Relevant Economics

By Dick Weiss
October 29, 2008

Getting readers to engage with a story about farms isn’t always easy when they are sitting in the suburbs. Or writing about people who use pawn shops may be a tough sell to readers who’ve never been inside one. But reporters from The Oregonian, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and The Des Moines Register easily demonstrate how to draw readers in to their stories with an intelligent use of statistics and telling details about everyday situations.

Moving from the world of the written word to audio, Angelo Fernando, reader, blogger and also business and technology writer, mentions Ira Glass's two radio shows on This American Life, on the financial crisis. “I am a big fan of Glass, but these two shows, ‘A Giant Pool of Money,’ and ‘Another frightening show about the economy’ have been, by far the best,” Angelo said.

You can read Angelo’s comments about Glass’s show and get links to the broadcast at Hoipolloireport.com. (Note: You’ll have to do some scrolling to find the comment as many other reports have been posted. It was published on Oct. 13.)

Click here to send me an e-mail with some great business stories you’ve written or seen. You could see your story touted here as one of the best in the nation.

Note: Each headline contains a link so that you can read the stories online. Some sites will require you to register first. It's worth taking the time.

3 Loans came easily, then fell apart
Cary Spivak and Daniel Bice of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Spivak and Bice bring the national story home by detailing how foreclosures in Milwaukee mirror the mortgage meltdown nationally. By interviewing a range of residents caught in the mortgage mess, they multiply the number of readers who can identify with their subjects' predicament.

2Fear in the fields as Iowa begins rich harvest
Dan Piller of The Des Moines Register
With the richest harvest in history arriving, you'd think Iowa farmers would be celebrating. Instead, Piller reports that farmers are particularly nervous. And while the story has built-in interest for people engaged in agriculture, Piller expands his readership by explaining how the farmers' concerns have a direct impact on people in cities and towns everywhere.

1Middle-class squeeze leads to a rush at local pawnshop
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The Oregonian
Details, details, details. You can see, feel and hear a people in economic trouble in Hannah-Jones’s story about people lining up at a pawnshop to reluctantly part with their valuables.The story packs extra punch because of her masterly use of details. Also note how well the story moves along because of her short sentences.

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