Tag Archives: Educational
Shepard, former BusinessWeek editor, to step down as CUNY dean
by Chris Roush
Steve Shepard, who was editor of BusinessWeek magazine for 20 years and then became the founding dean of the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, announced Monday that he is stepping down at the end of the year.
Shepard will remain on the faculty.
A story on the CUNY website states, “A search committee will be appointed to recommend candidates for the dean’s job to CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein. CUNY expects a successor to be named by the fall.
“Shepard, a 1961 graduate of City College, came to CUNY in March 2005 to create a new graduate school of journalism after a long career in magazines. He was a senior editor at Newsweek, editor of Saturday Review, and editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek for more than 20 years. He also served as president of the American Society of Magazine Editors. His memoir, Deadlines and Disruption: My Turbulent Path From Print to Digital, was published in 2012 by McGraw-Hill.
“‘I will be forever grateful for the privilege of serving as founding dean of this innovative new school,’ Shepard said. ‘We can all be proud of what we’ve accomplished in short order.’
“Launched in August 2006, the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism is the only publicly funded graduate program in journalism in the Northeast. It offers a three-semester Master of Arts in Journalism and a newer M.A. in Entrepreneurial Journalism. The School enrolls about 100 new students each fall, about 65% of them women and nearly 40% students of color. The School graduated its sixth class in December 2012.”
Read more here.
Business journalism ethics, or the lack thereof, in Hong Kong
by Chris Roush
Business journalists in Hong Kong understand potential conflicts of interest, yet some still trade in stocks of companies that they cover, according to new research from the London School of Economics.
“The most striking finding is that almost half of the 12 journalists interviewed, five respondents, openly said that they or close relatives actively traded in shares or markets that they wrote about, and several others reported a relaxed attitude to such practices,” writes Damian Tambini, a senior lecturer at the London School.
Tambini’s research was recently published in the Journal of Mass Media Ethics. It notes that such practices in Hong Kong are vastly different from accepted business journalism practices in the United States and England. Tambini interviewed business journalists in New York and London in 2009 and found no one who traded actively.
“A junior reporter (Journalist 4) on a Chinese language daily was quite open about his trading activities, and the fact that he wrote about companies he had an interest in,” writes Tambini. “This reflects an assumption widely held among the interviewees that active trading by journalists in the newsroom was common and accepted.”
Tambini also found that some English language media in Hong Kong require journalists to fill out a disclosure form and file it with management, but that the journalists are not using the form, and their employers are not enforcing the disclosure.
The research believes that his interview data offers a strong indication that the rule that journalists should not write about stocks they own is becoming more accepted in Hong Kong, but those rules have yet to take hold in everyday practice.
Tambini argues that the trading of stocks by business journalists could undermine the “contract” with the general public to act as a watchdog and serve the public interest.
To read his research, go here. A subscription is required.
Wharton offering one-day program for biz reporters
by Chris Roush
The Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists is offering a one-day program for business journalists in New York on March 6.
To apply, go here.
Through intensive lectures and hands-on exercises, the Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists, led by the Wharton School’s most prominent professors, help reporters gain better understanding of key business and economic issues. This free, one-day program will feature Wharton professors Mark Duggan and Alex Edmans on “Reforming America’s Entitlement Programs” and “Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility” respectively.
The Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists program, now in its 45th year, offers participants an opportunity to expand their knowledge, increase their exposure to leading experts and broaden their perspectives in a stimulating environment. This one-day program is free of charge and open to a limited number of journalists.
Thanks to new sponsor the Travelers Institute, the Seminar will also feature a special screening of Overdraft, a nonpartisan documentary made for public television that highlights the growing U.S. deficit and its implications for individuals and U.S. economic competitiveness.
The program will be on March 6 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The registration deadline is Feb. 25, 2013.
Business journalism event in New York on Tuesday
by Chris Roush
An event examining global economic coverage by the business press will be held in New York on Tuesday morning.
