BusinessJournalism.org Reynolds Center for Business Journalism » Story ideas

Finding financial angles in football season

Melissa Preddy — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:00:14 +0000

By Flickr user jdanvers

From middle-school fields to multimillion-dollar arenas, gridiron seasons are getting under way. And even if you can’t tell an end run from a tight end, you can score some great business-of-sports angles from the sidelines.

The National Football League is debuting a $50 million “Back to Football” campaign which apparently involves retailers, nonprofits like the United Way and even public schools in a blast of promotions and contests. It’s an effort to build on the increase in TV viewership and other interest sparked in part by the Cinderella Super Bowl run by the New Orleans Saints.

Here’s more on the campaign from the Sports Business Journal; you can get a free online trial to the publication, which is a veritable tutorial in covering the business of sports. Meanwhile, see how much of the “Back to Football” spending is trickling into your local economy, along with other initiatives by the NFL to support youth sports, wellness and other local initiatives.

Forbes sort of owns the coverage of the business of football; from its newly minted NFL franchise value rankings (recession has been tough on team owners) to this piece that ran last week about top tailgating towns – and what that means for the entrepreneurs who cater to them. Then there’s FanVision – spectator-controlled in-stadium technology. Take a look at these reports for reader-friendly business angles you can localize.

Then there’s the college football season; no less commercial for its supposed ties to academia. Here’s an article from the University of Iowa Hawkeyes site that breaks down the economic impact of college football on the surrounding county; your readers will snap up a comparable analysis of your hometown team’s impact. This company, SportsImpacts, says it specializes in economic analysis of sports business; you might see if they have any data or tips to share with journalists.

Don’t overlook high-school football for business angles. The anatomy of operating a concession stand would make for a fun feature, let alone a personal finance piece on the cost of participating in high school sports, or profiles of local vendors such as uniform makers and suppliers, sports camps, specialty coaching services and more.

Teacher layoffs may be affecting coaching, as this Atlanta Journal-Constitution article points out. Note also in the article: Difficulty garnering sponsorship money from car dealerships – which have been whammied with poor sales and of course many forced closures as automakers downsize their retail networks. Here’s a piece from Raleigh pointing out that travel costs are keeping many top players from making the usual rounds of colleges and camps.

Also: It’s not just about the games and the players. Umpires, cheering squads, bands, announcers, facilities managers, travel coordinators – each niche reflects a mini-industry that has its own vendors, suppliers, infrastructure, professional organizations, conferences and other facets that either generate or cost money. Seek them out and you’ll get a truer picture of the reach of the sport into your hometown economy and careers network.

Other ideas, of course, include bars, restaurants and banquet centers; sales of big-screen TVs and other electronics; specialty cable television packages for sports buffs, stadium giveaways, used memorabilia sales, football books and magazines, licensed (and fraudulent) merchandise and sponsorships of local teams.

Spinning business stories from hurricane coverage

Melissa Preddy — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:25:48 +0000

NASA satellite image of Hurricane Earl approaching the East Coast. By Flickr user NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

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 will ripple nationwide. This Washington Post article includes a handy graphic showing the likely path of the storm over the next couple of days - and Weather.com has a front-page, frequently updated hurricane bulletin on its site.

Clearly, Labor Day tourism is at stake. AAA had predicted a 9-percent upswing for the mid-Atlantic region, according to this article from the Richmond Times-Dispatch. But now, with evacuations under way from offshore islands and other resorts, a hoped-for boost could turn into a bust for the hospitality industry.

If you’re in one of those markets, you’re probably on the story right now. If you aren’t, chances are you still can find some local ties to Hurricane Earl. You may have area residents who rent out their East Coast vacation homes – CAR-savvy journalists can comb online property-tax records in coastal towns to see if any residents in your market own beach-town property from afar. Insurance agents and realtors in target communities might help, as well – or post a cyber-query on your news organization’s website.

