Tag Archives: Educational
Knight-Bagehot fellows named for 2013-14
by Chris Roush
Ten Knight-Bagehot Fellows in economics and business journalism have been named by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism for the 2013-2014 academic year. They include journalists from The Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, American Banker, The Morning Call, National Journal and other news organizations in Washington, D.C., China, Nepal and Ghana.
“These journalists represent the best and brightest in business journalism,” said Terri Thompson, director of the program, in a statement. “We look forward to welcoming them for a rigorous program of study here at Columbia.”
This year’s fellows:
Anjali Athavaley, 28, covers commercial real estate for the Greater New York section of The Wall Street Journal, where she started as an intern in 2006. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, she also interned at The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, and the Miami Herald.
Emmanuel K. Dogbevi, 44, is founder and managing online editor of www.ghanabusinessnews.com, an online business news portal in Accra, Ghana, where his special interests are e-waste, renewable energy and economic development. Winner of the Best Anti-corruption Reporter Award of the Ghana Journalists Association in 2012, he holds a BA from the University of Ghana.
Roseanne Gerin, 45, has worked in China since 2007, most recently as senior news editor, China Radio International in Beijing. Previously, she was a staff writer for Washington Technology, a trade magazine about companies that sell IT and telecom products and services to the U.S. government.
Jeff Horwitz, 31, was hired by American Banker in 2009 after graduating from Columbia with an MA in Business Journalism. He previously worked for the Washington City Paper, the San Bernardino Sun, and Legal Times, and freelanced in East Africa. He has also written stories for Slate, the Washington Post, Portfolio, the Atlantic, The Dallas Morning News and the Sacramento Bee.
Aaron Kessler, 33, is a staff writer for 100Reporters, a nonprofit journalism organization based in Washington, D.C. As a reporter for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, he partnered with ProPublica on an award-winning investigation of contaminated Chinese drywall used in thousands of U.S. homes. He has previously covered subjects ranging from the housing and auto industries, to mortgage fraud, terrorist networks and other financial crimes.
Prem K. Khanal, 43, is associate editor of Republica English daily in Kathmandu, Nepal, which he joined in 2008 as business editor. Previously, he was the chief of the business bureau at The Kathmandu Post. He graduated with an MA in Economics from Tribhuvan University in 1999 and served briefly as research officer for the Institute for Development Studies in Kathmandu before beginning his 12-year career in journalism.
Margot Sanger-Katz, 33, is health care correspondent for National Journal, the Washington, D.C. politics and policy magazine. A graduate of Yale University and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, she previously wrote or edited for Concord (New Hampshire) Monitor, Yale Alumni Magazine, and Legal Affairs magazine.
Spencer Soper, 39, is senior business reporter for The Morning Call in Allentown, PA, where he has worked since 2005. Previously, he was a reporter for newspapers in California and New York. He graduated with a BA in English from the State University of Albany, New York in 1995.
Peter Svensson, 40, is a technology writer for The Associated Press. Born and raised in Sweden, he has served in the country’s military intelligence and been a U.N. peacekeeper in Croatia. He studied journalism at Stockholm University and photography and multimedia at New York University.
Amy Yee, 38, a freelance journalist based in New Delhi, India, focuses on development, business approaches to reducing poverty and stories with social impact. A graduate of Wellesley College, she got her start in business journalism in 1999 as a reporter for The Financial Times based in New York. In 2006, she moved to New Delhi and covered India for the FT until 2008. As a freelancer, she writes for The New York Times, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The International Herald Tribune, The Lancet, Forbes and other publications.
Chinese biz program looking for director
by Chris Roush
The Global Business Journalism program at Tsinghua University is seeking a director starting in the fall semester of 2013.
The ideal candidate would be a university professor with extensive professional experience as a business journalist plus administrative experience and responsibilities. China experience and Chinese language are a plus but not a requirement.
The program is a joint project of the International Center for Journalists, which trains journalists in dozens of countries worldwide, and Tsinghua University in Beijing, considered one of China’s best. The director would teach Business News Writing and Editing and other courses as needed. The director’s duties include reporting to the program’s sponsors as well as identifying and cultivating new ones.
This is a great job for the right person, especially now, given China’s growing importance in business and the global economy. Students are right in the middle of the world’s biggest business story.
Contact James Breiner at Tsinghua University, jamesbreiner@gmail.com.
Oklahoma, Cal State-Fullerton to receive visiting biz journalism professors
by Chris Roush
Journalism programs at the University of Oklahoma and California State University, Fullerton will receive visiting business journalism professors next spring under an Arizona State University program funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.
