Monthly Archives: December 2011
Florida paper adding Sunday biz section
by Chris Roush
The Lakeland Ledger newspaper in Florida says that it is adding a business section to its Sunday paper.
A story on its website states, “‘Our readers have told us they want every kind of business news, from local and consumer-oriented to investment advice and economic trends,’ said Ledger Editor Lenore Devore. ‘We added a page two days a week earlier this year. Tomorrow, we’ll add two more pages, giving Business a presence on Sunday so we can keep up to date on technology and delve even deeper into our local business market.’
“Business Sunday will focus on how technology affects most of our lives, with:
- A weekly review of a mobile app by the information technology experts at DSM Technology in Lakeland.
- A list of the top downloaded apps of the week.
- A Tech Q & A column to help you trouble-shoot problems with your computer, email and mobile devices.
- A feature called Web Winners that will direct you to websites to help you learn more about issues in the news.”
Read more here.
Journalism students learning how to cover business
by Chris Roush
Christine Lavelle of the Phoenix Business Journal writes about how students from the Arizona State University Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications partnered with journalists at the paper this semester to produce stories.
Lavelle writes, “This fall, the Journal teamed with the school’s business reporting class, challenging students to find and report on companies in the Phoenix community that are thriving despite a lagging economy. You can see the result of this collaboration in today’s paper, which features student-written stories on several local businesses.
“In class, the students brainstormed various types of businesses, talked about companies familiar to them and those that offered products or services that might appeal to the college-age demographic. We wanted to find out how they were doing in today’s difficult business climate. Are they profitable? Are they hiring? Are they more in debt now than a few years ago? If they just opened in the past couple of years, what prompted the owners to start now? And what do they do to keep the business growing?
“Students in the Cronkite School’s business journalism specialization are taught by Andrew Leckey, president of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism and the Reynolds endowed chair in business journalism at the Cronkite School. Leckey gives students the insights he has acquired during his career as an investment columnist for the Chicago Tribune, former CNBC anchor, and author or editor of 10 financial books. The program is funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation in Las Vegas, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit foundations.
“The students learn to ask financial questions, dig into a company’s marketing plans, interview owners and CEOs, and compare one company to others in the same industry. Whether students are print or broadcast majors, everyone today learns to be a multimedia journalist, so some stories are enhanced with videos posted on the Business Journal’s website.”
Read more here. A subscription is required.
Business Insider’s Weisenthal named Biz Journalist of the Year
by Chris Roush
TALKING BIZ NEWS EXCLUSIVE
Business Insider deputy editor Joe Weisenthal is Talking Biz News’ Business Journalist of the Year for 2011.
His selection is based on an unscientific, subjective review by Talking Biz News. We asked for nominations earlier this week on Twitter and polled people at several business news media organizations. Weisenthal was already on our short list, as was Heidi Moore of “Marketplace”, Peter Coy of Bloomberg Businessweek, Matt Goldstein of Reuters, and David Leonhardt of the New York Times.
Last year’s winner was Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times.
While Weisenthal may not have the influence of movers and shakers such as CNBC anchors or Wall Street Journal and New York Times business journalists, his impact has been dramatic for the evolving future of business journalism.
Weisenthal, who represents a new wave of how business journalism is presented, is a multi-platform user who pays close attention to the stock market and the economic data that is impacting its ups and downs. The sheer volume of the news and information he produces each day for his readers is amazing.
He posts on Business Insider at least a dozen times a day, and he is a major user of Twitter using the handle “The Stalwart.” He has more than 14,000 followers on Twitter and has tweeted nearly 50,000 times. Earlier this year, The New York Observer wrote, “Joe’s a one-man news wire who can sell a story like no other. It’s a freak talent and a rare find.”
Josh Brown, a New York investment banker who writes the Reformed Broker blog, wrote Wednesday that Weisenthal is “the most unlikely blogger to be going toe to toe with Fed watchers, Krugman haters, derivatives experts and currency wonks is doing exactly that. And there’s no need to search the web when news breaks or data is released — because Joe always has it first, even when the government’s servers have crashed from the traffic. Watching The Stalwart’s evolution this past year has been pretty special.”
He’s also revered by his readers for admitting when he is wrong and for providing news in a way that explains its significance. In July, dozens of them came to his defense when someone posted on Business Insider that he should be fired.
Weisenthal begins each morning between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., announcing to the world that he’s on the prowl with a tweet that simply states, “What did I miss?” And he typically announces when the major market news of the day has come and gone with a tweet that says, “Day’s over.”
One of his co-workers told Talking Biz News about how excited Weisenthal gets covering news. For example, before economic data comes out he starts drumming on his desk and does this countdown thing (“60 seconds….30 seconds…15 seconds…”) followed by silence while he posts the story and then a delayed sound effect such as “KaBoom!”
