As an experienced radio journalist, Nici offers tips of how radio reporters can produce high-quality stories.

With years of experience in covering stories in both Shanghai and New York City, Wong shared her tips for American reporters working abroad.

Cancino spent Jan 2-5 as a fellow during the Reynolds Center’s Strictly Financials Seminar. During a quick break, she shared her advice for how to make your resume rise to the top.

Some of her tips included:

• Apply to any kind of internship or residency opportunities.
• Get published while you are a still a student.
• Be on the lookout for training programs.
• Remember, many times it’s about doing the extra little things to help yourself stand out. Always ask yourself, what else can I do?

From Jan. 2-5, Lipton was a fellow in the Reynolds Center’s Strictly Financials Seminar. We caught up with him to gain insight into what stories business reporters should seek out in the aftermath of the recession. For starters, Lipton suggests tracking stimulus funds and the inventory of foreclosed homes.

Robin J. Phillips stressed that LinkedIn is especially useful for business jouralists. Photo: Kelly Carr

Robin Phillips, the web managing editor of the Reynolds Center and adjunct journalism professor at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism, detailed ways financial journalists can utilize LinkedIn on the business beat.

Phillips told a group of journalists gathered for the Strictly Financials and Business Journalism Professor Seminars that the career-building website can be used to promote and brand themselves, as well as to find sources and contacts for stories.

“I moved to several different jobs across the country,” Phillips said. “But I could bring all my colleagues with me using LinkedIn.”

According to Phillips, the 135-million-user résumé and social media website is user-updated, very portable, and well-sorted by company, industry and geography. All these features help create a user-friendly and professional-focused network.

Here are some of Phillips top tips for how business journalists can effectively use LinkedIn:

• Maintain a current profile even if you are not actively looking for a job. This keeps your coworkers, employers, sources, etc., updated.
• Have a complete profile. This includes your work background, skills and connections.
• Don’t cut-and-paste your résumé. Give your work history personal flair.
• Make your profile public. LinkedIn is a professional network serving the purpose of communication and job-hunting, public disclosure is essential.
• Recommend people, but avoid recommendation “swapping.” It is acceptable to write recommendation for someone who has asked for one from you, as long as the letter is genuine.
• Join groups and discussion boards. Joining groups allows users to discuss issues of interest and share information.
• Keeping non-professional accounts separate from LinkedIn. This prevents people from intruding your personal life, and helps you build a completely professional image.

Gary Trennepohl, president of the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa, teaches at the Strictly Financials Seminar in Phoenix in January 2011. He will return in 2012.

The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism has selected 36 fellows – 20 journalists and 16 professors – for four days of intensive study in business journalism.

The fellows will attend separate, all-expenses-paid seminars Jan. 2-5 at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix.  Journalists in the Strictly Financials Seminar learn how to dissect financial statements and SEC documents. Prospective business journalism professors receive training in how to teach a university-level course in business journalism. | Coverage of 2011 Strictly Financials and Business Journalism Professors seminars

“We were impressed by the growing number, quality and commitment of applicants in this sixth year of our annual business journalism seminars,” said Andrew Leckey, president of the Reynolds Center and the Reynolds Chair in Business Journalism at the Cronkite School. “The global economy and volatile markets have made it clear to everyone that journalists with sophisticated business knowledge provide a needed service to society.”

The seminars, taught by highly regarded business journalists and business journalism professors, are part of Reynolds Business Journalism Week at the Cronkite School. A highlight of the week is a discussion with the legendary investigative-reporting duo of Don Barlett and Jim Steele, along with the 2011 winners of the Reynolds Center’s Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism.

