Reporters Bring Complex Economic News Down to Readers

By Vandana Sinha
February 25, 2005 09:47 AM

Jonathan J. Higuera kicked off his story on the Consumer Price Index's 0.1 percent rise in a most reader-friendly way.

"Ask five consumers about the effect of inflation on their buying habits and you'll probably get five different answers," Higuera, a business writer for The Arizona Republic, wrote in his lede.

Hanging out in a local grocery store parking lot, he personally asked double that number of consumers. Their answers made his story relevant to everyday readers.

A senior citizen on a fixed income complained of unaffordable meat and milk. A 28-year-old high-tech worker, on the other hand, saw no fluctuations in grocery prices.

"There are so many stories where you talk to the experts, and they have good views. But those stories lack something," Higuera says. "You have to get people just living life and get their views."

His newsroom calls them "R.P.'s" -- real people. They're non-institutional voices asked to speak on even the most complex numbers or statistics. Sometimes news like the CPI, which measures the average change in prices for fixed goods and services, beg even more loudly for R.P.'s.

"Make (those stories) meaningful to people who are not big on numbers," he says. "Tell them how it will impact their lives."

He also talked to an economist who could explain the index so everyone gets it.

"If you happen to be a senior who spends mostly on food and medicine and not much on other items, the relevance of the CPI can be iffy," Higuera quoted an Arizona State University economist as saying.

He knows which economists speak English versus economese. Reporters can also keep copy comprehensible by defining terms -- a requirement at The Wall Street Journal -- and couching statistics in ways readers can better grasp -- saying "four in 10 people" instead of "40 percent."

While most relied on Associated Press reports, a few newspapers brought the CPI home by reporting on their regional numbers. At The New York Times, reporter Jennifer Steinhauer discussed how the area's higher-than-average CPI, particularly in housing costs, may become a thorn in candidates' sides during this mayoral race.

In Denver, Rocky Mountain News reporters pointed out how rising costs are further weighing down the state budget. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Avrum D. Lank looked at each regional consumer index, from medical costs to groceries to apparel, and asks local retailers and economists to explain any up-or-down movement.

Finally, Kathleen Pender of The San Francisco Chronicle spelled out in her Net Worth column what makes the CPI important and why it's climbing slower than the Producer Price Index, which measures wholesale prices. Her report acts as a reader's manual to inflation.

"If wholesale prices continue to rise and retailers gain the power to pass them along, consumer inflation will pick up, which could prompt the Fed to increase interest rates more than expected this year," she wrote. "If retailers can't pass along the price increases, corporate profits will be severely squeezed, which would be mostly bad for stocks."

Higuera says real people and clear words turn his economy story into an easier read. "It just gives me more to work with as a writer," he explains. And that guarantees his stories more eyes -- a goal any business reporter can appreciate.

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