Tag Archives: Business Weeklies
Las Vegas Business Press names GM
by Chris Roush
Debbie Donaldson was hired as general manager of the Las Vegas Business Press.
Laura Carroll of the Business Press writes, “A 13-year resident of Las Vegas, she is a past president of the American Marketing Association and the American Advertising Federation.
“Donaldson says she has very specific goals for the Business Press.
“‘Every business we deal with has been battered,’ Donaldson said. ‘We have taken a few licks on the chin here, too, so my goal is to get more copies in the hands of business owners, managers and decision-makers in town, which is our core readership.’
“She plans to accomplish this by partnering with organizations in the community to support their missions and draw business and education together.”
Read more here.
A story subject takes interest in reporter’s self-marketing
by Chris Roush
Lindsay Riddell, a reporter for the San Francisco Business Times, writes about how about.me founder Larry Conrad has taken a personal interest in improving her page on the site.
Riddell writes, “The photo on my about.me page is a picture of me interviewing Tesla Motors Chairman Elon Musk, taken by venture capitalist and Tesla investor Steve Jurvetson. Conrad suggested I increase the opaqueness of the background to my profile text, so it would better stand out on top of the background picture. And he suggested I move that profile text lower so it didn’t get lost in the image.
“In addition to the tags already linked to my page, he suggested I also add links to my three most recent Business Times stories.
“While a link to my about.me page already appeared in my Twitter profile, he also suggested I put it in my email signature (I’m still trying to figure out how to make it a hyperlink – Entourage makes it incredibly tough).
“Since I’ve heeded Conrad’s suggestions, and talked about my about.me page in the Business Times, and since Conrad tweeted my page to his 24,000 or so Twitter followers, I’ve had 54 more views. Nothing to write home about, but also not nothing. If only Mark Zuckerberg and Biz Stone were so committed to my self-marketing.”
Read more here.
ACBJ paper begins startup newsletter
by Chris Roush
The Silicon Valley Business Journal, an American City Business Journals paper, has started a new newsletter called StartUp Now.
J. Jennings Moss, editor of the Upstart Business Journal, writes, “The Silicon Valley Business Journal is one of our sister publications, part of the network of 40 weeklies published by American City Business Journals (which is part of Advance Publishing). It’s led by publisher James MacGregor and editor-in-chief Greg Baumann.
“StartupNow, which is compiled by senior technology reporter Cromwell Schubarth, is just the latest sign of a newspaper being reborn. Until a few weeks ago, the paper was called the Silicon Valley-San Jose Business Journal. It dropped the San Jose part and adopted a more aggressive approach to covering the high-tech giants and upstart newcomers that drive the economy south of San Francisco.
There’s another reason I’m biased. I spent six years of my childhood in San Jose. My mother worked for Fairchild Semiconductor, a company now seen as the birthplace for so much of the region’s tech innovation. My brothers and their families still live a short drive away from the Silicon Valley Business Journal’s offices. I like the area. I love the paper. I’m glad the folks at the Silicon Valley Business Journal and I work for the same company.”
Read more here.
LA Business Journal hires new reporter
by Chris Roush
Ryan Faughnder has been hired as a reporter for the Los Angeles Business Journal, reports Richard Horgan of Fishbowl LA.
Horgan writes, “‘I’ll be covering manufacturing, transportation and trade,’ Faughnder tells FishbowlLA. ‘Meaning I’ll be dealing with the ports on a very regular basis. I’m helping out by contributing other types of stories too, like this one on a struggling local flash-sales website.’
“Faughnder (pictured) heard about the Business Journal job from a friend and former classmate who works there. He thinks the fact that he’d been focused at LAT and Bloomberg on business journalism was definitely a major plus, as was his genuine interest in the beat.
“He cites as mentors while at USC Gabriel Kahn, for helping develop and fine-tune his business-reporting chops, and Alan Mittelstaedt, a faculty advisor for Neon Tommy. When asked which Neon Tommy stories still resonate with him most from his days as executive editor, Faughnder points to a pair of contrasting pieces.
“‘The first was my contribution to our analysis of the California budget crisis,’ he says. ‘I reported on mental health issues related to funding, shelters and philosophies about how we care for people with mental illnesses. I led this project in which we dissected the Jerry Brown budget that year.’”
Read more here.
Indianapolis Biz Journal editor to step down
by Chris Roush
Indianapolis Business Journal editor Tom Harton announced to his staff Monday that he will step down March 15 after 22 years in the position.
A story on the paper’s website states, “Harton, 50, has been with IBJ since 1984, four years after its founding. He will remain with IBJ Media Corp. to handle special projects, a part-time role that will allow him to explore other interests.
“Succeeding Harton will be Greg Andrews, 47, IBJ’s managing editor since 2005. Andrews, who writes the newspaper’s Behind the News column, spent six years at IBJ in the 1990s before joining The Indianapolis Star in 1997. He rose to business editor before rejoining IBJ in September 2000.