The event, called “Are we Being Served?” will be held at the New York Law School, 185 West Broadway, and begin at 8:30 a.m.
It will explore how the global financial press interprets these crucial developments around the world for its audience, and ask what drives the American media to cover the international economy the way it does.
The speakers include:
- Heidi Moore, the U.S. finance and economics editor for The Guardian. Formerly, Heidi was New York bureau chief and Wall Street correspondent for Marketplace, from American Public Media.
- Kevin J. Delaney, editor in chief and co-founder of Quartz, the new global business site from Atlantic Media. Kevin was a reporter at The Wall Street Journal for a decade, working in Paris and Silicon Valley, before returning to New York to become managing editor of WSJ.com.
- Edmund Lee, reporter for Bloomberg News in New York. Edmund covers the media industry. He’s written for The New York Times, the Daily News, New York, The Village Voice, Women’s Wear Daily, Portfolio, Advertising Age and Bloomberg News.
The event is sponsored by Capital New York and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. To reserve your spot, go here.
Columbia biz journalism professor wants nearly $1 million from university
by Chris Roush
Sylvia Nasar, who teaches business journalism at Columbia University, is seeking nearly $1 million in pay she claims she has not received from the university, writes Joe Pompeo of Capital New York.
Pompeo writes, “And in a summons served to the university this week, she’s seeking $923,000 and accusing the school of underpaying her from funds dedicated to her compensation package from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
“The summons was provided by a source to Capital. A complaint has not yet been filed.
“‘The nature of this action and the relief sought is to recover damages for breach of contractual duties owed to plaintiff as a third-party beneficiary, unjust enrichment and conversion, arising out of the diversion of funds accruing for the benefit of plaintiff pursuant to an endowment grant by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation dated Sept. 17, 1998,’ reads the summons, which was filed by Nasar’s attorney in New York State Supreme Court on Jan. 7.
“The attorney, Mark Lawless, said he was ‘not in a position to comment at this point.’ A spokesperson for Columbia declined to comment. An email to Nasar was not returned Thursday afternoon.
“Nasar was the first Knight Professor of business journalism at the journalism school, and co-directs the master of arts program in the field with James Stewart, according to her bio page. She’s been employed by Columbia since 2000; the funds from the Knight endowment are separate from her core salary.”
Read more here.
Dow Jones News Fund seeks media for biz news internships
by Chris Roush
The Dow Jones News Fund is recruiting media and news organizations to hire 2013 summer interns for 10 weeks in its business reporting internship program.
This is an opportunity for news organizations to hire great interns who have already been vetted by the Fund. Media outlets who want to enroll their own candidates in the pre-internship training program can also coordinate with the Fund. Placements are being made and should be completed by January.
Among participating media are The Denver Post, the Cape Cod Times, Barron’s and Thomson-Reuters. The Fund invites online, on-the-air and niche publications as well as those with non-traditional business coverage to participate.
DJNF business reporting interns will participate in an intensive training course at New York University from May 25 to 31. The 2013 program director is Will Sutton, a Society of American Business Editors and Writers member who serves on its diversity committee. Sutton has supervised business coverage as a newspaper editor and he was a 2012 Donald W. Reynolds Visiting Professor of Business Journalism at Grambling State University. He is a former president of the National Association of Black Journalists and a co-founder of what became UNITY: Journalists of Color. Interns will be ready for work by June 3.
Interns will ramp up knowledge and skills in earnings reports, reading Securities and Exchange Commission documents, IPOs and more. Sutton will include SABEW members among the faculty of business journalists from Dow Jones, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times as well as other news organizations. Academic professionals will also help interns learn how to dig for information in documents and online and how to use social media to report on business. Reach Sutton via Twitter at @willsutton or email at resultswithwill@aol.com.
News organizations are asked to provide a training grant of $1,000 to DJNF and to pay a weekly salary of at least $350 for no fewer than 10 weeks of work.
The student application deadline has passed, so interested undergraduate and graduate students can plan to apply for the 2014 program.
