Media and Journalism Module Business and Economics For Reporters

Media and Journalism ModuleBusiness and Economics For Reporters 14. Preparing business features and future trends BER, Ppt14

This week’s lesson • Welcome to the last week of our business and economics reporting course! • This week: • how to be a better business/economics reporter • what do you need to know to help you write more interesting features • what is coming up in the future that will guide your work • what activities should you regularly do to stay abreast of information • general tips on writing interesting and informative stories BER, Ppt14

Covering your local business BER, Ppt14

The business writing world • Every city or region in the world teems with interesting business and economic stories that affect the daily lives and pocketbooks of readers and viewers • Often neglected by reporters and editors - concentrate on stories revolving around government, politics and other official institutions • Why? • Many journalists secretly think that business and economics are boring • Full of complicated terms and confusing numbers • A gold mine of good stories in business • Know where to look and how to use what they find • Beat the competition by presenting stories first BER, Ppt14

What makes a good business story BER, Ppt14

What makes it a business story? • Accurate, thorough, well-researched, balanced, fair and contain multiple sources of information • Numbers and specific data are critical • The key questions in a business story are “how much?” and “how many?” • The difference between an ordinary story about a new medical procedure and a business story on the same procedure is usually numbers: • How much does the new procedure cost? • How does that cost compare with the price of the old procedure? • Who or what is making money from this new procedure—the doctor, the hospital, the manufacturer, the pharmaceutical company? BER, Ppt14

What makes it a business story? • Always ask questions about money and spending • Dig for the answers BER, Ppt14

What makes it a business story? • Another difference - the angle or approach that a business reporter takes on a subject • For example, when writing about a new housing development subsidized by the government, the general assignment reporter may be primarily interested in how tenants for the apartments will be selected, how much they will pay in rent and about political and neighborhood support and opposition for the project • But the business reporter wants to know: • Which contractors have been awarded the construction bids for the project? • How much each contract is worth • How many employees will be hired in the construction phase and to manage the project? • Where the capital (money) coming from to fund the project? • How that money will be repaid? • The details about numbers and money provide an opportunity to those interested in pursuing the business angles BER, Ppt14

High-quality sources of information • Variety of sources needed for business stories • Start at the top and try to interview the key decision-makers. • interview the general manager or chairman • Press representatives are often delegated to deal with the media • Many companies will discourage reporters from going any further • Top business people can best describe the firm’s business strategy: • often the only ones who can release certain important information BER, Ppt14

High-quality sources of information • Reporters who establish themselves as accurate, reliable and fair professionals can win the confidence of top business leaders and will get better stories • The “numbers” people in an organization are other invaluable resources • help explain confusing budgets and other financial statements • in the interests of accuracy and thoroughness they may be quite willing to cooperate • Meet and know business leaders in the community • cultivate the contacts made in the process of reporting stories BER, Ppt14

Where and how to find stories • Business stories can come from anywhere • Reporters must make the stories accessible to a general audience: • understand economic concepts and terms • be able to define or restate them in plain language • develop list of concise definitions to plug into your stories • audience appreciates a clear statement of what is meant by “remittances” “currency devaluation” “globalisation” etc • appreciate stories that explain why those concepts matter to individuals as well as to corporations and governments BER, Ppt14

Where and how to find stories • Business reporters need to read and understand financial statements, balance sheets, and annual reports: • find stories by looking at changes in income or spending from year to year • compare companies to others in the same industry or the same region • For example, when a business closes or fails, reporters will ask not only how many people have lost their jobs but also what impact the shutdown will have on the community. To answer that larger question, they need to know whether the company was one of the largest employers in the area, whether other local companies provide the same product or service, what the local unemployment rate is, and so on. BER, Ppt14

Where and how to find stories • The business beat requires a deeper knowledge of mathematics and statistics than most other topic areas: • use numbers sparingly • too many figures make a story dry and dull • most compelling business stories show the significance of developments by putting them in human terms, describing how individuals have been or will be affected. BER, Ppt14

Tips for writing good business features • Be careful with numbers: • can’t be said often enough • numbers are incredibly useful in business writing • need to be sparing about their use • give your readers context so they can understand them • A colourful metaphor is very helpful for giving dimension to a feature (for example, don’t say “the new water treatment works will see 1.3 million litres of water - give the reader a context by comparing it to something else they will understand. The new water treatment works will recycle 1.3 million litres of water a day, or the equivalent of xx Olympic Swimming Pools”) BER, Ppt14

Tips for writing good business features • Know the product: • make sure you understand the vocabulary and what the company sells in order to write with authority • understand all that the company offers • Know the company: • look at the scope of the company operations • do they only operate in one country or in multiple places • do they treat their employees well or have their been constant disputes? • do they have a reputation for integrity or have questions frequently been asked? BER, Ppt14

