Tech reporters are a breed of their own, with a distinct set of skills, knowledge and experience. In this primer, G. Pascal Zachary, who reported on Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury and The Wall Street Journal, gives us the basics.
In addition to “Auld Lang Syne,” the Rose Bowl and diet resolutions, one of the rituals of early January is the big gadget convention in Las Vegas produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). The International CES (formerly known as the “Consumer Electronics Show”) is a four-day extravaganza of new product launches, hundreds of speeches [...]
This post follows Melissa’s post yesterday on Brainstorm 2014 story projects before opportunities slip away. Today she offers a brainstorming checklist. One great thing about being a business journalist: Never any shortage of news. Other beats might hit seasonal doldrums or dry spells, but the world’s financial and economic engines always are serving up something [...]
Retailers like to make headlines in December — but for triumphs like double-digit sales increases, not the security fiasco that discounter Target is red-faced over in the final crucial shopping days before Christmas. News that hackers may have been picking off data from tens of millions of shopper credit cards for weeks on end is [...]
Not every news outlet can boast a headline like Wednesday’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s “Winning Mega Millions ticket sold in Buckhead,” but chances are that people in your audience are sitting on a pile of unclaimed cash, too. It’s doubtful that these winners – reportedly one in California, as well – will overlook their winning tickets. But [...]
Santa isn’t the only one stowing bags of loot this season, according to some recent reports on retail fraud. If you’re looking for a contrarian Christmas story, this might be one to pursue. Whether you approach it as a reflection of the economy, or as a behind-the-scenes retail operations feature, or even a technology story about [...]
Salvador Rodriguez graduated from Arizona State University just in 2012, but he’s already made a name for himself as Lead Reporter at the Los Angeles Times’ Tech Now blog. Rodriguez’s interest in technology reporting began when he interned at the Times two years ago. Now a full time employee, Rodriguez covers tech giants like Facebook, [...]
As of today we’re one month away from one of the seminal events of the 20th century: The assassination of President John F. Kennedy. You can be sure that this milestone in American history will be commemorated, dissected and discussed extensively in coming weeks — here’s Politico’s take on the coming “media tidal wave,” which [...]
For years I’ve been wanting to use National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO) as a business feature peg, but fall is so packed with financial news that it generally slips by unnoticed. However, 2013 is the charm and with self-publishing and e-publishing current hot topics, so perhaps it was worth the wait. NANOWRIMO, an annual challenge to would-be [...]
Regardless of what happens in Congress this week, the impasse over raising the debt ceiling has put the spotlight on an industry you might seek out for its economic impact on your region: Medical equipment makers. Postponing a tax on medical device makers – a tax that was expected to help pay for federal subsidies [...]