The 2012 fellows are:

Strictly Financials Seminar

• Tali Arbel, newsperson, The Associated Press
• Allan Brettman, business reporter, The Oregonian
• Jan Buchholz, reporter, Phoenix Business Journal
• Ronald Campbell, staff writer, The Orange County Register
• Alejandra Cancino, reporter, Chicago Tribune
• Mary Smith Judd, special projects editor, Fulton County Daily Report
• Megan Kamerick, senior reporter, New Mexico Business Weekly
• Carlie Kollath, business reporter, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
• Kavita Kumar, reporter, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
• Lily Leung, reporter, The San Diego Union-Tribune
• Shan Li, retail reporter, Los Angeles Times
• Eric Lipton, reporter, The New York Times
• Emerald Sierra Morrow, digital content producer, KMOV-TV
• Dawn Nici, morning news anchor, KFNN radio
• Susan Orr, staff writer, Evansville (Ind.) Courier & Press
• Anna Prior, staff reporter, SmartMoney
• Kristi E. Swartz, business reporter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Venessa Wong, reporter, Bloomberg Businessweek
• Jeff Young, senior correspondent, PRI’s “Living on Earth,” and Donald W. Reynolds Nieman Fellow in Business Journalism
• Hibah Yousuf, markets reporter, CNNMoney.com

Business Journalism Professors Seminar

• Sharon Bernstein, Reynolds Visiting Professor, Arizona State University
  
• Karen Blumenthal, Reynolds Visiting Professor, Texas Christian University
• Rhonda J. Clark, assistant professor, Missouri Southern State University
• Carol A. Davis, instructor, High Point University
• Mark B. Egan, adjunct professor, Montclair State University
• Maria Albertina Navas Leoro, lecturer, Universidad de las Americas, Quito, Ecuador
• Ralph Stephen Merkel, adjunct professor, University of Louisville
• Kristina J. Morehouse, lecturer, Gonzaga University
• Janice Paskey, assistant professor, Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada
• Matthew W. Ragas, Ph.D., assistant professor, DePaul University
• Rob Reuteman, Reynolds Visiting Professor, Colorado State University
• Lewis Smith, lecturer, Prairie View A&M University
• Ingrid Sturgis, assistant professor, Howard University
• Will Sutton, Reynolds Visiting Professor, Grambling State University
• Jean van der Spuy, adjunct professor, Marymount Manhattan College
• Rob Wells, Reynolds Visiting Professor, University of South Carolina

ABOUT THE REYNOLDS CENTER

Since 2003, more than 10,000 journalists have learned to cover business better through free training from the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism. The center is at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University’s Phoenix campus. The center offers regional workshops and Webinars, as well as daily tips to cover business better at BusinessJournalism.org.

It is funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, 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.

 Questions? Email President Andrew Leckey of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism or call 602-496-9186.

The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is offering fellowships worth $2,000 for four days of intensive study in financials and accounting Jan. 2-5, 2012, in Phoenix.

Limited to 12 professional journalists with at least two years of business journalism experience, the fourth annual “Strictly Financials Seminar” will take place during Reynolds Business Journalism Week at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Gary Trennepohl, president of Oklahoma State University-Tulsa, speaks to business journalists at the 2010 Strictly Financials Seminar at Arizona State University. Photo by Molly Smith.

Fellowships cover the full cost of training, lodging, materials and most meals. In addition, fellows receive a $500 stipend to help offset travel and other costs.

This seminar will cover the essentials of of covering financials, from stock markets and bonds to financial statements and company research.

The sessions will be led by award-winning professors and journalists, including James Gentry, journalism professor at the University of Kansas. Gentry received the Barry Sherman Teaching Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication in 2008.

A highlight of the week will be a panel discussion with the legendary investigative-reporting duo of Don Barlett and Jim Steele, along with the 2011 winners of the Reynolds Center’s Barlett & Steele Awards for investigative business journalism.

In addition, journalism professors from around the country, who are attending a concurrent seminar on how to teach business journalism, will attend some classes with“Strictly Financials” Fellows.

“We’re offering this seminar in answer to requests from many participants in our one-day workshops who want to raise their sophistication level in all the financial aspects of business coverage,” said Andrew Leckey, president of the Reynolds Center. “Spending a week digging into balance sheets and accounting should provide a real boost to every journalist’s expertise.”

