BusinessJournalism.org Reynolds Center for Business Journalism » Podcasts

Podcast: Former WP Editor Len Downie outlines history of U.S. investigative biz reporting

Reynolds Staff — Thu, 20 May 2010 01:21:35 +0000

Leonard Downie Jr.

Leonard Downie Jr. spent 44 years at The Washington Post, serving as executive editor from 1991 to 2008, a tenure during which the paper won 25 Pulitzer Prizes. He was an investigative reporter, editor on the local and national news staffs, London correspondent and managing editor and helped supervise the newspaper’s Watergate coverage.

He is vice president-at-large of the Post and Weil Family Professor of Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. He gave this lecture, outlining the history of investigative business journalism in the United States on March 4, 2010, to 23 international journalists, studying business and economics reporting in the United States at the invitation of the State Department.

ARCHIVE: Investigating the business of college athletics

Robin J Phillips — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 05:59:23 +0000

Investigating the business of college athletics: Indianapolis

Pulitzer winner Buzz Bissinger headlined this free workshop on how to dig into the finances of your local colleges’ athletic programs. Bissinger, the best-selling author of ‘Shooting Stars,’ ‘Friday Night Lights’ and ‘3 Nights in August,’ offered tips on how to turn the numbers of college sports into a compelling narrative.

ARCHIVE
Here is a link to the video recording of our March 10 workshop on
VIDEO: Investigating the Business of College Athletics

Reynolds Week 2010 seminar videos – Day 4

Reynolds Staff — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 23:32:50 +0000

These classroom videos are from Reynolds Week 2010, Day 4 lectures. The videos are captured by automated equipment in the classroom and are unedited. You can fast-forward through breaks and there is a notation after each VIDEO link that points out when in the video the lecture begins.

Click on the link and then click on whether you want to view the video a high-speed or slow-speed version.

FINANCIALS SEMINAR

1. ‘Credit Crisis and Market Crash of 2008: What’s Next?,’ Reynolds Business Journalism Week, Jan. 8, 2010, 8:15 a.m.
VIDEO – this session begins at about 19 minutes.

2. ‘Credit Crisis and Market Crash of 2008: What’s Next?,’ continued, Reynolds Business Journalism Week, Jan. 8, 2010,10 a.m.
VIDEO – the session begins at about the 10-minute mark.

PROFESSORS SEMINAR

1.’Finding Business in Every Beat,’ Reynolds Business Journalism Week, Jan. 8, 10 a.m.
VIDEO -the session begins at the 21-minute mark.

Anita Lienert: Editorial director for Global Auto Systems

Reynolds Staff — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:44:53 +0000

Podcast:

Age: 56
Home: Dexter, Mich.
What I do: Editorial director for Global Auto Systems, content provider for Edmunds.com/Inside Line/News
Previous life: Detroit News auto columnist

My brand: Global news coverage with emphasis on emerging markets
Hours worked per week: 60
Annual sales: Sorry. Proprietary info.

What I wish I had known when I started: That it really didn’t matter how much time I took off to raise my kids.
Best business advice ever received: Strike a balance between family and work.
Best marketing tool: Reputation

Biggest business mistake: Sticking with a dying newspaper for too long.
My happiness on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being supremely so: Nine.
Best part of being an entrepreneur: Working with my husband.
Worst part: It’s all on our shoulders.

Biggest professional regret: Not enough formal education – B.A. only.
Advice to would-be entrepreneurs: Fight the temptation to make your work a 24/7 obsession.

Glenn Burkins: Qcitymetro.com editor, publisher

Reynolds Staff — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:41:24 +0000

Podcast:

Age: 48
Home: Charlotte, N.C.
What I do: Publish and edit Qcitymetro.com, an online news site for African Americans in the Charlotte, N.C., region.
Previous life: Last job was deputy managing editor at The Charlotte Observer. Was a reporter at The Wall Street Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer and St. Petersburg Times. Was business reporter, Africa correspondent, labor/workplace reporter and White House correspondent.

My brand: It’s all about community.
Hours worked per week: No fewer than 80.
Annual sales: Too early to assess.

What I wish I had known when I started: How much work/money/time it would require?.
Best business advice ever received: Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Best marketing tool: Facebook

Biggest business mistake: Picking the wrong company to build the site.
My happiness on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being supremely so: Ten, if I ignore my eroding finances.
Best part of being an entrepreneur: I am the decider.
Worst part: I am the financier.

Biggest professional regret: Can’t think of one.
Advice to would-be entrepreneurs: Don’t underestimate how much work/money/time it will take.

Michelle Leder: Editor, founder of footnoted.org

Reynolds Staff — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:38:10 +0000

Podcast:

Home: Peekskill, N.Y.
What I do: Mostly read and report on SEC files, but some other stuff, too.
Previous life: Reporter for daily newspapers

My brand: footnoted.org
Hours worked per week: Lots
Annual sales: Thankfully, I’m not a public company, so I don’t have to disclose this.

