Consumer products, trends and problems make for good local business stories, especially as retail heats up around the holidays. Follow these 10 national consumer issues reporters for story ideas you can localize.
1. Laurie Burkitt
About the reporter: Laurie Burkitt (@lburkitt) covers China and its consumer habits for the Wall Street Journal. As Chinese financial and consumer power grows, and Americans react, Burkitt’s coverage is especially relevant. She’s recently covered strategies that American fast food companies are pursuing to perform stronger overseas.
What does she tweet: Burkitt’s Twitter feed covers all things China, and she goes beyond sending out links to Wall Street Journal articles. She’s curating information about the Chinese economy and its implications back home.
2. Jason Cipriani
About the reporter: Jason Cipriani (@MrCippy) reports on consumer tech spending for Fortune Magazine, writes a tech column for the magazine along with how-to and op-ed pieces for CNET. His work can connect you to the tech issues facing consumers in your coverage area.
What does he tweet: Beyond tweets about the stories he’s worked on, he also comments on new tech trends and retweets those who do the same.
3. Saabira Chaudhuri
About the reporter: Saabira Chaudhuri (@SaabiraC) is the Wall Street Journal’s consumer goods and retail reporter. She covers American companies in Europe as well as the moves European companies are making in domestic markets. Recently, she’s been following the proposed merger of AB InBev, the largest beer producer in the world (the makers of Budweiser and countless others), and SABMiller, the world’s second largest.
What does she tweet: Chaudhuri’s tweets aren’t limited to her own coverage on European consumer and retail trends. Follow Chaudhuri to learn about issues facing consumers in Europe and what European executives are doing for American consumers.
4. Jenni Avins
About the reporter: Jenni Avins (@svatikirsten) is a lifestyles reporter for Quartz. She puts out content on retailers, fashion and other products. She’s covered retail trends such as the use of cellphone marketing and even a data-driven story on skinny jeans declining in popularity.
What does she tweet: For tweets on shopping, retail and consumer products, Avins is a good resource to follow. She comments on news events and shares (mostly Quartz) stories on retail and consumer issues.
5. Shahien Nasiripour
About the reporter: Shahien Nasiripour (@nasiripour) is the financial and regulatory correspondent at Huffington Post. His work mainly covers student debt and higher education, but includes consumer protection and financial regulation. He doesn’t report on consumer spending, but for info on financial regulations that impact consumers, he’s one to follow.
What does he tweet: Education and student loans are among the most frequent topics of Nasiripour’s tweets, along with updates on consumer protection issues. (By the way, if you’re looking for information about how to cover student loan debt or higher education, check out these data-driven story ideas or these other higher ed story angles.)
6. Serena Ng
About the reporter: Serena Ng (@SerenaNgWSJ) covers health wellness and beauty consumer products as well as the giant Procter and Gamble for the Wall Street Journal. Her coverage spans consumer product companies such as P & G, Avon and Estée Lauder and their performance on Wall Street to news about the products they make.
What does she tweet: Ng is following the consumer product companies making the news, and her Twitter activity reflects that. She tweets out her coverage but also channels what others on Twitter are saying about retail giants and their products.
7. David Seagler
About the reporter: David Seagler is the Haggler (@TheHagglerNYT) for the New York Times. He writes a Times column addressing issues facing consumers nationwide. This column is a good place to find issues that readers in your coverage area may also be dealing with.
What does he tweet: The Haggler Twitter handle teases some of Seagler’s projects and pushes out links to his latest columns. Seagler hasn’t been tweeting from the account for very long, but so far in 2015 his feed has stayed up-to-date with the columns he’s produced for the Times.
8. Barbara Thau
About the reporter: Barbara Thau (@bthau) writes for Forbes. Her news stories span consumer issues, companies that produce consumer goods and the retail industry. She’s got the scoops on what Kohls and Macy’s are doing this quarter to attract shoppers, and she’s also watching larger trends.
What does she tweet: Her Twitter feed is filled with updates on retail giants, especially clothing brands. Thau also retweets other reporters’ coverage of the companies she’s watching.
9. Hayley Tsukayama
About the reporter: Hayley Tsukayama (@htsuka) covers consumer tech news for the Washington Post and contributes to their The Switch blog on tech policy. Tsukayama covers emerging tech companies, including smartphone producers and video game makers. Additionally, she’s got her eye on all the big tech companies like Yahoo! and Google.
What does she tweet: Tsykayama tweets regularly about the issues she’s covering. She highlights other business and economic stories that would be interesting to people covering tech consumer issues too. She retweets from The Switch (@TheSwitch) blog as well.
10. Stephanie Zimermann
About the reporter: Stephanie Zimermann (@ABCNewsFixer) is an investigative reporter for ABC News. She covers consumer issues for ABC’s The Fixer blog. The Fixer can lead you to consumer story ideas you can localize in your coverage area.
What does she tweet: On Twitter, The Fixer is good place to find issues that might face your readers and merit deeper coverage.