To enroll to hire one of the more than 75 applicants, contact Linda Shockley at linda.shockley@dowjones.com or 609-520-5929. Details at https://www.newsfund.org.
SABEW picks biz journalists for health care workshop
by Chris Roush
Seventeen business journalists from 11 states and the District of Columbia have been chosen as fellows for a special two-day education program on the business of health care, to be conducted by the Society of American Business Editors and sponsored by The Commonwealth Fund.
The program will be held at Reuters headquarters at 3 Times Square in New York City on Jan. 17-18, announced Warren Watson, executive director of SABEW, the world’s largest and oldest fraternity of business and financial journalists.
It will be the first of several special programs in SABEW’s 50th anniversary year.
The Commonwealth Fund awarded a grant to SABEW to develop the two-day symposium in New York City.
SABEW and Commonwealth have teamed up before to offer specialized education in healthcare reporting. It is the fifth such grant the Commonwealth Fund has awarded to SABEW, which has conducted a dozen open workshops and other activities on the business of health care under Commonwealth’s sponsorship since 2007.
“Issues surrounding the nation’s health care continue to be a major business story. We’re pleased that the Commonwealth Fund is working with us again. We have a terrific cast of fellows for this program,” said Watson, who is developing the training program and serve as moderator.
The symposium will be geared to reporters with some experience in health care reporting from media companies nationwide.
The fellows were selected through a national application process. The list can be found here.
TheStreet.com’s internship video
by Chris Roush
TheStreet.com prepared a spoof video about how it attracts business journalism interns.
Reynolds Center names fellows
by Chris Roush
The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalismhas selected 31 fellows – 16 journalists and 15 professors – for four days of intensive study in business journalism.
The fellows will attend separate, all-expenses-paid seminars Jan. 2-5 at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in Phoenix. Journalists in the Strictly Financials Seminar learn how to dissect financial statements and SEC documents.
Prospective business journalism professors receive training in how to teach a university-level course in business journalism.
“The professionalism of the applicants for this seventh year of our annual business journalism seminars has been impressive,” said Andrew Leckey, president of the Reynolds Center and the Reynolds Chair in Business Journalism at the Cronkite School. “The demand for quality coverage of business and economic issues continues to grow, with news organizations and universities rising to the occasion.”
The seminars, taught by highly regarded business journalists and business journalism professors, are part of Reynolds Business Journalism Week at the Cronkite School. A highlight of the week is a discussion with the legendary investigative-reporting duo of Don Barlett and Jim Steele, along with the 2012 winners of the Reynolds Center’s Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism.
The named fellows can be found here.
Knight-Bagehot program increases stipends
by Chris Roush
The Knight-Bagehot business journalism program at the Journalism School at Columbia University is now accepting applications and has increased the stipend to $55,000.
It previously was $50,000.
The fellowship is open to full-time editorial employees of newspapers, magazines, wire services, and broadcast news organizations as well as to freelance journalists. Applicants must have at least four years’ experience. There are no academic prerequisites. Though some attempt is made to achieve a diversity of backgrounds, the affiliation of applicants is not a factor in the selection process. Journalists from nationally known organizations are not given preference over those from smaller regional media.
The chief criterion for selection is demonstrated journalistic excellence. While essays and letters of recommendation are important parts of the application, the greatest weight is given to work samples. Clippings and tapes need not cover business subjects, and applicants do not have to be business specialists. All materials, including letters of reference, college transcripts, essays and work samples, should be compiled and submitted with a completed application form to:
Director, Knight-Bagehot Fellowship
Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University
2950 Broadway, New York, NY 10027
The program permits fellows to make whatever arrangements are deemed appropriate. Though applicants’ employers, except under unusual circumstances, should submit a letter supporting the application, applicants are not required to obtain formal employer approval. While the program recognizes fellows’ desire to advance their careers, it urges them to return to their current employers at the end of their year at Columbia.
Fellowships are announced by May 1. The deadline to apply is March 1.
To apply, go here.