This MSNBC article notes that – stung by hurricane losses – State Farm canceled policies in some storm-prone areas of Florida; the cancellations were set to take effect August 1 – so be aware that property owners in your market may have had to scurry recently for alternative coverage or otherwise face insurance difficulties. And if your region is home ot the headquarters of any large insurers, take a look at hits they’ve incurred this year from storms and other disasters.

Caribbean cruises are threatened by the storm, as this USAT article points out. You might put out calls to area travel agents, asking about disruptions. And this is another opportunity to do a consumer piece about travel insurance, refund policies and other personal finance angles.

Check with airlines about the ripple effect of flight disruptions – Continental already has announced rerouting options for passengers scheduled through affected airports. Check with carriers that serve your region for similar bulletins and ask about the ripple on staffing, aircraft maintenance, food service and more.

Backlogs will affect airports nationwide, not just the ones in the path of the storm. And don’t forget about the effects on mail and cargo as well as passengers. Are any time-sensitive shipments – from fresh food to biological materials – in danger? What’s the re-route plan? This is a great opportunity to quiz freight firms and all of those other obscure yet interesting supply-chain companies with operations adjacent to your local airfield. The International Air Cargo Association may be able to direct you to members in your region.

If you’re near a seaport or home to an industry dependent upon one, check in on cargo vessels.

And as the action unfolds, keep an eye on whether storm damage presents any business opportunities for companies in your area, from engineering firms to retailers who will supply plywood and other remediation materials. Skilled trades workers, relief agencies, helicopter pilots and others often are in hot demand, as we have seen with Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake, the Gulf oil spill and other epic disasters.

This interesting if somewhat arcane article from SupplyChainer.com outlines the Hilton chain’s hurricane plans for its hotels; the article is a couple of years old but the detail on how the chain plans ahead for everything from hurricane staffing to adequate laundry supplies will provide fodder for executives you interview. This is one way you can tie your coverage to Hurricane Earl even if you’re a continent away – by asking local companies what their worst-case-scenario planning involves. A profile of the risk management officers and their myriad duties would make for some interesting reading.

Get rolling early on a holiday hiring story

Melissa Preddy — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:00:34 +0000

By Flickr user Pacific Northwest USCG

The calendar still says summer but it’s none too soon for a holiday hiring story.

Merchants, shippers and other businesses with strong seasonal swings have held staffing low – as this Friday’s Bureau of Labor Statistics employment situation report likely will attest; the national unemployment rate still hovers near double digits. And as this CNN Money report points out, the rate continues to climb in many states.

So holiday jobs will mean more than pin money to many workers; they’ll be a means of tiding households through a few more months of our stumbling economic recovery. And the ebb and flow of these temporary positions will help you illustrate the lingering tough times in your region.

Interestingly this year, some chains are starting the call for Halloween workers. (In 2009, what hiring there was tended to take place late.) I’m on many national merchants’ consumer e-mail lists (good habit for reporters to get into though it does clog the inbox) and was amused to see a bulletin last week from Party City, exhorting the general public to “Join our team for Halloween!” right next to the store’s weekly sales promotions. The ad noted that associates get a 30-percent store discount and featured a button that clicks directly through to the application form at AllRetailJobs.com.

Considering all the tales of employers being swamped with thousands of applications per position, I found it interesting that Party City would send its plea to such a wide audience. Perhaps a quirk on their part; perhaps a sign that holiday hiring will perk up this year?

The other factor to keep in mind: Halloween new hires will have the edge for Christmas season jobs, obviously. So would-be winter elves are going to need to step it up and get their spook on soon rather than slip into a part-time gig a few weeks before Thanksgiving.

This excellent article by the Orange County Register’s Mary Ann Milbourn points out that even non-Halloween merchants are starting to hire early for the holidays, to allow time for training or just to get pick of the crop. (Note all of the other good story ideas in Milbourn’s Handling Hard Times blog, too.)

If you get a start on seasonal hiring angle now, your options for interesting storytelling are far greater than if you wait a month or two. Consider job-seeker blogs or diaries, charts comparing the wages, hours, perks and discounts of various positions in your area, tips for job hunters, a Q&A with a panel of hiring managers (don’t overlook Main Street merchants as well as chains) all are viable alternatives that will engage and inform readers. You also can try to connect with a local economist willing to analyze job postings and ads to quantify the amount and impact of seasonal hiring in your market.

