Tag Archives: Educational
Bank reporting tip: Cull FDIC "call reports" for signs of failing banks
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Sean Sposito, a University of Missouri journalism student attending the fall Society of American Business Editors and Writers workshop in Kansas City, filed this report on using FDIC documents to search for failing banks.
Here is Sposito’s report:
A bank failure here in Kansas City several months ago was reason enough to take heed of what Susan Zubradt had to say.Â
A Kansas City Federal Reserve official, Zubradt said there are tell tale signs to a bank that is close to shutting down.Â
Studying call reports, or weekly quarterly reports that all banks need to make available to the FDIC, is one of the first places to turn, she said. Â
“The depth of information in the call report … that really did lay out a lot or more detail then you would find in SEC documents,” said Bernie Kohn, of the Baltimore Sun who is also the current SABEW president.Â
It’s “some of the best information out there out of any financial institution.”Â
Zubradt said indicators, such as the bank’s quarterly earnings, past due loans and loan loss reserves, can be found within the reports.
“You can really dig in and find out the better questions,” she said of the reports.Â
One SABEW member asked if there was a tell tale sign that could signal a collapse.
Zubradt said no but added that by keeping up with federal agency Web sites, you can find delinquencies that otherwise might go unnoticed.Â
Here are some of the sources of information she suggested:Â
Energy policy debated at SABEW conference
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Steve Everly and Karen Dillon of the Kansas City Star write Tuesday about how experts debated the nation’s energy policy at the fall Society of American Business Editors and Writers conference.
Everly and Dillon write, “But Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer found some flaws in Pickens’ plan.
“For example, Schafer questioned whether it was wise to replace crude oil with another fossil fuel — natural gas. He speculated that one day more natural gas might have to be imported as well.
“Schafer said, however, that Pickens should be credited for bringing more attention to crafting an energy policy.
“‘I think the most salient part is the billions of dollars we send overseas,’ said Schafer, who spoke at a conference sponsored by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center. Pickens spoke there as well.”
Read more here.
Covering the ag beat
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Sean Sposito, a student at the University of Missouri, covered a session Tuesday morning at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers fall conference in Kansas City on agriculture economics and filed this report:
The speakers were Missouri professors Jan Duave and Wyatt Thompson. The pupils: business reporters from publications across the country. They ranged from Diana Henriques, of the New York Times, to 
Chip Floury, of the Iowa-based Pro Farmer Magazine.
The candid conversation started off on a simple, if not expected, topic: agriculture.
Henriques chimed in: “(It’s) the international cultivation of natural products, usable to human beings.”
Said another SABEW member: It’s “the cultivation of land for the purposes of producing food, not just for (people) but also for animals that we in turn kill for (consumption).”Â
Floury, who was one of work shop’s first panelists, perhaps, summed it up best when he answered in one word: “risk.”
So, it’s not surprising that this particular specialty is made even more separate by government policy, said Duave. Unlike the other commodities, products like sugar are heavily regulated.
But, he added that the study is just a lesson in simple economics.
And, Duave left the class with a tip.
“Many people don’t think about imports as what it does to our resources,” he said. “It adds to them.”Â
Webcasts from SABEW fall conference next week will be available
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A live webcast of some of the country’s most influential business leaders offering their perspective and vision on key issues facing our economy will be available to journalists and the general public on Sept. 8-9 through the following link: www.kauffman.org/sabew
The webcast link will be available for 30 days following the event.
The series of presentations are part of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers fall workshop, focused on “Agriculture, Technology and Innovation,” and hosted and sponsored in part by the Kauffman Foundation at its conference center in Kansas City. SABEW’s mission is to encourage comprehensive reporting of economic events without fear or favoritism and to upgrade skills and knowledge through continuous educational efforts.