This is the third year the foundation has funded business journalism professors at universities to encourage development of stronger business journalism education. The $1.67 million grant is administered through the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
“One of our goals in funding this grant was to broaden the reach of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism into other institutions across the country,” said Steve Anderson, president of the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation.
The five-year program will ultimately create 11 visiting professorships at 11 different schools. Inaugural visiting professors taught at Colorado State University, Grambling State University, the University of South Carolina and Texas Christian University in spring 2012.
This past spring, visiting professors have taught at Central Michigan, Elon and Louisiana State universities.
Andrew Leckey, president of the Reynolds Center and the Reynolds Chair in Business Journalism at the Cronkite School, said the two schools were chosen from dozens of applications, and both presented “immediate and longer-term plans for solid business journalism coursework.”
Read more here.
TCU creates business journalism certificate
by Chris Roush
The Texas Christian University Schieffer School of Journalism has created a business journalism certificate program for students beginning in fall 2013.
The driving factors for creating the certificates were the availability of jobs in the areas and the need for subject-based certificates, in addition to certificates based on media platforms, John Lumpkin, director of the Schieffer School of Journalism, said.
The emphasis in subject changed the way the certificates are earned. Instead of only journalism courses, the certificates will require classes outside of the Schieffer School.
For the business certificate, requirements will include six hours outside of the Schieffer School, with options from business, economic and political science classes.
Just as the market has been changing to accommodate more sports journalists, the market is embracing more business journalists, Dr. Melita Garza, the lead professor for the business journalism proposal, said.
The business journalism certificate was an outgrowth of grants from the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism. The original grant provided for a visiting business journalism professor for one semester. The visiting professor, Karen Blumenthal, author and former bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, developed the first two business news courses in 2012.
Read more here.
How to kick butt in business journalism
by Chris Roush
Business Insider executive editor Joe Weisenthal and deputy editor Nicholas Carlson recently gave college students advice on how to be a great business journalist, reports Dan Reimold of PBS MediaShift.
Here is some of their advice:
8. Test Story Ideas on Twitter
During his portion of the talk, Weisenthal confirmed what his 40,000 Twitter followers already know: While working hard at all hours, he tweets a lot.
Along with sharing news and showing some personality, he said, “a big part of Twitter for me is just trying out ideas. Something will come to me, maybe just the germ of a story that I haven’t written yet, and I’ll tweet some thought and see what kind of reaction I get. So I use it very much as a sounding board … You know, ‘That seemed to strike a nerve, so maybe I’ll expand on that.’”
9. Business Journalism is the Best
One sentiment that struck a nerve for Weisenthal and Carlson centered on the power and benefits of business journalism. Weisenthal in particular didn’t mince words about what he perceives as its predominance. “My opinion is that business journalism is the best,” he said. “Think about it this way. Everyone can write about politics. It’s not that hard … But those people who specialize in writing about politics would never have something smart to say about the jobs report. If you’re thinking about an area, I highly recommend business because it is superior to every other one.”
As Carlson quickly added, “And you get paid well.”
Read more here.
Biz journalism prof files suit against Columbia
by Chris Roush
Sylvia Nasar, a business journalism professor at Columbia University, has filed a lawsuit against the university for misdirecting funds in her professorship, reports Christine Haughney of the New York Times.
Haughney writes, “The suit, filed in State Supreme Court in New York, also claims that Nicholas Lemann, the dean of the journalism school, ‘intimidated and harassed’ Ms. Nasar for making complaints about the funds.
“Elizabeth Fishman, a spokeswoman for the journalism school, said in an email that “we don’t comment on matters in litigation.” Mr. Lemann was not immediately available for comment.
“The lawsuit comes at a time of transition for Columbia’s Journalism School, which on Monday named Steve Coll its new dean. He succeeds Mr. Lemann, who led the school through a turbulent decade as journalism underwent fundamental shifts. Mr. Lemann announced last fall that he planned to step down by the end of the academic year.
“According to the 27-page complaint, the journalism school created a professorship called the Knight chair in 1998, with a $1.5 million grant from the Knight Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks to support quality journalism. Columbia was expected to match the grant.
“Terms of the agreement called for Columbia to pay the professorship’s salary on its own, and use Knight Foundation funds for additional salary and benefits, like research.”
Read more here.
Bloomberg strikes deal with Hampton J school
by Chris Roush
Hampton University’s Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications announced a partnership Wednesday with Bloomberg L.P. to prepare students for careers in business journalism and communications.