Here are some stats from the Bureau of Labor Statistics on what they call the holiday ‘build-up’ — keep your eyes also on Monster.com, the National Retail Federation and Challenger, Gray & Christmas, which may issue their own holiday hiring forecasts in due time.

ZIP code searches at hourly-job sites like SnagAJob.com can help you get a feel for what’s available in your area.

But do go beyond retail. Don’t overlook temporary staffing firms, from small independents to global giants like Kelly Services and Manpower. And canvass small businesses like restaurants, inns, warehouse operations, even waste haulers, because more buying means more garbage. Charities may need more help these days, too, processing year-end donations, manning those coin kettles or filling gift kits for disadvantaged folks.

On a lighter note, holiday staffing stories also can be fun. Shadow a delivery driver, be an elf or a ghoul for a day, or tell the story of a mailroom shift by the numbers – how many envelopes, how many packages, how many glitches do postal workers sift in a daily stint?

Three weeks until health-care reform begins kicking in

Melissa Preddy — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:05:38 +0000

There are only three weeks until some provisions of this year’s health care reform kick in, and they’re just the first of many business and consumer angles that are ripe for the picking.

Photo by Flickr user Laura4Smith

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, signed into law earlier this year, is generally touted in terms of making health insurance more available to people with preexisting conditions. But the giant new law contains many other new rules; one look at this health-care reform implementation timeline (PDF); from the Senate Democratic Policy Committee could fill a health-care, small business or personal finance writer’ s date book for months to come. Be sure to check out the committee’s main health-care reform page for the full text of the law and many other helpful fact sheets.

GRANDFATHERING AND OTHER CONFUSION

Starting Sept. 23, lifetime coverage limits are eliminated, as are pre-existing clauses for children. Adults with pre-existing conditions are out of luck until 2014, but some states are creating high-risk pools to serve them; this interactive map from the Kaiser Family Foundation will help you figure out what’s being offered to patients in your state. Enrollment is under way so this is one to jump on if you haven’t already.

Another new rule that takes effect in September: Employers must allow workers’ dependent children to stay on policies through age 26. This is a great angle to localize; check with your areas employer about what this is costing them, what adjustments (if any) they are making to plans and premiums and how many workers are signing up their kids for coverage.

Adding to the confusion: Plans that existed before March 23 may grandfather themselves (by, in a nutshell, agreeing not to make any major changes to their existing coverage) and be exempt from some of the new provisions. The dilemma for employers is outlined well by this Memphis Daily News article. And here’s more on the grandfathering aspect from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Meanwhile, this NYT article: Some States Are Lacking in Health Law Authority points out that many state insurance regulators are ill-equipped to monitor and enforce consumer protections in the new bill because of jurisdiction issues.

Talk with insurers and regulators in your state about compliance plans and what checks and balances and being implemented to protect the insured. You might also ask if any hiring is attributed to the administrative aspects of the new law, either at the state level or among private insurance companies, medical centers and other constituents. It would be interesting to come up with a story aggregating the effect of the new bill on employment in your region.

PERSONAL FINANCE

Personal finance angles abound, as well, from the increased adoption tax credit to write-offs for health-care professionals repaying state loans to $250 rebates for Medicare Part D participants, many consumers will pocket more dollars this year under the new law. If you’re a consumer writer, consider a round-up – maybe a large infographic instead of a prose story – telling readers what they may be eligible for and how to claim their cash.

Here’s another angle that’s ripe for localizing: Tax credits for small businesses. As this article from The Columbian points out, the complexity of the law is daunting to small business owners, who often are too busy running their own firms to parse the reform bill for themselves. Aside from articles about their plight, I see a niche here for consultants and accountants; check with those industries in your area to see if health care reform is creating new business for advisers.