Tips for writing good business features • Know the people: • build relationships with people related to the feature that you are writing • know who is involved with the issue and get to know them all • Don't confuse the reader: • be careful to ensure you aren’t overwhelming the reader with ill-considered or illogical thoughts and sentences • useful to give background on facts and complex issues • make sure these are clear and simple so that the reader understands the economic or business issue BER, Ppt14

Tips for writing good business features • Be a storyteller, not a prosecutor: • when covering a great conflict, a great scandal .. it's very tempting to take sides • these stories lend themselves to stock characters: • good guys and bad guys, • geniuses and buffoons • often neither accurate reporting nor compelling storytelling to paint everything in black and white • shades of grey are much more interesting BER, Ppt14

Tips for writing good business features • Write simply: • don’t use complex phrases or intricate sentences • do your best to translate the complex and difficult subjects into jargon-free words that your readers can understand • Think outside the square: • don't go for the usual default explanations for an executive’s actions or a company's results • push yourself to a higher level of understanding to really deliver the goods for your reader BER, Ppt14

Break BER, Ppt14

How to write business profiles BER, Ppt14

Writing a profile • Make business news come alive by writing a profile about some of the prominent characters in the business world • profiles can open a window into the most interesting companies • provide insight into the people who run them • put a human face onto some of the most sweeping and complex topics • give readers information that they simply can't get anywhere else BER, Ppt14

Writing a profile • A good profile: • examines a company or a person in some depth • offers insights • revelation and news • explain what it is like to walk in the shoes of the people running the enterprise - stories about the human condition, even when the subject is a corporation BER, Ppt14

Writing a profile • What does it take to write a good profile? • Interesting subject - human or corporate, some inherent drama, an obstacle to struggle against: • perhaps a CEO has achieved success despite a history of previous failures • how did she overcome them? • Revelation: • reporting has to produce something that's surprising or at least interesting, and it has to be something that's not widely known. • Needs to be genuine: • needs to tell the tale honestly- A good measure is this: Will someone intimately familiar with the subject think that it is an honest portrayal? BER, Ppt14

Writing a good profile • Hard work and requires time and effort • Interesting people can be found wherever you are in the world • Writing good profiles requires that you be a good reporter • know who is doing what • which company is facing big problems • which CEOs are the toughest to work with • which are the most inspirational BER, Ppt14

Writing a good profile • Decided on a subject • Start your preparation • assemble every document you can • if possible read the company announcements from the stock exchange • read the annual reports - especially the footnotes\ • interview competitors • talk to analysts • spend time finding former employees • Report your profile as if you are not going to get access to the central character • drive yourself to collect deeper information • if you do get the big interview - it will be just that much better . BER, Ppt14

Structuring your profile • Business Opening • article is about a person • begin with the person • give an immediate sense of the presence of that person • article is about a person in business • start with the subject firmly located where she does business • show her at her desk, in her office, leaning over a counter to help a customer, inspecting the structural steel of a new building • begin by painting a picture of whatever she does BER, Ppt14

Structuring your profile • Status Statement • A status statement follows the business opening • the most important part of the article • establishes why readers should continue reading about this person • The status statement tells in business terms: • what significant positions the subject holds • how much money he had made • what kind of success he has achieved • some other way to indicate how important he is • where he stands in the pecking order of other businesses in the area • Business readers are looking for substantial information, and they are comfortable with facts and figures BER, Ppt14

Structuring your profile • Put the person in context of a business environment • the longest section • describe how the subject handles herself inside the firm • The ideal way is to observe the subject at work for a day • show what she does well • if not possible - use quotes from colleagues that give a detailed characterisation of the subject's specific, individual way of going about business • reveal anecdotes, good description, scenes and dialogue that reveal the person who is the subject of your article BER, Ppt14

Structuring your profile • Personal History • subject’s personal history -give some biographical information • add some interesting facts about their life • sensible to make this a chronological order of events • facts about the subject’s life and transition to talking about their personal life BER, Ppt14

Structuring your profile • Look at the subject at home • Move from the "now" of the business environment to the "now" of the home environment • Ideally go home with your subject • describe where she lives • the car she drives • the décor • tell about spouses, children, pets, grandchildren, hobbies, fitness, • civic involvements, church activities and philanthropic positions • give a glimpse of her personal philosophy • if you can't go home with your subject: • ask them about their home and family life • look for their values and commitments • ask colleagues for insights into this • Is she an outgoing activist and frequenter of a tennis club? • Or does she spend her evenings reading devotional literature and doing volunteer work through the church? BER, Ppt14

