Like transportation itself, covering it is a beautiful thing when it works. When it doesn’t, the failures are out there for all to see. Bernie Kohn, team Leader at Bloomberg News, outlines basic building blocks for smart transportation coverage.
Orange-barrel season is in full swing (though actually, the season seems to last year-round lately), and why not put the time you spend in bumper-to-bumper construction traffic to good use? Creeping along in traffic lately, gazing through the windshield, I’ve spotted a number of potential story angles that would resonate with readers, highlight interesting aspects [...]
With yet another conference scandal stinging a government agency — this time it’s the Internal Revenue Service in the hot seat for spending millions on a jamboree for some of its workers — the contrarian in me has been wondering what would happen if all federal, state and local agencies curbed conference and travel activity. [...]
June is designated by some entity or another (I couldn’t determine which) as National Camping Month, and if you’ve got a touch of spring fever yourself, an outdoorsy angle might be just what you need for a fresh-air look at some of your region’s leisure-economy drivers. It’s hard to beat camping and boating stories for [...]
It’s hard to believe we’re only a week away from the start of Memorial Day weekend. As summer activities kick into gear, so do the businesses that serve them, so no matter your beat you’ve got a bonanza of holiday-related story ideas from which to choose. Traditionally, it’s a time for business writers to look [...]
Catchy story ideas are piling up so rapidly this week I’m afraid some good news pegs will get lost on the cutting-room floor, so without further ado here’s a new addition of Quicktips: Baring biceps: The American Society of Plastic Surgeons is just out with its annual report on in-demand cosmetic procedures. The 2012 Plastic [...]
Joe Ducey, Lauren Gilger and Gerard Watson of ABC 15 in Phoenix won an Edward R. Murrow award from the Radio Television Digital News Association and a Peabody Award from the University of Georgia for their investigative series on a Ford recall. What stood out to me was footage of the “smoking gun.” The reporters [...]
Nothing like the topic of travel hassles to get people talking. Or weight. Or personal finances. Roll them all together and you’ve got a business news peg of epic proportions, especially just before the start of the summer travel season. Samoa Airlines has served up just such a morsel with its announcement that it will [...]
Spring break is coming up for college students and families, and it’s an opportunity to prepare not only some interesting feature stories about the tourism, transportation and hospitality industries, but to take a look at college student spending patterns in light of the ongoing drumbeat about the trillion-dollar student loan “bubble” some say looms. Travelocity says [...]
Ken Leiser of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch recently found a new economic indicator: the airport shoeshine stand. He writes: “As with other airport businesses, the loss of flights has taken a toll on the shoeshine market. In 2001, Lambert officials were guaranteed $105,000 in revenue from the shoeshine operations. When the contract was renewed last [...]