It’s not uncommon for training firms to develop seminars and tutorials on new laws; that’s another business spin-off of health care reform you can check into.

RED CROSS AS A RESOURCE

The American Benefits Council offers a plethora of releases and papers directed at its members, on topics such as compliance, grandfather provisions and more. They may take some work to decipher but represent a variety of story angles and you’ll find some interesting sources, like specialty law firms, among the fine print.

And for a slightly different angle, here’s a Philly.com: Health reform group aids campaigns article about the potential HC reform fallout for politicians in the coming mid-term election.

Tax-exempt bonds benefited oil industry more than NOLA neighborhoods

Rosland Gammon — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:00:19 +0000

These houses in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans were still abandoned in December 2008, when Flickr user Rain Rannu took this photo.

Ariella Cohen, co-founder and staff reporter at the nonprofit New Orleans news site, The Lens, found that far more of the tax-exempt bonds issued to rebuild Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina went to the oil industry than to hard-hit areas in New Orleans.

In a piece for Newsweek marking the fifth anniversary of the storm, she writes:

“New Orleans has so far received a total of $55 million in bonds shared between eight projects—or less than 1 percent of the more than $5.9 billion issued statewide. None of the bonds issued for New Orleans projects went to development in hard-hit and still-struggling areas like the Lower Ninth Ward.

Instead, the federal largesse has been poured into oil companies operating far from New Orleans. Since Congress’s unanimous approval of the GO [Gulf Opportunity] Zone Act, Louisiana officials have issued nearly $1.7 billion in tax-free bonds—about one third of the total issued — for projects that contribute to the production of oil. Preliminary approval has been secured to tap millions more.”

Today’s Tip: Ask for documentation of how promises were carried out, Ariella says.

Ariella Cohen

She requested Louisiana Bond Commission records to see how much in bonds had been issued. She then imported the data into Excel to sort it. She says she also reviewed commission meeting minutes to see how the money was spent.

Louisiana, West Virginia, and Connecticut are some of the states that post online the minutes of bond commission meetings and other details. More info on municipal bonds issued since 1990 is available at EMMA, a website created by the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board. EMMA is to munis as EDGAR is to stocks.

Ariella says what surprised her most about the story was that state officials wouldn’t comment.

“No one took me up on that,” she says.

If you’d like to sharpen your skills in using Excel and analyzing data, check out the free “Be a Better Business Watchdog — CAR for Business Journalists” workshops on Oct. 11 in Atlanta and Nov. 9 in Milwaukee. These workshops are co-presented by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism and Investigative Reporters and Editors. You do not have to be a member of IRE or have previous database experience to attend.

Also, if you’re looking for more data from the disaster front, IRE just made available for a small fee the Small Business Administration disaster-loan records from fiscal 1980 to 2009. You can search the database of more than 1 million records to find who got SBA disaster loans in your market and who is not paying them back.

IRE offers database of SBA disaster loans

Linda Austin — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 22:47:54 +0000

Investigative Reporters and Editors is offering a database of disaster loans made by the Small Business Administration from fiscal 1980 to 2009. Journalists can use this database of 1,088,565 records to find where SBA disaster loans went in their market or determine who is not paying back SBA disaster loans, according to IRE Training Director Jaimi Dowdell.

“SBA’s disaster loans are the primary form of federal assistance for non-farm, private-sector disaster losses,” she writes in an e-mail. “For this reason, the disaster-loan program is the only form of SBA assistance not limited to small businesses. Disaster loans from SBA help homeowners, renters, businesses of all sizes and nonprofit organizations finance their rebuilding.”

The price for the database ranges from $60 to $160, depending on the size of the news organization. Data for individual states can be had for $40 to $100.

For more information, visit the IRE and NICAR website at or e-mail IRE’s Database Library, or call (573) 884-7711.

If you’re looking for training in how to use Excel and analyze data, check out the free “Be a Better Business Watchdog — CAR for Business Journalists” workshops on Oct. 11 in Atlanta and Nov. 9 in Milwaukee. These workshops are co-presented by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism and IRE. You do not have to be a member of IRE to attend.