Structuring your profile • Where does the future lie for the subject? • glimpse of your subject's future plans • signals a change from the article's emphasis on the present tense • makes a good transition to the ending • keep the future glimpse down to a few lines • short and upbeat • answer to questions like: "What are your plans for the future?" BER, Ppt14

Structuring your profile • End with the subject talking • have an ending • always be listening for possible endings • best ending is a quote from the subject herself that sums up, the essence of the person we have been reading about • a quote by someone else can also work • If you have to write the ending yourself, it means you forgot to listen for it as you carried out your research BER, Ppt14

Future of business reporting BER, Ppt14

Future of business reporting • Globalisation will impact on your writing • multinational corporations • government policies and international treaties BER, Ppt14

Future of business reporting • Your challenge when reporting global issues: • find information that brings a broader worldview to local business writing • don’t assume that readers in a small city or rural province are not interested in global trade or international agreements • they need to understand why they care and what, exactly affects them in their daily lives • the job of the business writer to tell them • how to bring these policies, news and information home to the local level and make it understandable to all levels of readers • number of resources and Web sites at your fingertips to help you find a global angle • Global economics could refer to either a local foreign economy or the world economy - category affects depth and tone BER, Ppt14

Future of business reporting • Research is crucial: • spend time learning foreign terminology • different procedures for passing legislation • unfamiliar methods of reporting statistics • Basic research is the first step toward demonstrating to readers why events happening thousands of miles away have direct, practical importance for them • Keep abreast of issues in the global economy • read international business publications BER, Ppt14

Making global issues interesting BER, Ppt14

Stories near you • Look at businesses near you: • multinational corporations of thousands of manufacturing plants around the world • source components thousands more companies • likely there is a local company or business owned by an international corporation, or that provides goods or services to an international company BER, Ppt14

Stories near you • Find a consumer angle: • people in your community most likely buy some imported products • Where do these products come from? • Where are they sold? • Who manufacturers them, or harvests them? • Is there a story behind them that would be of interest to readers? • How do the spending habits of consumers affect the balance of trade between your country and the country the products come from? • Use a new product that you notice for sale in your local shop: • ask the manager who supplies the product • track down the wholesaler • then the importer • ask where the product originates • do research on the place of origin • where they are grown, the conditions under which they are harvested, and their path from the other country to transport to your local shop, are all interesting to readers BER, Ppt14

Stories near you • Consider local industry: • every good business story is a tale • intrigue, protagonists, antagonists, a dramatic climax, and an outcome • who are the people who make the story happen • Who is the CEO? • What are the obstacles he or she faces? • What are the concerns of the local community regarding environmental sustainability, working conditions, wages, etc? • Tell the tale BER, Ppt14

Stories near you • Remember the economic angle: • readers care about jobs • local economy is doing well - almost certainly companies behind that, creating jobs, increasing harvests or output, and growing wealth in their communities BER, Ppt14

Stories near you • Cultural awareness: • helps diffuse some of the unfamiliarity with the subject matter • one of the biggest challenges • trickier as they appear so straightforward • takes time to learn: • what Indonesia calls "private national banks" are often neither private nor national • level of the benchmark interest rate in China is not necessarily a reliable indicator of the state of the country's economy • how politics, ethics and social norms have helped produce a particular economic outcome or trend • mix culture with economics: • a more personal angle critical for making a remote, dry topic more accessible to readers • an examination of culture can explain an economic trend BER, Ppt14

At the forefront If you can successfully make a global story of interest to your local readers you will be performing a great service to your audience and ensuring you are at the forefront of the future of journalism! BER, Ppt14

Closure The important thing is not to stop questioning. Albert Einstein BER, Ppt14

What this module has covered • The economic issues we have touched on in the course included: • How an economy works • What the features of an economy are • What the contemporary regional issues are in economic terms and what role some of the key players perform • What globalisation is and why we need to understand about it. BER, Ppt14

What this module has covered • Comprehending major business activities and operations, including: • The relationships between the main economic players and institutions • How competitive forces work • How companies operate. BER, Ppt14

What this module has covered • Ways we will use this knowledge when working as journalists, and considered: • How to find out information • How to read and understand company financial statements • How to analyse a business and understand its overall position • How to report on specific beats – and gave you practical information to help you write about a variety of industries and issues. • And finally, we have left you this week with some final advice on writing business features and profiles. BER, Ppt14

Coming up! Good luck with your career in the fascinating field of business and economics journalism! BER, Ppt14

Aim for the top Will your name be on this list in year’s to come? BER, Ppt14

Media and Journalism Module Business and Economics For Reporters