Feature on Small Business Highlights Thursday Section

Thursday is the only day that we anchor the section with a planned feature. It's called Inside Oregon Business.

This feature grew out of another of those eternal struggles business sections face -- how best to cover small business. Small businesses provide the bulk of the jobs in most cities, but they're usually privately owned, secretive and not overtly newsworthy. The IOB feature combines two journalistic genres: story-telling and analysis. We look for businesses that have an interesting history, and preferably are uniquely Northwest, but the subjects also must be relevant to our readers. So we only profile companies that are executing some strategy or action that could be applicable to other businesses.

Here's Jonathan Brinckman's lede for this week's feature on Harry's Fresh Foods:

Rod Harris, known since a youthful stint in the Coast Guard as "Harry," founded the Northeast Portland food company that bears his nickname in 1978 with a $5,000 stake and a recipe for clam chowder. It was a curious beginning, since an allergic reaction to shellfish kept Harris from tasting so much as a spoonful of the company's signature product.

The lede builds a storyline and raises some questions for readers. Hopefully it will make them want to read more. The story goes on to discuss Harry's ultra-modern kitchen and the role it plays in the company's success.

I spent more time today working on the job retraining project I mentioned Tuesday and also attended a meeting on how to improve The Oregonian's coverage of Portland to make it better reflect the character of the city. IOB will play a big role in this effort for the Business section.

Deciding which stories would make the Business cover was more difficult today than on Monday and Tuesday. IOB was automatic, as was Boaz Herzog's story about the latest survey on the rising cost of health insurance for Oregon employers and a wire story on Microsoft and other Internet-related companies suing hundreds of people accused of sending millions of unwanted e-mails in violation of the new federal spam law.

For the last two spots, we debated a D.C. bureau story on a House debate over indecency and obscenity standards for broadcast stations, a staff story on Adidas financial results and store openings, a wire story on a dispute between Intel and the Chinese government, and a wire story on the growing trade deficit. We settled on the Intel and broadcast stories, because of Intel's importance as Oregon's largest private employer and the recent public interest in broadcast decency standards. The other stories will run inside but be teased from the cover.

Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism