BusinessJournalism.org Reynolds Center for Business Journalism » Tools

Take compelling business new photos: Self-guided tutorial

Kelly Carr — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 21:59:21 +0000

Visuals are everyone’s job these days.

“Take Compelling Business News Photos” taught journalists how to shoot business-news photos, feel at ease behind the camera and enhance their ability to work with photojournalists.

Attendees were trained on the basics of photo composition before leading and critiquing a photo assignment. The session was held during the 2010 Society of American Business Editors & Writers conference in Phoenix.

YOUR INSTRUCTOR

This session was led by Carlos Chavez, the deputy photo editor at The Arizona Republic and 15-year photojournalist veteran.

AGENDA

Session One: Photography 101: What to do and what not to do in the field
Session Two: Photo critique: Learn the qualities of a strong photo

SELF-GUIDED LESSON

Take a look through the recordings, resources and tools below. At your own pace, you can walk through the self-guided lesson on financial statements.

Produce a business news podcast: Self-guided training

Kelly Carr — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:47:25 +0000

This hands-on session taught journalists how to record and produce a business news podcast.

“Produce a Business News Podcast” participants visited a local business, recorded audio and edited sound clips to create a polished story.

The training was held during the 2010 Society of American Business Editors & Writers conference in Phoenix.

YOUR INSTRUCTOR

This session was led by Mark Moran, the news director for KJZZ, Phoenix’s public radio station. He has reported for national and international news agencies, including the BBC, CBC and Voice of America.

AGENDA

Session One: How to capture audio
Session Two: Editing audio into a podcast

SELF-GUIDED LESSON

Take a look through the recordings, resources and tools below. At your own pace, you can walk through the self-guided lesson on financial statements.

Here’s a podcast produced during the training session:

How to look natural on air: Self-guided training

Kelly Carr — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:14:18 +0000

In this half-day workshop, journalists learned tactics for successful television interviews from an off-camera anchor. ”How to Look Natural On Air,” gave participants a chance to practice interviewing skills and learn from critiques to better enhance their camera presence.

The workshop was held during the 2010 Society of American Business Editors & Writers conference in Phoenix.

YOUR INSTRUCTOR

This workshop was led by Susan Green, the broadcast director of the Cronkite News Service in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

SELF-GUIDED LESSON

Take a look through the recordings and resources below. At your own pace, you can walk through the self-guided lesson on how to look natural on air.

How to look natural on air: A practice session from Reynolds Center on Vimeo.

Produce a business news video in a day: Self-guided training

Kelly Carr — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 22:08:27 +0000

Workshop participants interview a business owner in Phoenix to produce a video package during the training.

“Produce a Business News Video in a Day” was a specialized training workshop held during the 2010 Society of America Business Editors & Writers conference in Phoenix.

The intensive day of hands-on training helped journalists learn the skills to shoot business news videos.

YOUR INSTRUCTOR

The session was led by Brian Snyder, a TV-production specialist and a faculty associate at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication who teaches videography and non-linear editing.

AGENDA

Session One: How to shoot video and use the equipment
Session Two: Introduction to editing
Session Three: Viewing and critique of video stories

SELF-GUIDED LESSON

Take a look through the recordings, resources and tools below. At your own pace, you can walk through the self-guided lesson on producing a business news video.

This video story package was produced by journalists during the training session.

Understanding Financial Statements: Self-guided Webinar

Robin J Phillips — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:24:56 +0000

The free, weeklong “Understanding Financial Statements” online seminar originally was held July 19-23. It covers income statements, balance sheets, cash flows and writing about numbers.

As one past participant said, “This course really revolutionized my reporting. I felt much more confident writing my last earnings story.”

YOUR INSTRUCTOR

This seminar was led by James Gentry, a professor and former dean at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas. He has presented workshops on understanding the numbers of business to thousands of journalists and corporate communicators.

AGENDA

Day One: Introduction to financial statements
Day Two: The income statement
Day Three: Balance sheets
Day Four: Cash flows
Day Five: Writing stories based on what you’ve learned

SELF-GUIDED LESSON

Take a look through the recordings, resources and tools below. At your own pace, you can walk through the self-guided lesson on financial statements.

Goldman Sachs explainer proves that business videos are hard to do

Robin J Phillips — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:44:46 +0000

How the government says Goldman Sachs defrauded investors

USA Today proves that business videos are hard to do… to do well.

This ambitious video combines graphics and animation to try to explain what happened with Goldman Sachs. Did they succeed? You be the judge.

This really is a big project and no doubt took several writers, illustrators and producers a lot of time to put together. But it seems to fall short because it mixes graphics and video in a way that doesn’t use either to its full potential.

The result is a short video which tells the story of Goldman Sachs that appears a little too computer-generated. In fact, it looks like it may appear in a Second Life version of USA Today.

I don’t mean to be too critical of this effort by USAToday. In fact, I stumbled upon this video while looking around the Web for good examples of business video stories. I did not come up with too many good examples.