“‘I’m looking forward to new challenges and a change of pace after more than two decades as editor,’ Harton said. ‘Greg Andrews and our newsroom team will keep IBJ on top, and I’ll be here to help in any way I can.
“‘My new role will allow me to remain involved with IBJ but give me the flexibility to explore some opportunities outside the company.’
“Under Harton’s leadership, IBJ won dozens of national journalism awards. In 2007, the Alliance of Area Business Publications recognized IBJ as the nation’s best large-market business journal. In 2009, the Society of American Business Editors and Writers gave the publication its national first-place award for general excellence.”
Read more here.
Silicon Valley Biz Journal redesign a template for ACBJ papers
by Chris Roush
Jessica Hanks of The Huffington Post writes about the redesign of the Silicon Valley Business Journal with editor Greg Baumann and redesigner Mario Garcia.
The redesign is planned to be a template for other American City Business Journals papers.
Hanks writes, “Effective with the first edition in 2013, the Silicon Valley Business Journal has revitalized nearly every aspect of the paper, from expanding newsroom staff to advancing digital and social capabilities, to buttressing the print layout.
“‘[I wanted to] bring a sense of the digital mentality to print,’ Garcia told HuffPost. ‘Our readers use other platforms and unconsciously bring the way they navigate and scan digitally, to print.’
“Readers’ digital habits are also being used to tailor editorial content, which Baumann thinks is key. ‘We watch the data. When a Web story pops, or when a social media conversation about one of our Web stories takes off, that’s a clanging bell telling us to weigh in more heavily in print. You just have to listen to the audience,’ he told HuffPost.
“The publication is certainly bucking the trend, as many other major newspapers are scaling back on distribution. But SBVJ may have the recipe for success: a new, state-of-the-art look for the paper product they’ve published 30 years, reader-driven content and a good pulse on the digital landscape.”
Read more here.
Silicon Valley Biz Journal hires new tech reporter
by Chris Roush
Preeti Upadhyaya has been named the new technology reporter at the Silicon Valley Business Journal, an American City Business Journals newspaper.
Upadhyaya writes, “I’m an LA transplant, although no stranger to NorCal. Since graduating from UC Davis in 2009, I’ve lived in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and London.
“I cut my journalistic teeth at NPR, managing interns around the country as the social media voice of NPR’s Intern Edition blog and script editing and researching for Morning Edition.
“In back-to-back internships, I headed next to American Public Media, where I ran point and produced a conversation with Khan Academy’s Sal Khan on education gaps in American schools.
“More recently, I spent a very damp summer in London, reporting on the 2012 Olympics and European markets.”
Read more here.
Kansas biz journal unveils redesign
by Chris Roush
The Wichita Business Journal, an American City Business Journals paper, has redesigned itself.
A story on its website states, “As WBJ editor Bill Roy writes in a column in today’s edition, the design changes include reporter pages, which examine some of the highlights of the news each reporter broke on www.wichitabusinessjournal.com that week, a more prominent front-page story and the return of indexes, which list the people and businesses in that week’s paper.
“The WBJ’s website, email updates and mobile applications will be changing, too. The philosophy, developed by American City Business Journals with consultant Mario Garcia, is to provide news as readers consume it — immediate, breaking news to be read on computers and smartphones, plus more in-depth reporting and analysis for those times when readers have more time, in print and on tablets.”
Read more here.
Atlanta biz paper names new banking reporter
by Chris Roush
Ruchika Tulshyan has joined Atlanta Business Chronicle as its new money and finance reporter.
Jacques Couret of the paper writes, “She has previously been published in outlets including Forbes, CNN, Time, Bloomberg and the Huffington Post. She has reported in Singapore, London, New York, Mumbai and Atlanta.
“Ruchika holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University and a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from the London School of Economics. She speaks Hindi and French.
“Ruchika is the co-founder of a shipping company in Singapore, where she was born.”
Read more here.
Pacific Coast Business Times looks at steady growth
by Chris Roush
Henry Dubroff, the editor and founder of the Pacific Coast Business Times in California, writes about the paper’s continued growth and recent changes.
Dubroff writes, “We’ve also made a number of successful leadership changes. Publisher Linda le Brock has completed her first full year of running our sales and business operations, and she has produced some of the best results in our history. She’s given the Business Times an infusion of energy, social media smarts and marketing savvy.
“We also have the largest business news department between Los Angeles and the Bay area.
“Last year we promoted Stephen Neills to senior editor and he has begun taking over editing and story development responsibilities. Marlize van Romburgh was promoted to managing editor, a role that involves guiding our production processes and leading the way on digital initiatives. Both of them also continue to cover their respective beats.
“Last summer, we hired Dara Barney, a gifted journalism graduate of the University of Idaho, to the newly created position of Research Director/Special Reports Editor. She is in charge of all of our special sections, our Top 25 lists and our public records.”
Read more here.
