Two Minute Tips

Interviewing Tips

Busy execs get up to 500 emails a day; here's how to craft one that will get a response. (Image by "janeb13" via pixabay CCO Public Domain)

How to ask for an interview via email: 5 key steps

Most of us spend 28 percent of our workday on email—deleting, sorting or responding—so it’s an essential tool for business reporters reaching out to sources and editors. But given that most senior executives

When hype gets in the way of objectivity, business reporters need to dig in. Photo "Digging For Information" by Alan Levine, Creative Commons Flickr user under 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) license, cropped

Skip the hype and dig into reality

Hype is a constant issue in business. Companies indulge in it. PR reps dole it out by the ladle. Markets revel in it. But hype becomes a significant problem when

Getting through to sources

Tracking down sources for business stories

When I returned to consumer journalism after taking a three-year break, I found, to my dismay, sources had become increasingly evasive. Whereas before, I remembered everybody wanting to see their

Reporter tips for interviewing a CEO

Business reporters often interview chief executives — but how to ask questions that don’t seem to waste their time? This blog offers five easy guidelines to coming up with questions

Five ways to maintain varied and unbiased sources

To maintain credibility with your audience and editors, (and to produce the best, most reliable read) provide your readers with a good range of expert analysis and insight, opposing views,

Finding helpful experts for your business features

Locating experts for business features and business news stories can get tricky if you’re juggling multiple assignments and deadlines. In my experience writing for the Guardian, the Economist and the

How to Cover Money Podcast

Dealing with ‘big name’ CEOs

Episode 7 looks at a nerve-wracking subject for many young journalists: interviewing big name business leaders. The episode offers some advice on how to plot interview strategy. Here are some

How to Cover Money Podcast

Finding the best sources

This week we look at finding a variety of sources for money stories. Business journalists and reporters who cover money often find themselves needing sources on short notice. In the

When sources say stupid things

Friends don’t let friends write drunk, unless one is at the Algonquin Round Table. But what happens when sources say something demonstrably stupid? Do you put in in the paper

Tampa Bay Times’ Ivan Penn on the energy beat

Ivan Penn, Tampa Bay Times reporter, started his journalism career as a TV weatherman—in elementary school for an in-house cable program. His father, an avid consumer of the news, inspired

Background, off the record and you

The most authoritative quotes come from on-the-record named sources, preferably senior executives, labor leaders, scientists, economists and workers with direct knowledge of the news. But there will come times in

Getting people to talk to you

I recently interviewed my former Arizona Republic colleague Tom Zoellner at the wonderful civic treasure that is Town Hall Seattle. The occasion: His tour promoting his new book, Train: Riding

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