The Unfolding Story

By Dick Weiss
Dec. 19, 2007

Some of the best business stories unfold for readers just a little bit at a time. They raise interesting questions, answer them, then raise more questions and answer those as well until readers find themselves - almost before they know it - at the end of the story, no matter how long it may be.

The stories selected here have that quality. My favorite from The Washington Post's Sylvia Moreno is about an intrepid group of women - all of whom are named Maria - who saw their lower income housing units threatened by development and gentrification. Then you'll find The Seattle Times' Michael J. Berens and Christine Willmsen on the other side of the journalistic street with a look at the reprehensible practices of a man who sells an electronic device that supposedly cures everything from allergies to AIDS to cancer. Jeffrey Sheban went all the way to China for his Midwestern daily, The Columbus Dispatch, to examine how that nation bolsters its economy with the marketing of fake versions of iconic American products, such as Rolex jewelry, Callaway golf clubs and Coach handbags.

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3  Fighting Fakes
Jeffrey Sheban of The Columbus Dispatch
We have a global economy and chances are if something nefarious is going on almost anywhere, it's going to have an impact in our backyard. That's what Sheban found as he examined the impact of counterfeit products produced in the Far East. Sheban landed a fellowship to help finance his far-flung travels and his paper gave him plenty of time and space to demonstrate how knock-off products fuel drug trafficking, abusive labor practices and perhaps even terrorism. Complicated stuff, but Sheban puts the reader on familiar terrain referencing popular products like Etch A Sketch and showing how fakes end up in popular stores in the Buckeye state.

2  Miracle Machines: The 21st-Century Snake Oil
Michael J. Berens and Christine Willmsen of The Seattle Times
You'll find yourself shaking your head at times as this story unfolds. How can people be so gullible, you might ask as a former out-of-work math instructor and singer-songwriter markets an electronic device that supposedly cures all types of illnesses. Berens and Willmsen address those questions in a step-by-step story full of little surprises along the way. A key subplot shows how the federal government remained asleep at the proverbial switch as entrepreneur William Nelson - and others - sold their latter day snake oil to thousands of vulnerable Americans.

1  Holding Their Ground in Columbia Heights
Sylvia Moreno of The Washington Post
Empowerment is a buzz word you almost never want to use in a story. And you won't find it in this piece about a half dozen women named Maria. Even so, that's what this story is all about. Their landlord was trying to get the Marias to move out of the building to make way for a condo conversion. But the women, who each work two jobs and have few financial resources, united to buy the building themselves. Moreno starts her story with the most intriguing elements. She then follows the Marias' exploits in almost strict chronological fashion making the storytelling simple and easy to follow. At the same time, it's quite moving. I see a movie script in this one.

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