Finding business angles in the Labor Day story

Melissa Preddy — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 12:00:22 +0000

By Flickr user Pacerboy4

The national holiday which celebrates the American worker is a natural news peg for business writers, especially with the ailing jobs market a top-of-mind topic amid our stumbling economic recovery.

And as the unofficial end to summer, the first Monday in September is a milestone for the travel industry, for purveyors of back-to-school goods, movie theaters, temp firms and more.

For non-seasonal businesses, the weeks after Labor Day mark the start of a sort of phantom new fiscal year, when matters postponed “because half the staff is on vacation” are taken up and a faster tempo dominates offices, labs and other workplaces. Will this uptick translate into faster hiring decisions, more orders placed, more bids submitted and more product churned out at the major employers in your region?

Here’s the U.S. Department of Labor’s history of Labor Day sheet, fyi, which notes that “It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.)

And here’s a new Census Bureau fact sheet that’s a bonanza of story ideas complete with links to pertinent government statistics. The factoids range from the number of independent contractors (are your area firms sending out more 1099s and fewer W-2s this coming January?) to information about wages, hot jobs and “extreme commutes.”

One story well worth exploring is the number of workers holding down two or more jobs – which according to this Bureau of Labor Statistics report is actually lower than in the mid-1990s, despite our high percentage of underemployed workers today. The BLS report includes a state-by-state breakdown and map – but it’s based on 2008 data, so you might want to attempt to update it by quizzing your state’s workforce commission, local economists, staffing firms and others.

Unions are a traditional focus of Labor Day stories, whether the focus be declining membership and clout or the unions’ influence on the coming mid-term elections. These stories may be routine but rest assured they’re of major interest to many readers, especially if any contracts are coming expiring soon or if any unions have made concessions that affect wages for new hires or other protection. It’s also a good time to bolster your relationship with union sources, who often are a conduit to developments you otherwise wouldn’t hear about at the companies you cover.

The National Labor Relations Board posts a weekly summary of actions on its website; it’s fascinating reading and there’s enough fodder here that you might find a local issue worth writing about, from problems with a heavy equipment makers’ prescription plan to union-election difficulties to wrongful termination grievances.

Another angle: Find some small, quirky or obscure labor unions in your area; they might lead to interesting career stories, occupational profiles or just a piece about the ins and outs of forming and running a small guild or labor union. There are many directories online but I found this one at Unions.org to be the most useful; typed in my ZIP code and got more than 700 viable hits, including such interesting possibilities as theatrical and stage employees unions, needle trades, musicians, boilermakers and more.

Meanwhile, Labor Day weekend is the final important travel milestone of the summer. Lobbying groups for hoteliers and other tourism-dependent industries are urging state legislatures to mandate post-Labor Day school start dates, as noted in this Arizona Daily Star piece. Elsewhere, like here in Michigan, such legislation already has passed.

Does it help the travel industry? This 2008 report from Tennessee posits about a $200 million spending boost and nearly 3,000 jobs would be generated by a post-Labor Day school start. Read the report; it’ll help you generate questions for your tourism industry officials and consumers. Aside from hotels, restaurants and attractions, query casinos, locally headquartered or hubbed airlines, bus lines, charter coach companies, cab companies and more about their end-of-summer trade. Don’t forget behind-the-scenes companies like food suppliers.

Let’s connect: Balancing social media, business journalism and ethics

Joe Rutland — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:33:29 +0000

Here is a situation that a business reporter could face.

A friend wants me to write a “positive” story about a major new business venture in town. He knows that I am with the community newspaper and his friends will see the story. In return, this friend will provide me with information that could turn into a bigger business story.

Plus my friend will do an on-camera interview that I, as my own videographer, can produce and post online to my community newspaper’s website.

Obviously, this connection can be – as they say – a “win-win” situation. Yet is it ethical?

GETTING THE STORY

While this is hypothetical, I know that there are examples of doing whatever it takes in order to “get the story.” Making up quotes, plagiarism and turning off-the-record comments into on-the-record ones are ways to get around sticky ethical issues.

