Two Minute Tips

Sally Kilbridge

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Pizza is a $44 billion dollar industry with plenty of business story angles. ("Pizza" by andersbknudsen via Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

Business story ideas: The pizza economy

$44 billion. That’s how much Americans will spend on pizza in 2017, according to the PMQ Pizza Magazine’s 2017 Pizza Power Report. It is greater than the combined budgets of

Barlett & Steele Bronze Award: How we did it

Reporters at MedPage Today and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel spent nine months looking into the issue known as medicalization. Medicalization is how drug companies and the doctors on their payrolls

Barlett & Steele Silver Award: How we did it

To understand how deeply the demise of Piggly Wiggly Carolina impacted the south, the Post and Courier’s Tony Bartelme interviewed over 50 of the grocery chain’s former employees. What he

Barlett & Steele Gold Award: How we did it

Sam Roe, Ray Long and Karisa King of Chicago Tribune won the 2017 Barlett & Steele gold award for “Dangerous Doses.” Their two-year investigation exposed the failure of U.S. pharmacies

As a journalist, you may not have to deal with math like this, but math is still part of the job. This crib sheet should help. ("School" image by "sandid" via Pixabay, CCO Public Domain)

Newsroom math crib sheet

Arizona State University professor Steve Doig, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his data-based reporting at the Miami Herald, welcomes scores of journalism students to his classroom each year. For the

House-hunting season is in full swing, full of local stories for business reporters. Read up on the big trends and forecasts before digging in.

Real estate update: Seven great reads

The housing market typically wakes up in March and remains hyper-active until the end of August. Bone up on the latest trends and forecasts before investigating the real estate business in

Reading a corporate earnings report is a valuable reporter's skill; here are four pitfalls to avoid. (Image by "epicantus" via Pixabay, CCO Public Domain)

Corporate earnings mistakes to avoid

Reading through and reporting on a company’s quarterly report can be a challenging project for business journalists. Here are four tips for avoiding some common missteps. Don’t rely on earnings per

There's a huge collection of free tools can help investigative journalists with everything from prison records to SEC filings. (Image by "blickpixel" via Pixabay, CCO Public Domain)

Free tools and resources for investigative reporters

It can take a reporter years to develop a go-to library of tools and resources that help filter useful databases, specialized websites and stockpiles of public records. Fortunately, a number of organizations and individual journalists

Earnings Per Share and the value of a share don't necessarily go hand-in-hand. ("Long Dock Company Stock Certificate 1860s" by William Cresswell via Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

Earnings per share and share price

Market watchers analyze and discuss earnings per share (EPS) more than any other financial measure. Managers talk about EPS when they announce earnings and often feature EPS in annual reports. All

Fewer editors in the newsroom mean that reporters have to step up their self-editing game. (Image from "3844328" via Pixabay, CCO Public Domain)

Accuracy checklist for journalists

Fewer copy editors in the newsroom—in fact, fewer editors in general—means that reporters must increasingly perform that function themselves. Before submitting a story or hitting “publish” on a website’s CMS, take

Companies use a couple of methods to do their sums. Journalists need to consider both. ("Abacus" image by JD via Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

GAAP vs. Pro-Forma Earnings

A company’s finances are sometimes presented in two forms: a more conservative form, which falls in line with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) and a more favorable form, called pro-forma.

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