What I wish I had known when I started: A bit more coding
Best business advice ever received: Don’t try to be all things to all people — do what you do best.
Best marketing tool: Me

Biggest business mistake: Giving away valuable information for free — leads to expectations that it will continue to be free.
My happiness on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being supremely so: Seven
Best part of being an entrepreneur: Getting to take hikes with my dog in the middle of the day.
Worst part: Working way too many hours.

Biggest professional regret: Giving away my best stuff.
Advice to would-be entrepreneurs: Find something you enjoy doing. and if it happens to be something that has the potential to make money, that’s even better.

Aaron Kremer: Founder, editor of Richmond BizSense.com

Reynolds Staff — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:35:13 +0000

Podcast:

Age: 28
Home: Richmond, Va.
What I do: Run a business news Web site in Richmond
Previous life: Led backpacking trips after college, then started writing for weekly newspapers, then dailies.

My brand: www.richmondbizsense.com and Dyno Media (which helps some other small newspapers do the same thing)
Hours worked per week: 65ish
Annual sales: $160,000

What I wish I had known when I started: Journalism and sales are pretty much exactly opposite, and you have to hire a salesperson who is good at that craft as soon as you can afford it.
Best business advice ever received: To trust my instincts. I also don’t read any how-to business books because they cloud my thinking. That’s been good advice.
Best marketing tool: The stories market themselves. So, we try to break
better and better scoops.

Biggest business mistake: Before we had a full-time sales person, I had to do some of the sales calls. I went to a banker who knew me as a reporter, and from then on, he thought I owed him puff pieces. It’s too confusing for sources/potential clients. They can only know you in one way — even if you own the company.
My happiness on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being supremely so: Eight. I
love my job, and the people I work with. But sometimes I can’t take long
weekends, and for a few years, my personal life disappeared.
Best part of being an entrepreneur: Seeing the business grow is tremendously rewarding. I also like that nobody can control my salary or my future.
Worst part: Handling angry advertisers and having to deal with marketers.
Biggest professional regret: Sometimes it feels like I’m stuck in Richmond, and I have no time to take other business assignments. Plus, I have to go on TV, which I hate, but it helps the biz.

Advice to would-be entrepreneurs:
1. Run your idea by some non-journalists whom you trust, and who are successful entrepreneurs. If they don’t see a need, think carefully about it. It’s OK if they are skeptical, but if too many say no, that could be a danger sign.

2. Have a plan for how to make money. You probably will not make much for the first year — so be prepared to run a site without income for at
least a year to build up a loyal readership. But down the road, there has to be a viable business. If you are a good enough reporter and can assemble a solid reporting team — people will want to read it. Then, you have to have some ideas on how to bring in revenue.

3. Keep expenses low at first. They will crush your dream faster than anything else. No fancy desks, computers, offices. None of that is important. Down the road you can invest in some nicer stuff, but be very conservative in your spending. In this way, the skepticism that comes with being a reporter is a tremendous asset.

4. Treat your reporters/employees like family and even if you can’t offer the best pay, make sure they feel appreciated (if they are good, of course). Coming out of moribund newsrooms, that will pay off big-time.

Check out Aaron Kremer’s take on the pros and cons of becoming an entrepreneur:

Julie Walker: Freelance TV and radio reporter

Reynolds Staff — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:30:24 +0000

Podcast:

Age: My agent suggests I not say.
Home: New York City.
What I do: Freelance as journalist in radio, TV and print.
Previous life: Left a full-time job at NY1 News 3 years ago to freelance.

My brand: Julie Walker
Hours worked per week: Varies … could be as little as 20 or as much as 60.
Annual sales: Depends on how much I work.

What I you wish I had known when I started: That going to a smaller market to start out would not have been as bad as I thought.
Best business advice ever received: “Just do it” (or something to that effect) from Paul Mason, former ABC News head.
Best marketing tool: Working across all media platforms/being able to cover anything.

Biggest business mistake: Not having a mentor
My happiness on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being supremely so: 8
Best part of being an entrepreneur: Setting my own hours/doing what I want.
Worst part: Devoting as much time to finding that next job as doing the job.

Biggest professional regret: Not leaving a bad job before it got even worse.
Advice to would-be entrepreneurs: Work twice as hard as the next person. Do your homework. Ask questions. Follow up.

Business Talks: Collaborating for coverage

Rene Gutel — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:59:21 +0000

Host Rene Gutel talks to Jay Rosen, a journalism professor at New York University, about his latest project, newassignment.net, an experiment in open-sourced reporting where professional journalists collaborate with contributors. (Produced by Carol Legg)

Business Talks: Staying ahead of the auto story

Rene Gutel — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:56:07 +0000

Newsrooms around the country scrambled to cover General Motors’ bankruptcy announcement and the fallout. And eyes are still on Chrysler as it struggles.

Today’s topic is how to get ahead of the big story. Host Rene Gutel talks to Julie Halpert, a journalist who covers the auto industry for outlets including Newsweekand the public radio program The Environment Report.