Janet Cho, a 2009 “Strictly Financials” Fellow and business reporter for The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, said, “The greatest value of this seminar is how much more comfortable and confident I feel about tackling a company’s documents and analyzing a company’s financial health in a way that will be more meaningful for readers, investors and consumers.”

The selection process is highly competitive, and applicants must  be working in the United States or, if based overseas, for media outlets serving a U.S. audience. They must provide by 11:59 p.m. PDT Nov. 1 at BusinessJournalism.org:

• Contact information
• A resume
• A 100-word bio
• 500-word statement of why you are interested in attending the seminar, how it would improve your coverage and how you would share this knowledge with colleagues
• A letter of support from your editor recommending you for the seminar, explaining how your attendance would benefit the organization, and supporting your time away from work to attend. (Waived for freelancers.)

Questions? Contact Andrew Leckey, Reynolds Center president, at Andrew.Leckey@businessjournalism.org. or 602-496-9186.

To give you an idea of what to expect, here’s coverage of Reynolds Business Journalism Week 2011, and the agenda from the 2011 Strictly Financials Seminar follows:

Don Barlett and Jim Steele

REYNOLDS BUSINESS JOURNALISM WEEK 2012

AGENDA: “Strictly Financials Seminar” — TENTATIVE

Phoenix, Ariz.

Jan. 2-5, 2012
Monday — Jan. 2, 2012

• 8 a.m. Continental Breakfast — (Combined groups) — First Amendment Forum
• 8:30 a.m. Welcome — (Combined groups) — Forum— Andrew Leckey
• 9 a.m.“Today’s Business Journalists as Investigators” — (Combined groups) —Forum–Diana B. Henriques of The New York Times
• 10:15-10:30 a.m. Break — Computer lab open for all breaks during the week (RM 352).
• 10:30 a.m. “Understanding Markets” — RM 314 — Jimmy Gentry
• NOON Box lunch discussion with Diana Henriques — (Combined groups)— Forum
• 1:30 p.m. “Understanding Markets” (continued) — RM 314 — Gentry
• 3:15-3:30 p.m. Break
• 3:30 p.m. “Understanding Markets” (conclusion) and “Sources” — RM 314 — Gentry
• 5-5:20 p.m. Group photos — (Combined groups) — Forum
• 5:20 p.m. Dinner – Southwestern buffet — (Combined groups) — Forum

Tuesday — Jan. 3, 2012

• 8 a.m. Continental breakfast — (Combined groups) — Forum
• 8:30 a.m. “Financial Statements I” — (Combined groups) — RM 314 — Jimmy Gentry
• 10:15-10:30 a.m. Break
• 10:30 a.m. “Financial Statements I” (concluded) and “Securities Exchange Commission Filings” — (Combined groups) — RM 314 — Jimmy Gentry
• NOON Awards Luncheon with Jim Steele — (Combined groups) — Forum — “Reynolds Center’s 2011 Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism” — Panel Discussion and Presentation of Awards
• 1:30 p.m. “Financial Statements II: Tools for Analysis” — RM 314 — Jimmy Gentry
• 3-3:15 p.m. Break
• 3:15 p.m. “Financial Statememts II: Tools for Analysis” (continued) — Jimmy Gentry
• 5 p.m. Adjourn
• EVENING FREE

Wednesday — Jan. 4, 2012

• 8 a.m. Continental breakfast — (Combined groups) — Forum
• 8:30 a.m. “Decoding Financial Statements” — RM 314 — Gary Trennepohl
• 10:15-10:30 a.m. Break
• 10:30 a.m. “Decoding Financial Statements” (continued) — Gary Trennepohl
• Lunch – Garden Buffet — “Getting LinkedIn: Exploring LinkedIn, a social/career tool that is filled with useful data for business journalists” — (Combined groups) — Forum — Robin J. Phillips
• 1:30 p.m. “Decoding Financial Statements” (conclude) — RM 314 — Gary Trennepohl
• 3-3:15 p.m. Break
• 3:15 p.m. “Investing in a Time of Uncertainty” — RM 314 — Gentry/Trennepohl
• 5-5:30 p.m. Cronkite Building Tour — (Combined groups) — Outside RM 302 – Leadership Suite (in front of elevators) — Liz Smith
• 5:30 p.m. Dinner – BBQ picnic buffet — (Combined groups) — Forum