Business videos are not easy to do. A search of major newspaper web sites reveals few really great ones. And multi-media or Web journalism is harder still. Here are some examples to check out:

New York Times: Business Video library
The Washington Post features business news videos from Bloomberg.
LA Times had a busy business video page with stories from KTLA and original videos.
More videos from USAToday’s Money pages which compile AP and original videos.

And for graphics (and the occasional video), take a look at the Business & Money section ofGood.is.

Love to see examples of good business videos and good business video graphics. If you have some, paste them in the comments below. We’ll share.

USA Today’s description: “The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Goldman Sachs and one of its executives, Fabrice Tourre, with civil fraud. The agency says they created and sold an investment in 2007 without telling the buyers a key fact: it was designed to fail.”

What are your Top 5 business news sites?

Robin J Phillips — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 18:26:11 +0000

Top list story of the day: Top 5 Business News Websites

CompanyAGE.com is a brand new Web site created by a British entrepreneur who says he wants to share business experiences while delivering “short, snappy and interesting articles that are business focused.”

The website covers a range of company issues with regular daily updates. Bowen’s site seems like it’s aimed at people running businesses more than journalists, but this feature at the top of its home page today. Here are Bowen’s Top 5 and short version of his explanation about why:

1. CNBC – “As far as content and analysis is concerned then it doesn’t get any better than this. ”

2. MarketWatch - “We love this site. The website presentation is very cool and stories are well laid out.”

3. Forbes – “The Forbes website provides market headline and stock price movement news but also has a focus on business life in general.”

4. Yahoo finance – “The site is packed with information and commentary.”

5. Bloomberg – “A well laid out and clean looking site that is split into pages for news and market data.”

What do you think? What’s your favorite business news site? Where do you go to see what’s happening? Comment below.

Tell us what sites you go to regularly and why you like them. We’ll share.

Covering the Green Economy: Self-guided Webinar

Robin J Phillips — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:14:35 +0000

Reynolds Center President Andrew Leckey introduces Angel Gonzalez, Dow Jones Houston bureau chief.

“Covering the Green Economy” seminar on June 28-30, 2010.

This three-day specialized workshop was made possible by a grant from the McCormick Foundation. The program was designed to help journalists spot greenwashing, understand how to track stimulus money earmarked for “green” initiatives and get up to speed on eco-trends in a variety of industries.

The seminar’s jam-packed schedule and a list of top-notch speakers, including best-selling author and coal industry expert Jeff Goodell, ensured that attendees left with a slew of story ideas and a firm grasp on the world of sustainability.

Take a look through the recordings, resources and tools below. At your own pace, you can walk through the self-guided lesson on covering the green economy. This interactive course covers a wide variety of beats that touch on the economics of environmental issues.

STIMULUS: Russ Choma is an investigative reporter who focuses on climate and energy issues, transportation and stimulus spending for the Investigative Reporting Workshop, Nieman Watchdog and Grist.org.

AUTOS: Jim Motavalli, a freelance environmental reporter and author who blogs for a variety of publications including The New York Times. He has a weekly syndicated “Wheels” column and also writes for NPR’s Car Talk.

Jim Motavalli, right, talks with a group of fellows over lunch.

FOOD: Steve Short, CEO of Atlasta Catering and Event Concepts and Colin Tetreault, director of sustainability management for Atlasta, talked about trends in the food industry … including the food we are eating.

BUSINESS, SCIENCE AND HEALTH: Susanne Rust, a Knight Fellow at Stanford University and a former award-winning reporter for the Milwaukee Journal. Sentinel.

BROWN ROOFS, BLUE DORMS and PLATINUM CONDOS: Bryn Nelson is a freelance science writer and editor with a special interest in technology, biomedicine, and ecology. Formerly an award-winning science writer for Newsday and a weekly columnist for MSNBC.com.

THE SHIPBREAKERS: Gary Cohn is a freelance investigative reporter, adjunct journalism professor at University of Southern California’s Annenberg School of Journalism and winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting.

THE ENERGY STORY: Jeff Goodell is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone and a frequent contributor to New York Times Magazine. He is the author of five books, including the New York Times bestseller “Our Story: 77 Hours That Tested Our Friendship and Our Faith.”

WATER: Craig Pittman is an award-winning environmental reporter at the St. Petersburg Times and the author of two books. Pittman also spoke about turning a good story into a book. Shaun McKinnon is an award-winning reporter who writes about climate and environmental issues for The Arizona Republic.

OIL: Angel Gonzalez is Houston Bureau Chief for Dow Jones Newswires, where he helps lead the Newswires’ coverage of the global energy industry.

U.S. business journalists express confidence in journalism’s future

Robin J Phillips — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:30:48 +0000

Almost two-thirds of business journalists report that the amount of business coverage at their organization has stayed the same or increased in the past five years, according to a new survey commissioned by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism. | Business Journalists Study 2010 (PDF)

The Business Journalists Study 2010 is a groundbreaking survey of 473 business reporters and editors nationwide.