Who cares about ethics? I better because if I don’t, then my reputation and that of the newspaper itself will be tarnished.

Social media has pushed business reporting into breaking news, on a national and international level, to lightning-fast levels. Cable television’s round-the-clock news cycle started this ball rolling years ago with CNN. I would say even at community newspapers, there is the challenge of breaking news via social media and maintaining the print product’s need.

BALANCING IT OUT

Accuracy is so important in journalism, period.

I’ve made my share of mistakes in this business and you have, too. It’s the human element. Accuracy and ethics do a lovely dance together. Making sure they tango in rhythm is important for solid business reporting, from community newspapers all the way up to major metros.

Having said that, here are a few suggestions toward maintaining a healthy tango with social media, business journalism and ethics:

Make sure you have key information verified by at least two sources.
Before Tweeting or blogging about a subject, get clear on what you want to say. Yes, even in 140 characters … it matters.
Research your subject matter so that you can come from a place of awareness and knowledge. Even in a one-man shop, get clear about reporting on the subject whether it is the oil and natural gas industry, construction or small business owners.
Ask for help. There is no need to play “The Lone Ranger” when dealing with touchy business subjects.

Well, this wraps up my time here for August. Thanks for reading these blog entries and I hope they have provided a view into community newspaper journalism from a business editor’s viewpoint.

Regret the (business) error to be regular on Reynolds Center

Austen Sherman — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:30:30 +0000

Craig Silverman brings his wit and wisdom about journalistic errors to BusinessJournalism.org starting Sept. 3.

The editor of Regret the Error, Silverman will write an every-other-week column focusing on common errors in business journalism and tricks to avoid them.

Silverman has an overwhelming amount of experience in media, beginning his studies at Concordia University in Montreal in 1995.

He is currently the managing editor of PBS MediaShift and Idea Lab, the Digital Journalism Director of OpenFile.ca, the editor of Regret the Error (which brought him a book deal), a columnist for the Columbia Journalism Review, and he has been a full-time freelancer since 2002.

Craig Silverman, Regret the Error

Silverman’s column will be running every other Friday, beginning Sept. 3. He will take a look at errors being made in business journalism. He’ll reach out to experienced business reporters who can provide some actionable advice. And he hopes to share tips that will prevent reporters from falling into common traps.

Silverman recently took time to answer a few questions:

Q: You’re best known for “Regret the Error,” how did the site come about and what does it offer its readers?

A: It was 2004 and I was freelancing. I read a lot of media blogs, like Romenesko, and was really amazing at what was going on as far as online journalism. It seemed like a good idea to have one of my own. I knew I wanted it to be media focused. When you are taught journalism accuracy is always taught as the most important thing we do, there are tons of blogs about ethics but few about corrections and accuracy. It turns out errors can be both amusing and instructive. It launched that Fall and had over 10,000 viewers in the first day.

Q: What can journalists do to help avoid making errors?

A: There are a couple fundamental things that people can do to be more accurate. One of the things I encourage people to do is figure out what mistakes they are making, self-diagnose and make an error log to monitor your mistakes. (Be sure to document both those that go to print and those that are caught by the copy desk). It is difficult to improve when you don’t know where you’re mistakes are. The single most effective way is to use a checklist, whenever I say that I get people groaning and rolling their eyes. It isn’t the most advanced piece of technology. I have one for free that people can download from my site. It is a place that while you work you have a place to write notes to yourself.

Q: Is business journalism more prone to error than other types of journalism? Is accuracy more important?

A: When you are talking about business journalism, I don’t know if I would say it’s more important. In business it can have a large impact. There have been many reports that caused stock prices to fall or cost a company business. There are often complicated numbers when it comes to earnings and SEC filings, those are all areas that are specific to business journalism. Business journalists have to deal with numbers, not only correctly reporting that number but they have to actually be able to interpret them and make sense. Anytime that journalists get a hold of numbers there are often errors. Really the most common error according to research is a misspelled name or incorrect title. In business you obviously deal with company names and titles. A number of places where journalists go wrong is prevalent business reporting. I don’t know if they are necessarily more error prone, but we generally make the same types of errors no matter what our beat or focus is.