Thursday – Jan. 5, 2012

• 8 a.m. Continental breakfast — (Combined groups) — RM 444
• 8:30 a.m. “Financial Markets in 2012: Where are the Stories?” — RM 314 — Trennepohl
• 9:45-10 a.m. Break
• 10 a.m. “Financial Markets in 2012: Where are the Stories?” (continued) — RM 314 —Trennepohl
• 11:30 a.m. Certificate Presentation — (Combined groups) — RM 444
• NOON Box Lunch/Adjourn — (Combined groups) — RM 444

The Particulars

Location: Walter Cronkite School of Journalism
and Mass Communication
Arizona State University
Phoenix, AZ 85004

When: Jan. 2-5, 2012

Deadline: Nov. 1, 2011

Apply for Strictly Financials Seminar.

Apply for Business Journalism Professors Seminar.

ATTENTION: Experienced business journalists and prospective business journalism professors.

The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is offering 24 fellowships worth $2,000 each for four days of study in business journalism – Jan. 2-5, 2012, in Phoenix.

Fellowships cover training, lodging, materials and most meals. Fellows receive a $500 stipend to offset travel and other costs.

The seminars will occur during Reynolds Business Journalism Week at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The journalists’ Strictly Financials Seminar teaches the essentials of covering financials, from stock markets and bonds to financial statements and company research. | More on the Strictly Financials Seminar

The Business Journalism Professors Seminar will cover the essentials of teaching a hands-on, university course in business journalism. | More on the Business Journalism Professors Seminar

Nathaniel Popper, New York correspondent for the Los Angeles Times, attended the Reynolds Center's Strictly Financials seminar in January 2011.

The fifth annual, concurrent seminars (with 12 fellows attending each one) will be led by award-winning professors and journalists, including Jimmy Gentry, journalism professor at the University of Kansas.

One highlight will be a discussion with the legendary investigative-reporting duo of Don Barlett and Jim Steele, along with the 2011 winners of the Reynolds Center’s Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism.

Rachel Tobin Ramos, a 2010 fellow and business reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, said, “It gave me much more confidence in my financial reporting, has allowed me to ask better and smarter questions, and overall improved my coverage. I cannot thank the Reynolds Center enough for this amazing course.”

A 2008 fellow, Roger Desmond of the University of Hartford, won a university innovation award for starting a business journalism course. He said the award “came with some extra money for research and travel, and of course, I owe it all to you!”

TO APPLY, Deadline Nov. 1: For information on the two seminars, including how to apply online, go to the call for fellows for Strictly Financials or Business Journalism Professors seminars.

Questions? Email Andrew Leckey, Reynolds Center president, or call 602-496-9186.

ABOUT THE CENTER
The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, located at ASU’s Cronkite School, was launched in 2003. More than 10,000 journalists have benefited from its free training. A calendar of upcoming free workshops, as well as daily tips on how to cover business better, are at BusinessJournalism.org.

The Center is funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, 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.

Duchneskie is spending the week in Phoenix studying financials as a fellow in the Reynolds Center’s Strictly Financials seminar.

Anyone who has tried to nail down an interview with a CEO or high-powered executive knows just how hard it is first get the interview and then chart the details to show readers the true person behind a public relations front. That’s Harris’ job day in and day out. And it’s no easy task.

Harris is a Strictly Financials fellow at this year’s Reynolds Business Journalism Week, so we had a chance to chat with her and get her top tips for gaining access to the business world’s elite. Harris’ experience on this beat offers great insight. For example, just take her suggestion of writing handwritten letters to executives to build relationships…see what we mean?