The partnership, which is launching this spring with a new Scripps Howard School course in business journalism, includes a grant towards the establishment of a financial newsroom, complete with digital stock tickers, computers and access to the Bloomberg Professional Service, the product that revolutionized the way financial news, data and analytics are delivered to financial professionals worldwide.
“Opportunities to cover business and financial news throughout the world are expanding,” said Scripps Dean Brett Pulley, a veteran business journalist whose career includes three years as a New York-based reporter with Bloomberg News. “Business news is growing across digital platforms and some of the best-paying jobs in journalism are in business news. This partnership will enable us to prepare our students to take advantage of those opportunities.”
Pulley is a Hampton University graduate and a former correspondent at Bloomberg News, Forbes magazine, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal.
Read more here.
SABEW to hold teletraining on covering sequestration
by Chris Roush
The Society of American Business Editors and Writers will hold a telephone conference call next week for business journalists interested in covering angles of the sequestration.
The call will be held on Monday, March 18 at 2 p.m. EST. The moderator will be Bernie Kohn, a former SABEW president who now is an editor at Bloomberg News in Washington.
To sign up for the call, click here. On the day of the call, dial (218) 339-2626 and, when prompted, enter the access code 4058935 and you’ll be put in to the call. Callers may only listen in to the panelists’ discussion, but may submit questions to sabew@sabew.org that will be sent to the moderator for possible inclusion in the hour-long discussion.
Also on the call will be James Politi, U.S. economics and trade correspondent, the Financial Times; David Lightman, McClatchy Washington Bureau, chief congressional correspondent and national political reporter; and Rob Terry, managing editor of the Washington Business Journal.
What business journalists can get out of an MBA
by Chris Roush
Louise Story of The New York Times writes for a Columbia University website, Covering Business, about how an MBA can help a business journalist.
Story writes, “Accounting, Statistics, Excel – if those sound like dirty words to you, you might consider forcing yourself to learn them. The basic concepts of accounting – flows versus stocks, for instance – come up not only for business reporters, but for political reporters looking at budgets and foreign reporters examining international aid. Or take “a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people botch that one, but it is a basic financial rule known as the time value of money and it’s critical for reporters sizing up a company’s worth. As for Excel, if you gain confidence with it, as B-school forces you to, then functions like pivot tables and filters will become your secret weapon in journalism, helping you spot stories that other people miss.
“In 2009, I wondered if bank pay would be going up or down after the financial crisis. I couldn’t look at total compensation at the banks because some had larger workforces than others. I had to look at compensation per employee. So into the bank financial statements I went. I designed a basic Excel spreadsheet and hours later, the result was in: bank pay was going up. Ditto on stock market volatility. Lots of traders were saying 2011 was more volatile, but they were speaking anecdotally. So I plugged the year’s stock closing pricing data into Excel, and soon, I had an answer. Last year, I wondered how much states give companies in tax credits and other subsidies. Once again, a little numeric literacy came in handy. In all these cases, I was able to give readers answers that didn’t exist without my analyses.”
Read more here.
Scholarships available to attend SABEW conference
by Chris Roush
More than $10,000 in scholarship and travel aid is available for journalists hoping to attend SABEW’s 50th annual spring conference April 4-6 in Washington, D.C.
The scholarships will be funded by the Goldschmidt Family Foundation, the SABEW Chair at the University of Missouri and SABEW’s Benita Newton Fund for minority journalists.
Warren Watson, SABEW executive director, said four $1,000 Newton scholarships will be given this year, thanks to fund support from Reuters and from CNN Money/ Turner.
Only journalists of color will be considered for the Newton scholarships.
Applicants should send a resume and a 50-word statement about why they are applying. Send both to sabew@sabew.org. Please include “scholarship request” in the subject line of the email.
The SABEW chair, Missouri journalism professor Marty Steffens, is also sponsoring two $1,000 grants for SABEW Best in Business award-winners in the recently concluded competition.
The SABEW chair will also sponsor eight small grants to cover registration for the conference. They are valued at $350 each. BIB winners will be given preference.
The SABEW chair scholarships are open to anyone.
Likewise, The Goldschmidt Foundation will fund one $1,000 scholarship and two $500 scholarships. All journalists are encouraged to apply, but one of the $500 grants will be given to a college student seeking to attend the conference. Applicants should apply in the same manner as listed above.
The deadline for applications is March 8, 2013. Winners will be notified immediately.