Q: What do you like most about working with innovative groups such as PBS MediaShift and IdeaLab?

A: For me this is a really amazing and exciting point in journalism. To be able to write and edit for these programs gives me a front row seat to some amazing ideas. We are seeing some of the older organizations deal with significant challenges, while seeing the emergence of new types of organizations. There are not for profits, hybrid business models, and new content companies. I don’t pretend to know exactly what is going to happen, but I do think that the most important and interesting brands are being created right now. Some of them are old organizations reinventing themselves and others are brand new, I think these will dominate the next 25-50 years of media. This time reminds me of the old “penny papers.” Before the newspaper was for the upper class, all of a sudden you had this new inexpensive paper that created a larger circulation and really started “mass media.” There is a lot that is new and there are some that relate to what has happened in journalism’s past.

Q: Tell us a little about OpenFile.ca.

A: OpenFile is a fairly new collaborative news website for Canada, I am a part of the team that started the project. It currently covers Toronto, but we are looking to expand. There are a lot of local news organizations that are suffering who are struggling to provide as good of coverage as they used to. Many of these community papers have no reporters and are simply re-writing press releases. We wanted to do something that brings a level of community reporting back to Canada. Anyone can come to the site and “open a file.” They basically say, “Hey, I’m wondering about…” We take these ideas and assign a pro journalist to investigate and report. Once it is published we encourage people from the community to add their own photos and information, it enables people to be a part of it. We launched the beta site in May and will be launching an almost complete redesign in September. It isn’t truly “investigative” in the traditional sense as we are basically investigating suggestions and questions people have. All the stories are geo-tagged so as the site grows users will be able to enter their zip code and see what is going on around them in their neighborhood. It is an exciting experience to be a part of one of these new online organizations that are emerging.

Use data to measure your local car economy

Melissa Preddy — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 12:00:08 +0000

By Flickr user Brian Teutsch

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 comparison with last year’s. Still, the annualized sales rate for 2010 (meaning the number of cars that will be sold by Dec. 31 if the pace of sales stays on track with year-to-date figures) is showing a bit of an uptick over last year.

Use the breakout figures by manufacturer in Edmunds’ report to quiz your local dealerships about whether they are plus or minus the annual average, and what they figure is behind any deviation.

This WSJ data package will give you a plethora of ideas for localizing; it shows what’s moving by brand, by type of vehicle, etc. (you can get the raw numbers yourself from the automakers’ releases) – and notes one influential factor in auto sales: Gas prices, which are hovering around an eight-month low.

TrueCar.com also is offering an August forecast, down to brand level, and also delves into vehicle pricing. It may be worth a call to see if they can provide spending data for specific states or metropolitan market if you’re focusing on a consumer-spending angle. Be sure to ask local banks, credit unions and finance companies about trends in loan terms, too – are car buyers, like home borrowers, opting for shorter loans these days or stretching payments out to make them easier on the pocketbook in the short term?

Another source of local data is insurers, especially independent agents, who may be willing to summarize trends in insurance policies that reflect your local economy. Higher deductibles? Skimpier coverage? More older cars being limped along another year?

For another local economic indicator, talk with dealers and related businesses about business purchases of new and used vehicles. One of my tradesmen just purchased a smaller – but new – pickup truck for his business. He was flush with cash to spend on the new truck but shopped around for the best fuel mileage – and interesting glimpse into the priorities of the small business person.

And recently, in researching an article about commercial graphics on light trucks and other vehicles, I was told by several design firms that they’re seeing a bit of an upswing in the number of new vehicles being brought in for custom signs, even full-body decal wraps, as companies bite the bullet and replace aging work trucks. Check with white-collar firms that provide fleets for the use of employees, as well as service and blue-collar companies that operate vans and larger trucks, about their purchasing plans for the balance of 2010.