism. A former editor of the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader and The (Fort Wayne, Ind.) News-Sentinel, she is also a former business editor at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Jeff Porter is the special projects director for the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) at the University of Missouri. He spent two decades as a journalist in Arkansas, working at the Batesville Daily Guard and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Chris Roush is the Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Scholar in business journalism and the founding director of the Carolina Business News Initiative at the University of North Carolina. He was named Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Teacher of the Year in 2009 and the North Carolina Professor of the Year in 2010. He is the author of Show Me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication and co-author of The SABEW Writer’s Stylebook: 2,000 Business Terms Defined and Rated.

Carlie Kollath Wells is a freelance journalist in New Orleans. She was a business reporter at the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal in Tupelo, Miss., from 2007 until February 2013. She fell in love with journalism in high school and discovered business journalism while working for two trade publications in New York after graduating from the University of Mississippi.

SELF-GUIDED LESSON

Take a look through the workshop session recordings and resources below. At your own pace, you can walk through essential tips and techniques for finding great business stories in your own community.