Among the many noted speakers at the conference, those participating in the webcast are:
– Duncan Niederauer, CEO, NYSE Euronext who, together with Carl Schramm, CEO, Kauffman Foundation, will address entrepreneurship, innovation and the economy;
– T. Boone Pickens, chairman of BP Capital Management, who will discuss his alternative energy plan and forthcoming book, “The First Billion is the Hardest”;
– Ed Schafer, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, who will speak about the biofuel debate;
– Paul Kedrosky, senior fellow, Kauffman Foundation, who will share his perspective of how technology entrepreneurs can succeed in times of stress;
– Bo Fishback, vice president of entrepreneurship, Kauffman Foundation, and Karen Kerrigan, vice president and CEO, Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, who will profile American entrepreneurs and what makes them tick;
– Hugh Grant, CEO of Monsanto, who will speak to the challenges in the food and agricultural industry in a time of rising food prices and rampant seed piracy;
– Joe Hinrichs, vice president of global manufacturing, Ford Motor Co., who will discuss the importance of manufacturing and its relationship to technology development in the U.S.; and
– Sandy Barauh, acting administrator of the Small Business Administration, who will address the SBA’s role in boosting small business in an unfriendly economy.
Read more here.
Ag secretary to speak at fall SABEW conference
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Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer will speak Monday afternoon, Sept. 8 on the debate over “green” fuels at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers annual fall workshop in Kansas City, the organization announced Wednesday.
Schafer joins the previously announced lineup of speakers, including NYSE Euronext CEO Duncan Niederauer, Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant talking about future plans for the ag giant, and Texas energy pioneer T. Boone Pickens.Also at the SABEW Fall Workshop, Sept. 8-9, in Kansas City, attendees will have two chances for a close look at business.
On Monday, at 8:30 a.m., business editors, writers and photographers are invited to tour Ford Motor Company’s Kansas City assembly plant, home of the world’s first hybrid SUV and the first U.S.-built hybrid vehicle.
The Ford Escape Hybrid and Mercury Mariner Hybrid models are built on the same assembly line as are gas models of the SUVs, optimizing the plant’s overall efficiency. Â The plant opened in 1953 and builds the Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner, Mazda Tribute, and Ford F-150. It employs 4,200 hourly and 240 salaried personnel. The tour is limited to the first 40 people who sign up.Â
Please note that plant-appropriate attire is required: flat, closed-toed shoes; long pants (no shorts or skirts); long- or short-sleeved shirts (no halter tops or sleeveless shirts).To attend the Ford tour, meet in the lobby of the Kauffman Conference Center by 8:30 a.m. Busses leave at 8:45 a.m. Attendees will return to the conference by about 11 a.m., in time to hear Ford VP of manufacturing Joe Hinrichs.
On Tuesday, at 9 a.m., you can tour the Kansas City Board of Trade, where wheat futures are traded. The host is longtime commodities reporter Brad Ziger, managing editor of Hard Assets Investor. Meet in the Kansas City room of the conference center at 9 a.m. for a brief talk, then ride to the nearby Kansas City Board of Trade office.
For more information about the fall workshop, and to register, go here.
Conference will focus on investigative business reporting skills
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Top business reporters will share tips, insight and strategies for investigating companies, corporations, government contractors and much more when Investigative Reporters and Editors and the Lorana Sullivan Foundation host a two-day workshop in New York City on Sept. 20-21.
Gain the tools you need to dig into tax scandals, the foreclosure crisis, corporate secrets and many more topics during the Investigative Reporting on Business and Finance Conference, which will also offer training in computer-assisted reporting and researching businesses and corporations. All sessions will take place at Columbia University.Â
Here is a partial list of expected speakers (for updates, go to the Web link below):
David Cay Johnston, author; Walt Bogdanich, The New York Times; Andrew Leckey, director of the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism; Mark Maremont, The Wall Street Journal; Chris Roush, director, Carolina Business News Initiative at UNC-Chapel Hill; Cheryl Phillips, Seattle Times; Margot Williams, The New York Times; Glenn Simpson, The Wall Street Journal; Harvy Lipman, The Record; David Marchant, OffshoreAlert; Robert O’Harrow, The Washington Post; Vikas Bajaj, The New York Times; Michael Gillard, freelance investigative journalist; Gavin MacFadyen, Center for Investigative Journalism; Michelle Leder, Footnoted.org ; Andrew Lehren, The New York Times; Aron Pilhofer, nytimes.com; Maurice Tamman, The Wall Street Journal; and Tim Henderson, The Journal News.
For more information about this training or to register, please visit http://www.ire.org/training/cij/.
