Marching to the beat of a different drummer

Paula Schleis of the Akron Beacon Journal wanted to use music to attract younger readers to the business page. The result: a series called “Business of Bands.” The weekly stories focus on music careers and have featured a drum camp organizer, a booking agent and others in the area.

Paula’s beats include small business, entrepreneurs, business technology and economic development. “The band stories I've been finding seem to cover one or more of those topics, so it turned out to be a natural fit,” Paula says in an e-mail. “Also, I've gotten lots of feedback from traditional sources, like CEOs and business owners, so I'm confident that a wide range of people are finding the topics interesting and even useful.”

Today’s Tip: Expand your thinking about what constitutes business journalism.

“Cultures change, tastes change, interests change, and therefore our audience is always changing. Make an effort to keep up with them,” Paula says. She recommends noting things that interest you – even when you’re off the clock -- and looking for the business angle.

If your idea turns into a series, it doesn’t have to be a long one. Paula says she planned the “Business of Bands” to be a summer feature, but she hopes to keep it running through the fall. Her topic has the added benefit of usually offering visuals and sometimes audio.

$10 Billion in Fraudulent Flips

The Sarasota Herald-Tribune launched a six-day series and interactive online package looking at how flipping houses led to inflated prices and $450 million in defaulted mortgage loans. Using public records to get mortgage filings and deeds, the paper concluded that the fraudulent flip transactions totaled about $10 billion.

Investigative reporter Matthew Doig said the story started when a county property appraiser analysis showed frequent sales of certain properties as well as repeat buyers and sellers. And Michael Braga’s experience covering real estate helped them see the connections between the parties.

“He has a ‘Rain Man’ quality with a memory that serves him well. He knows all the players,” Doig said.

The paper also created its own database of 19 million property sales records dating to January 2000. The paper’s Web site provides details about the reporters’ calculations.

Today’s Tip: Public records searches can shed light on business connections because sometimes companies use several names for various partnerships.

The Florida Division of Corporations’ Sunbiz Web site helped the Herald-Tribune connect the flippers. To get started on your own investigation, check out this toolbox from the Society of Professional Journalists that lists several online options for accessing public records.