Weisenthal joined Business Insider in October 2008. Before that, he was a correspondent for paidContent.org, as well as the Opening Bell editor at Dealbreaker.com. He previously was a writer and analyst for Techdirt.com, and before that worked as an analyst for money management firm Prentiss Smith & Co.
He got started writing with his own infrequently updated blog TheStalwart.com. A graduate of The University of Texas at Austin, one of his Christmas presents this year was a 1933 Texas yearbook where the university president lamented about the lack of jobs for its graduates.
Jay Yarow, an editor at Business Insider, is amazed at how much Weisenthal accomplishes each day.
“He should be the scariest person in the business journalism field to other journalists,” said Yarow. “Not because he’s mean, but because he never stops thinking about the markets and business. Sure he wakes up at 4 a.m. to start working, and he’s writing posts until late at night. But, he’s thinking about this stuff in his sleep. He wakes up periodically to check Twitter to make sure he didn’t miss any news! If that’s the future of journalism, that’s scary!”
Yarow added: “Joe sees angles to stories that few other people understand. He has a deep understanding of what matters and what doesn’t. He’s a contrarian, but not for contrarianism sake.”Weisenthal’s competitors also marvel at his work output and his analysis, a sign that his work is closely followed by his readers as well as other business journalists.
“He is the hardest working journalist — scratch that,” said John Carney, a former Business Insider staffer who know works at CNBC.com. “He’s the hardest working person I’ve ever met. He wakes up each day nervous he may have missed a big story while he slept. His appetite for information is insatiable. Which makes him pretty much the perfect servant of his readers, who want someone out there reading everything so that they don’t have to.”
Kayla Tausche, an M&A and markets reporter for CNBC, added: “Have only met him in passing but think he’s extremely on-the-pulse on all things market. He wakes up at the crack of dawn and goes to bed late — is often on ‘Worldwide Exchange’ before the day even starts.”
WSJ.com’s biggest day in 2011 was Jobs’ death
by Chris Roush
WSJ.com’s highest-traffic day this year, by visits, was Oct. 5, when Steve Jobs died, edging out Aug. 8, when U.S. stocks fell 7 percent.
That’s according to a tweet from Zach Seward, editor of outreach and social media at the Journal.
Seward also tweeted on Thursday that WSJ.com’s busiest month, by unique visitors, was August, which saw the fall of Tripoli, London riots, a market crisis, and Hurricane Irene.
Specific data on the busiest days and months for the business newspaper’s website were not available, said a spokeswoman when contacted by Talking Biz News.
The Journal has been aggressive in the past few years in expanding its online content, which now includes a series of online-only video shows, including “The Hub” every morning at 8:30 a.m. EST.
The site was redesigned and relaunched in 2008, and the paper has more than 1 million subscribers to its online content. About two-thirds of its online content is behind the pay wall.
End of golden era of tech blogging
by Chris Roush
Jeremiah Owyang writes on his Web Strategy blog about the shifts in tech blogging and argues that a golden era has ended.
Owyang writes that certain trends are leading these changes, including:
Trend 1: Corporate acquisitions stymie innovation
Over the last few quarters, there’s been considerable acqusitions of organized blogs (which are more akin to news sites now-a-days), most notable, we’ve seen Techcrunch, who claimed annual revenues of about 10 mil a year, being acquired by AOL. Yet these purchases are quite common, as AOL has acquired Engadget in 2005, and Huffington Post in 2011. Just two weeks ago, another larger tech blog that has enterprise focus Read Write Web was just sold to Say Media. What typically happens when these acquisitions happen? Often the star talent, or founding team is pressured out, or takes a back seat while corporate business development teams match existing advertising inventory to a new found audience –forever changing the DNA of what created these startups. Lastly, acquisitions often force a conservative mindset over startups, because the purchase is focused on strengths of an asset, the mindset of ‘don’t break it’, keeps the culture to focus on the status quo. As acquisitions occur, innovation decreases.
Trend 2: Tech blogs are experiencing major talent turnover
Perhaps they were forced out, or maybe they saw the writing on the wall, but lately, we’ve seen a major change up in the all-star lineup of tech blogs. Just a few weeks before the acquisition of Read Write Web, the Senior Writer, Marshall Kirkpatrick separated ways now focused on building a product and company called Plexus Engine. Furthermore, Editor-at-Large of Mashable, Ben Parr separated ways from Mashable, yet continues to blog and we should watch for his next venture. Perhaps the most discussed exodus is a majority of the Techcrunch staff leaving, from founder Michael Arrington, CEO Heather Harde, top writer Sarah Lacy, and star journalist MG Siegler. Yet despite this loss, they acquired Eric Eldon, Josh Constine (both of Inside Facebook) and Sarah Perez (formerly of RWW) into the Techcrunch fold. Ben Parr himself listed out in greater detail all the people movements in the tech blogging space, there’s no doubt a shakeup occurring. The talent shakeup is normal after several exits occur –with new stars moving on to new business models.
Read more here.
