Transportation | Airlines | Travel

Spinning business stories from hurricane coverage

By Melissa Preddy on Sep 01, 2010 in Beats, Economy, Story ideas, Transportation | Airlines | Travel, TrendingTopic

As Hurricane Earl whirls toward East Coast resorts, it’s a good reminder that three full months remain in the 2010 hurricane season – which AccuWeather had predicted in June might be one of the toughest on record.
Even if your readers aren’t in the path of the storm, the effect of a Labor Day weekend disruption [...]

Use data to measure your local car economy

By Melissa Preddy on Aug 27, 2010 in Beats, Economy, Featured, Manufacturing | Large companies, Story ideas, Transportation | Airlines | Travel

Automakers will release domestic motor vehicle sales figures for August on Sept. 1, and a year after “Cash for Clunkers” it’s worth taking a look at how car retailers and related businesses are faring in your market.
Edmunds.com has released a detailed forecast and predictably, without the big tax breaks, this August’s sales are suffering by [...]

LV Sun reporter asks why, gets candid answer from casino CEO

By Rosland Gammon on Aug 24, 2010 in Best Practices, Featured, Transportation | Airlines | Travel

Liz Benston of the Las Vegas Sun says she’s learned that asking the same question a few different ways gets a better response. So when she asked the CEO of the soon-to-open Cosmopolitan casino in Las Vegas how the company would compete, she got a candid answer: by stealing customers from his Strip neighbors.
“He said [...]

Bloomberg Government to hire 100+ journalists, analysts in D.C.

By Linda Austin on Aug 18, 2010 in Basics, Economy, Energy | Utilities | Mining, Featured, Job listings, Jobs, Technology, Transportation | Airlines | Travel

Bloomberg plans to hire more than 100 journalists and analysts in Washington for a new product called Bloomberg Government (BGOV) that “will intensely cover the business implications of government actions — namely legislation, regulation and government spending,” a Bloomberg spokeswoman said.
“We are looking for journalists interested in pioneering a different form of journalism – combining [...]

DMN digs behind data to profile Southwest’s ‘chief apology officer’

By Rosland Gammon on Aug 18, 2010 in Best Practices, Featured, Transportation | Airlines | Travel

Readers of the Dallas Morning News forward copies of apologies they’ve received from Southwest Airlines to aviation reporter Terry Maxon, who files them in his “mental ticker file.” He took those nuggets this week to write a story about what some airline employees are doing to make customers happier. He writes:
“Their job: to find out [...]

Bloomberg posts 20 editorial jobs in D.C. for new government-info product, BGOV

By Reynolds Staff on Aug 11, 2010 in Basics, Energy | Utilities | Mining, Job listings, Jobs, Technology, Transportation | Airlines | Travel

Bloomberg has posted 20 editorial positions in Washington on its website for “a new Web-based information product that will report on, analyze and quantify the impact of government actions on business and industry.” All of the jobs require a bachelor’s degree and at least two years of experience covering business or government.
The following jobs require at least five years [...]

Follow moving companies to understand your local housing market

By Melissa Preddy on Jul 30, 2010 in Beats, Economy, Featured, Real estate | Econ development, Story ideas, Transportation | Airlines | Travel

We’re coming to the tail end of the busiest residential moving season of the year, and it’s a fine time to get to know your local van lines.
Moving companies are fonts of data that you can use as local economic indicators and context for jobs and housing stories.
The major companies like United Van Lines and [...]

Keeping up with green auto writer Jim Motavalli

By Kelly Carr on Jul 14, 2010 in Beats, Best Practices, Green Economy 2010, Green Economy 2010 blog, Transportation | Airlines | Travel, Uncategorized Back to Green Seminar Blog >>

During the first day of our “Covering the Green Economy” conference, Jim Motavalli led a session to help journalists identify green auto trends. But after he was finished, he jumped right back to work.
Motavalli, a green transportation writer for a variety of publications including The New York Times and Mother Nature Network, stayed for the reminder [...]

CNN lets numbers tell award-winning tale of ‘pilot factory’

By Rosland Gammon on Jun 11, 2010 in Basics, Best Practices, Featured, Investigation, Transportation | Airlines | Travel

CNN’s Allan Chernoff, Laura Dolan, Mike Miller, Rod Griola, Jerry Simonson and John Torigoe won the Deadline Club award for TV series or investigative reporting for an American Morning segment looking into Gulfstream Air’s training, staffing and maintenance:
Florida’s Pilot Factory. | Folo: Gulfstream International Airlines responds to safety concerns.
The story developed after learning that the [...]