“We talked with hundreds of print, online, wire, broadcast and freelance business journalists, and they expressed optimism about the future of journalism,” said Andrew Leckey, Reynolds Center president and Reynolds Endowed Chair in Business Journalism at the Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.

“I found a shocking amount of optimism, grit and determination in those findings,” said professor Tim McGuire, who retired in 2002 as editor of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. McGuire is the Frank Russell Chair for the Business of Journalism at ASU’s Cronkite School.

“I am convinced the Reynolds study is a seminal piece of work that should make the obituary writers for journalism pause and seriously reflect,” McGuire said.

Specifically, McGuire was surprised that almost a third reported an increase in pay over the past two years and that seven out of 10 business journalists say they are more or just as satisfied with their jobs as they were five years ago. Almost three-fourths plan to stay in journalism for the next five years.

McGuire goes into detail in a post on his blog, McGuire on Media, explaining why this survey is significant to journalism.

“What’s striking in the results is how much more negatively print journalists have been impacted compared with those from other media,” said Linda Austin, executive director of the Reynolds Center. Of the respondents, 139 came from wire services, 135 from print, 88 from broadcast, 67 from freelancing and 44 from online. At almost every experience level, print journalists made less money.

Business Journalists Study 2010

View more presentations from Reynolds Center for Business Journalism.

Overall, almost half say they have fewer opportunities for training. “I would urge them to check out the free regional workshops and online training offered by the Reynolds Center at BusinessJournalism.org,” Austin said.

THE FULL STUDY: Business Journalists Study 2010 (PDF)
Respondents averaged 20 years in journalism and 12.8 years as business journalists. They report many changes in their jobs in the past five years:

Six out of 10 are doing more or about the same level of investigative journalism.
Nine out of 10 have learned new skills.
Three-fourths say their workload has increased and they use social media.
About half blog, file first for the Web and cover more beats.

ABOUT THE SURVEY
Business Journalists Study 2010 was conducted by the Behavior Research Center Inc. in Phoenix. The phone survey between April 19 and May 6 has a margin of error of +/-4.6 percent.

ABOUT THE REYNOLDS CENTER

The Reynolds Center is based at ASU. It is funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, which is a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, it is one of the largest private foundations in the United States.

More than 10,000 journalists have benefited from the Reynolds Center’s free training since 2003. The center’s mission is to help journalists cover business better.

For more information about this report, e-mail Linda Austin, Reynolds Center executive director, or call 602-496-9187.

Learning business beat basics with Mark Tatge’s new book

Sarah Macdonald — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 00:05:37 +0000

When Mark Tatge began teaching business journalism students three years ago at Ohio University, he realized that the book he wanted to teach from wasn’t exactly written yet.

So the veteran business journalist set out to write his own.

Tatge’s ” The New York Times Reader: Business & Economics,” published by CQ Press, highlights top business stories and offers methods for writing about business and the economy.

The book offers key stories from The New York Times, interviews with journalists and practical tips for reporters starting out on the business beat. At nearly 300 pages, the reader is packed with information on topics that range from inflation to jobs and unemployment.

Tatge joins a long list of business journalists who’ve written the very long form: From beat to book, list of business journalist-authors

If you haven’t yet had a chance to scan through the book, we’ve got you covered. Tatge shared some of his top tips for reporters new to the business beat or those looking to brush up their skills:

What are some critical skills business journalists must have?

“They need to just have a very basic understanding of how a company runs, from a sales, revenue and profits standpoint. And how do companies make money or lose money? Why? They don’t have to have an accounting degree… but you really need to understand just some of the basics of what operating profit is, what net income is and that would be number one.”

What do you look for in good business stories and how did you choose the stories for the book?

“I picked these stories because they are very good at explanation, they’re very good at analysis, and I don’t mean analysis in a financial sense, but analysis in telling me why this is important, why I should read about this and how this event falls into the larger picture… There are background elements in every story and a lot of explanation that puts this in context.”

Mark Tatge

In today’s economy, what types of business stories need to be written?

“There is so much out there to be writing about right now, it’s like a smorgasbord and you should sample everything. You really have your pick. You have one of the worst downturns in 80 years, since the Great Depression. You have problems in Europe with the Euro. You’ve got businesses that are trying to raise money and expand. There’s everything from a corporate profile to economic stories to the small business entrepreneur stories”

What are the most important elements of business reporting?

“I always stress that business is about people. It’s about write about people and the things people do or they don’t do. It’s not about writing about a building or an object. Business itself is just a corporation and a legal document to be filed with the Secretary of State. We don’t write about corporations, we write about the people who run those corporations. And we don’t write about the economy, we write about how the economy affects people.”

Here are a few more tips from Tatge on covering the business beat:

Read as much as you can about business, both business publications and books about business. Look at how things are explained.
Find a good resource of financial terms. Tatge recommends Barron’s Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms.
Be patient. Beginning business reporting is like learning a foreign language, it takes time.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. There’s no such thing as a dumb question.
Find experts inside and outside of your organization to help translate business terms and practices.

In this video, Tatge talks about teaching business journalism at Ohio University.