Going to China soon? Business journalist? Then read on
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Gregg Fields, the former Miami Herald business journalist who is going to China to teach business journalism at Tsinghua University in Beijing, is looking for business reporters who plan on visiting the country in the next 12 months to come speak to his classes.
“Tsinghua is a very prestigious school and is built on the grounds of a former summer palace of a dynasty long ago,” says Fields. “It’s also within walking distance of the 13 line on the subway system. The business journalism program I’m teaching in is English-language.
“If anyone is coming to China and would be interested, I’m reachable on my AOL account, greggbf@aol.com,” he adds. “I’ll buy a great Chinese lunch or, alternatively, we can go to the Pizza Hut at the food court. (There’s also a Starbucks.)”
Fields leaves for China on Sept. 5, and classes start two weeks later and run until June.
Fields has run the master’s program in business journalism at Florida International University for the past couple of years.
Fields was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow in the 2005-06 academic year at the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University, where he also earned a master’s degree in financial journalism. He also has a master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, where his concentration was public policy economics.
Gabor named Bloomberg professor at Baruch
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Andrea Gabor, a longtime Baruch College journalism professor, has been named the Bloomberg Professor of Business Journalism.
The endowed professorship was established with a gift from Bloomberg LP in 2001. Gabor is the second holder of the chair. Former BusinessWeek and New York Times business journalist Sarah Bartlett, now with CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, was the first.
Gabor is the author of three books, most recently “The Capitalist Philosophers.” A former staff writer and editor at U.S. News & World Report and Business Week, she has written for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian Magazine, The Harvard Business Review, Fortune, Strategy + Business, Treasury and Risk Management, Research Technology Management, Lear’s and Working Woman.
She is also the author of “The Man Who Discovered Quality: How W. Edwards Deming Brought the Quality Revolution to America” and “Einstein’s Wife: Work and Marriage in the Lives of Five Great Twentieth Century Women.”
In addition to teaching at Baruch, Gabor was an adjunct professor for eight years at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, helping teach Critical Issues in International Economics. At Columbia, she remains a judge for applicants to the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship Program in Business and Economics.Â
Her main areas of interest and expertise are biography, management, the workplace and international and local economic issues.Â
Freelancing business journalism
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Marci Alboher, who writes the Shifting Careers blog on the New York Times web site, writes about the freelancing business journalism conference call she participated in last week that was organized by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
Alboher writes, “In the current economy, where increasing numbers of journalists are turning to freelancing both by choice and necessity, this panel was especially relevant. While graduate schools might be focusing on training the next generation of journalists for working in multiple platforms and in a digital environment, what was clear from our panel is that working freelancers also need to develop their entrepreneurial skills.
“The panel covered many of the questions I routinely get from those interested in becoming freelance journalists – how to know when you’re stalking an editor versus appropriately following up, how to use newsletters, Web sites and blogs to make editors aware of your work, and whether to worry about publications stealing your ideas after you pitch them (the short answer is ‘no, unless you are sitting on a blockbuster story’).
“We also touched on issues that would be relevant for veteran journalists, like where to find opportunities in a tight market and in a changing journalistic landscape. (Hint: the publication that just laid you off.)”
Reuters program to help journalists cover Chinese business
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The Reuters Foundation, in collaboration with the Iowa-based Stanley Foundation, is accepting applications from U.S. journalists to participate in an all-expenses-paid journalism training course in Beijing, China from Nov. 10 to Nov. 14.
The program will pair six American journalists with six Chinese journalists in a course designed to help reporters develop international news writing skills for U.S. and Chinese audiences.
Guest speakers, reporting field trips, and classroom training will be an integral part of the course. China’s rise as a global power and connections to the U.S. will be explored with reporting on manufacturing; energy and commodity consumption; a changing Chinese society; and China’s growing political, media, and economic linkages to the world.
The course is aimed at full-time print and broadcast reporters from the United States and China with a minimum of three years experience in journalism.
Economy-class airfare, visa fees, housing accommodations and some meals will be provided.
Participating U.S. journalists will be encouraged to explore connections to China in their local communities and file stories based on the reporting they will conduct in Beijing.
The deadline to apply is Sept. 12. You can apply here.