Half of freelance biz journalists saw increase in pay in 2011
by Chris Roush
Nearly half of the freelance business journalists who responded to an informal online survey said that their compensation has risen in the past 12 months.
A third of those whose salaries have risen say that they have been more aggressive in finding new clients, according to the survey, conducted by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
The survey received 56 responses during the last two months and examines the conditions of working as a freelance business journalist. SABEW, which is headquartered at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications, conducts the freelance survey annually.
“These results are encouraging for business journalists who rely on various media organizations for a living,” said Kevin Noblet, SABEW’s president and a managing editor at Dow Jones Newswires. “It confirms that industry conditions are improving, helping freelancers across the country.”
The typical freelance business journalist has been their own boss from four to 10 years and is more likely to live in the Northeast or on the Pacific coast, according to the survey. And they worked full time for more than 10 years as a business journalist for a media organization before going into freelancing.
The survey found that the average freelance business journalist made between $30,000 and $35,000, up from the $25,000 to $30,000 range found in 2010. However, 14 freelance business journalists replied that they made more than $80,000, and six said they made more than $100,000.
Read more here.
Rules for Fast Company’s success
by Chris Roush
Alan Webber, the founder of Fast Company magazine, writes about the lessons he learned from starting the business glossy.
Here are a few of them:
1. You have to believe in your own idea. I genuinely believed that Fast Company was ‘destined’ to happen–even though it took more than 3 years to go from business plan to launch.
2. You have to be open to others’ input on your idea. Just because it is your idea and it is ‘destined’ to happen doesn’t make it perfect from the inception. Write it down. Show it to others. They will see it differently. They will have good suggestions. They will have bad suggestions. Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference. That’s part of the process!
3. The world does not need your idea. It’s important to remember that–people are getting along just fine without your idea. So learn to see the world through their eyes–explain how your idea solves their problem!
4. Who you are and what you’ve done are often the best arguments for your idea. Your track record counts as much as the merits of your idea.
Read more here.
The best economic blogs
by Chris Roush
Constantine von Hoffman of Inc. magazine ranks what he calls the most essential economics news blogs.
I will leave No. 1 in suspense, but here are some of her other picks:
2. The Big Picture: You’re already reading Barry Ritholtz, right? Even if you aren’t you’ve probably seen him on the financial TV networks. There’s a reason for that. In addition to being a great talker this Wall St. money manager consistently pokes fact-based holes in received wisdom and popular opinion. He is also a New York Knicks fan. As a Chicago Cubs fan, I understand completely.
3. Real Time Economics: One of several fine Wall Street Journal blogs. This one sifts through the numbers to find what matters.
4. DealBook: Andrew Ross Sorkin and crew are a great source for all the deals and the news that’s going to impact the deals. They cover so many different things that you don’t need to know everything they report – but there’s guaranteed to be something important here for you.
5. Financial Armageddon: Is Michael J. Panzner an alarmist or a realist? I vote for alarming realist. Panzner, a financial pro and writer, is smart and digs deep to find stories, angles and implications you won’t see in many other places. Despite the name of the blog, he’s definitely not a screamer.
See the entire list here.
Utah papers, AP ignore the Overstock story
by Chris Roush
Business journalist Gary Weiss writes on SeekingAlpha.com about how the Utah business media only report one side of the Overstock.com story.
Weiss writes, “When I pointed out a few weeks ago that the Utah media hadn’t made any mention of the company’s abysmal third-quarter report, or its disclosure that it was close to defaulting on banking covenants, I received an email from the News’s business editor, Jordan Burke.
“‘We’re building up the staff so we haven’t had time to go after all the stories we’d like to,’ he said.
“I wrote back: ‘Just out curiosity, is that your explanation for not covering Overstock’s third quarter earnings? You didn’t have the staff?’ There was no response.
“You can bet your life that if the Deseret News ever does ‘staff up,’ it will set loose its hungry reporters not on actual journalism about Overstock, but on glorified public relations. After all, there’s plenty of competition on that score from the AP bureau and the Salt Lake Tribune.
“What’s sad is that this kind of systematic cowardice is not unique to Utah. Newspapers around the country are cutting back on their staffs. Reporters are forced to seek jobs elsewhere, and to cling to the ones they have. There’s simply nothing to be gained by writing stories about a local businessman that are going to result in angry approaches to one’s boss.”
Read more here.
Why we should care about inflated real estate numbers
by Chris Roush
Scott van Voorhis of the Boston Globe writes Friday about the reaction to the disclosure that the National Association of Realtors has inflated home sales data by 14 percent since 2007.
“That’s not true, though. The trade organization’s numbers are widely reported in the business press and scanned for clues as to the direction of the housing market by many others as well.
“Numbers are a basic currency of business journalism – there traditionally haven’t been that many organizations that can pull off a national report. Thankfully, that’s changing but NAR’s numbers are still widely used.
“That’s why this screw up matters.”
Read more here.