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Workshop Registration
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
Online Seminars
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
An Open Newsroom
By Kelly Carr
Promoting Diversity
By Chris Roush
Relevant Economics
By Dick Weiss
The Bailout Cash Trail
By Michelle Leder
Post-Election Business Coverage: The Day After and Beyond
By Reynolds Center Staff
Promoting Diversity
Chris Roush
October 28, 2008
During the summers of 2006 and 2007, I spent some time in South Africa conducting training sessions at newspapers and teaching business journalism at Durban University of Technology.
As a white male, the thing that remains in my mind about the experience is that I was the minority for nearly all of the classes and meetings that I had. The classrooms were overwhelmingly black, with Indians being the next largest demographic.
In many situations, I found myself to be the only white person. It was unsettling, and it gave me a great perspective on what it must feel like to be African-American in this country, particularly in a newsroom, and even more so, on a business news desk.
I bring this all up now because of a report last week by Richard Prince of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. It discovered that minority journalists who work the business beat are not out front when it comes to covering the current financial crisis, even though predatory lending practices and sub-prime loans targeting many minority communities across the country.
What that tells me is that business journalism still needs to do a lot to recruit minorities to the field.
Diversity is important to business news coverage because the white men and women who dominate most business desks don’t understand the issues and struggles that face many minority businesses. Because they don’t understand, they often don’t look for those stories.
But diversity goes beyond that. With corporate America doing a better job of hiring and promoting minority executives, such as American Express CEO Ken Chenault, business news needs to be able to show we’re making the same strides. Otherwise, we won’t be taken seriously.
There have been some small steps. Last year, the then business editor of The Virginian-Pilot, Bill Choyke, and I ran a two-day workshop at North Carolina A&T, a traditionally black university. The workshop, which was held for black college students and their professors on business journalism, attracted about 15 students and about seven professors.
Our hope was to raise awareness of the opportunities in business journalism, and we’re planning another session for 2009. Some of those students – and at least one of the professors – followed up by taking one of the weeklong, online training courses offered by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism.
Here’s my request: Every business editor in the country should find a minority journalist – whether it’s in their newsroom or somewhere else – and recruit them to cover business and the economy. Yes, you may have to do some training to get them up to speed, but in the long run, it’ll be worth it.
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Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism
The Reynolds Center has announced its 2009-10 free workshop schedule.
Select a workshop and register from the drop-down menu below.
The Reynolds Center registration for Fall 2009 free online seminars.
By Kelly Carr
Promoting Diversity
By Chris Roush
Relevant Economics
By Dick Weiss
The Bailout Cash Trail
By Michelle Leder
Post-Election Business Coverage: The Day After and Beyond
By Reynolds Center Staff
Promoting Diversity
Chris Roush
October 28, 2008
During the summers of 2006 and 2007, I spent some time in South Africa conducting training sessions at newspapers and teaching business journalism at Durban University of Technology.
As a white male, the thing that remains in my mind about the experience is that I was the minority for nearly all of the classes and meetings that I had. The classrooms were overwhelmingly black, with Indians being the next largest demographic.
In many situations, I found myself to be the only white person. It was unsettling, and it gave me a great perspective on what it must feel like to be African-American in this country, particularly in a newsroom, and even more so, on a business news desk.
I bring this all up now because of a report last week by Richard Prince of the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. It discovered that minority journalists who work the business beat are not out front when it comes to covering the current financial crisis, even though predatory lending practices and sub-prime loans targeting many minority communities across the country.
What that tells me is that business journalism still needs to do a lot to recruit minorities to the field.
Diversity is important to business news coverage because the white men and women who dominate most business desks don’t understand the issues and struggles that face many minority businesses. Because they don’t understand, they often don’t look for those stories.
But diversity goes beyond that. With corporate America doing a better job of hiring and promoting minority executives, such as American Express CEO Ken Chenault, business news needs to be able to show we’re making the same strides. Otherwise, we won’t be taken seriously.
There have been some small steps. Last year, the then business editor of The Virginian-Pilot, Bill Choyke, and I ran a two-day workshop at North Carolina A&T, a traditionally black university. The workshop, which was held for black college students and their professors on business journalism, attracted about 15 students and about seven professors.
Our hope was to raise awareness of the opportunities in business journalism, and we’re planning another session for 2009. Some of those students – and at least one of the professors – followed up by taking one of the weeklong, online training courses offered by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism.
Here’s my request: Every business editor in the country should find a minority journalist – whether it’s in their newsroom or somewhere else – and recruit them to cover business and the economy. Yes, you may have to do some training to get them up to speed, but in the long run, it’ll be worth it.
Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism