Our economy's scribble

The New York Times recently created an interesting interactive graphic, taking a page from The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in charting the economic cycle and its major turning points.
The chart, reminiscent of drawings in "Harold and the Purple Crayon", illustrates how volatile our economy can be. Using O.E.C.D. data and charting methods, The New York Times actively illustrates the rollercoaster peaks and dips of the economy from the 1970s to the giant fall of May 2009.
Watching the swinging scribbles of the business cycle over the past 30 years (particularly its recent dive) may not be the most comforting thing in the world, but it is enlightening. Following the cues of O.E.C.D economists to simplify data into something visual and trend-revealing was a smart move on the Times part. Making it into a live-action graph that moves was an even smarter one, taking an otherwise complex and alien-looking graph and turning it into an engaging and insightful piece of multimedia.
View the interactive graphic here.

What do you think of the illustration of the economic cycle? What articles or graphics have you worked on lately that simplified complex data? Comment and let us know!

Have an idea for a good blog for The Pulse? Email it to us at businessjournalism@businessjournalism.org.

CHART CREDIT: The New York Times

Gannett to Webcast quarter earnings conference call

Gannett announced on its Web site today that it will be Webcasting its conference call discussing the company's second-quarter earnings with financial analysts July 15 at 10:00 a.m. EST.
The company’s earnings announcement will be released to news outlets and wire services before the market opens on July 15. Gannett will also post a transcript of the call and allow the public to replay the call on its site.
View the press release here.

How do you think Gannett has done in its second-quarter earnings? Comment and tell us.

Road to Ruin

MSNBC has created an interactive timeline charting the major business milestones of America's auto industry over since 1978. It also charts the stocks of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Company and Chrysler as well as gas prices per gallon, new car dealerships, dealership employees and new vehicles sold.
There can never be too much context with complex issues like those plaging the automotive industry right now, and MSNBC helps give a fresh look at the big picture with its interactive media.
View the timeline here.

GM bankruptcy resources

The Los Angeles Times has created a list of General Motors Corp. top 20 unsecured creditors with the type and amount of claims each has in G.M., a great resource for reporting how G.M. filing for bankruptcy will affect other organizations. It also has great graphics on the number of union workers at G.M. and G.M.'s global sales by region.
The New York Times also has enlightening multimedia on G.M.'s current predicament, including a timeline graphing G.M.'s history from 1908 to today chronicling its struggles and successes up to the Chapter 11. Its graph contrasting the amount of cars and trucks G.M. has been producing since the 1960s is also very insightful. A NYT map showing the number and locations of jobs the company has cut in the past two years helps show where plants may be closed and jobs may be lost in the aftermath of the bankruptcy filing.
Click here to see the most recent press releases from G.M.

Have other information or resources you'd like us to find for you? Comment and let us know.

The recession interactive

Portfolio.com, despite its rocky road to survival over the past few months, hasn't faltered in creating outstanding interactive media covering business. Its packages have simplified recent economic issues and put them into context in a clear, visual way.
Take the interactive multimedia with Band-Aids for the Ailing Economy, for example. Portfolio staff created a comprehensive timeline from 1860 to 2008 showing fluctuations in the nation's gross domestic product, wars, financial crises, house majority and major government regulations on the banking industry. This piece not only displays the nuances of what contributes to a faltering economy, but puts today's recession into context in America's financial history.
This multimedia feature achieves what all business coverage should-it takes vast amounts of complex data and facts and serves it to users in comprehensible, chewable pieces.
Some other Portfolio interactive pieces to check out:
Wall Street's Graveyard, Brother, Can You Spare $2?, The Green Miles, Subprimal Headquarters, and False Starts. The graphic Uncle Sam's Growing Portfolio is also worth a look.

To see Portfolio's interactive features section, click here.

Economic map down

Slate created an interactive map this month that chronicles America's increasing job losses from Jan. 2007 to March 2009.
The map is strewn with markers, detailing down to state counties the jobs gained or lost in the current month. The map's animation ticks through its timeline, showing changes in employment down to individual counties by changes in map markers' color and scale.
The project, which is based on local area unemployment statistics from the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics, takes a large body of data and gives it life. It also provides insight into different regional economic trends over the past three years.
Business journalism projects like this that simultaneously provide a macro and micro perspective on national issues are becoming a necessity rather than a luxury. Multimedia pieces like this interactive map are key in journalism stepping up to help people navigate this complex financial environment.
View the project here.

100 most creative people in business

Fast Company released its collection of 100 Most Creative People in Business Monday. The profile pages have:

• A paragraph about the person's life and work
• Links to their Web sites
• Stories about them from Google News
• Excerpts from their Wikipedia pages, blogs, or other online accounts like Linkedin and Twitter
• Videos of the individuals and their work from Vimeo and Youtube
• Their company's stock ticker or their standing on Google Trends
• A photo gallery of their products, programs and other work
• A collection of their notable quotes

Fast Company's collection shows an informed understanding of the Web. It takes full advantage of its online format, creating a collage of the individuals' Internet manifestations to give people a bigger picture of what each innovator is like.
It also avoids the typical, cliché business profile format, offering readers something they haven't already seen. The collection is a great example of business reporting in a Web 2.0 world.
View the collection here.

AP launches economic stress index

The Associated Press is launching an economic stress index that will provide monthly, multi-format updates on the economic stress of the United States down to the county level.
The index weighs three economic variables - unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcy - to produce a score on a scale of 0-100 that measures how the recession is affecting a county compared to all others.
The scores are then plotted on the interactive Associated Press Economic Stress Maps, which demonstrate at a highly local level how economic conditions have deteriorated since October 2007. They also can be used as a tool to measure the progress of recovery in the coming months, providing a granular view of economic change in the United States.

"The AP Economic Stress Index is a valuable tool for analyzing what got us to this point of the recession," said Kristin Gazlay, the AP's managing editor for business news and global training. "But, even more importantly, it gives us a way to look at how things change over time and judge whether the economy is actually getting better, including pinpointing precisely where the recovery has its roots."

WSJ interactive map: "Pressure on the Presses"

The Wall Street Journal has an interactive map that details some of the hits the top 50 U.S. newspapers have taken between 2006 and 2009. A detailed chart also lists the same information for the top 100 newspapers. From job cuts to revenue losses to shutdowns, the multimedia piece illuminates the trouble the industry has faced in recent years.

For the piece click here.