Tag Archives: SABEW
Biz journalism freelancers seeing more pay
by Chris Roush
Nearly two-thirds of freelance business journalists who responded to an informal online poll said that their compensation has risen in the past 12 months.
That’s up from a year ago, when it was nearly half of the freelancers surveyed stating that they had seen a compensation increase, according to the survey conducted by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
“After five years in business, I think I’ve figured out the right mix of clients to allow me to do the projects I love and maintain a steady income,” said one freelancer surveyed. “I’ve weeded out some unprofitable clients and focused more on those who appreciate my work and have the ability to pay me a fair rate — on time.”
Other freelancers said they raised rates, found additional clients, or received more work from existing clients in the past year.
The survey received 45 responses during the past 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 Communication, conducts the survey annually.
“These results clearly show that freelance business journalists are in more demand now than ever before,” said Jill Jorden Spitz, president of SABEW and assistant managing editor at the Arizona Daily Star. “More business publications are using freelancers to fill the increasing need for content.”
More than half of the freelance business journalists who responded have been working for themselves for more than 10 years, and five of them, or 11.1 percent, report making more than $100,000 annually. Nearly 90 percent of them worked full time before becoming a freelancer.
The survey found that the average freelance business journalist made between $30,000 and $35,000, in line with the survey’s results from 2011. While ten said they made less than $20,000 a year, another 11 said they made more than $60,000. Three-fourths said they make less than when they were a journalist working for a media organization.
Of those who stated they make more freelancing than working for a media organization on a full-time basis, sixty percent said that they are making more than 50 percent more.
Read more here.
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.
SABEW adds small biz coverage to Best in Business contest
by Chris Roush
The Society of American Business Editors and Writers‘ 18th annual Best in Business competition will include coverage of Small Business for the first time.
The competition opens for entries on Monday, Dec. 3.
Also new this year: Technology; and Innovation, a division that will recognize creative and bold initiatives across all facets of business journalism, from exciting new apps to interesting storytelling experiments. This replaces Creative Use of Multiple Platforms. Blogs are merging with Opinion/Column to become Commentary.
The full contest rules will be released Friday, Nov. 9.
Reporting on small business and entrepreneurship from any source is at the core of the new Small Business division.
The division is format- and platform- agnostic. Entries will be judged against each other. Judges will weigh the missions and sizes of entrants.
An entry will consist of up to five pieces of work, including side elements such as videos and graphics. A one-page letter of explanation may be included.
SABEW accepting applications for business of health care seminar
by Chris Roush
Applications from journalists are now being accepted for a two-day fellowship program on the business aspects of health care.
The Commonwealth Fund awarded a grant to the Society of American Business Editors and Writers to develop a two-day symposium in New York City.
The session, which will be limited to 14 journalists selected through an application process, will be held Jan. 17-18 at Reuters headquarters at 3 Times Square, New York City.
The application deadline is Nov. 19 at 5 p.m. Eastern time.
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 will be working with us again to help educate reporters and editors in the complexities of the topic,” said Warren Watson, the SABEW executive director who is developing the training program.
The symposium will be geared to expert reporters from media companies nationwide. Participants will be selected by SABEW and an advisory committee, and be given fellowships that cover travel, hotel and other costs for the New York program.
Journalists hoping to attend the two-day seminar should apply by sending a letter of interest and a resume to Watson, SABEW, Suite 416, Cronkite School, 555 North Central, Phoenix, Ariz. 85004. In the letter, applicants should explain their background and interest in the topic and benefits they believe they would derive from participation.
Topic areas expected to be included: Affordable Care Act implementation, state-based healthcare exchanges, Medicare reform, Medicaid, healthcare payment innovation and reform, healthcare data, healthcare bundling and business insurance plans for employees.
SABEW to raise membership rates
by Chris Roush
The Society of American Business Editors and Writers announced Monday that it has approved higher rates for its members, effective Jan. 1, 2013.
Individual memberships will go from $55 to $60.
Other rate changes are:
- Institutions with 1-5 members will increase from $105 to $110
- Institutions with 6-10 members will increase from $165 to $170.
- Institutions with 11-15 members will increase from $225 to $235.
- Institutions with 16-20 members will increase from $285 to $300.
- Institutions with 21-25 members will increase from $345 to $360.
- The additional person rate will go from $13.50 to $15.00
Members who renew for 2013 can pay the current renewal price if they renew before Dec. 31, 2012.
SABEW Best in Business contest to open Dec. 3
by Chris Roush
The Society of American Business Editors and Writers‘ 18th annual Best in Business competition opens for entries on Monday, Dec. 3, with two new categories, Small Business and Technology.
Also new this year: Innovation, a category that will recognize creative and bold initiatives across all facets of business journalism, from exciting new apps to interesting storytelling experiments. This replaces Creative Use of Multiple Platforms. Blogs are merging with Opinion/Column to become Commentary.
More details will follow soon when full contest rules are released.
Only SABEW members in good standing can enter. Members submitted a record 1,030 entries last year, up from 796 entries in 2009. Winners will be recognized at the spring Washington D.C. conference April 4-6, which will mark SABEW’s 50th birthday.
For the second year in a row, the contest will open for early birds in December, at reduced prices. “Starting early really helps members get a jump on the contest crunch,” said contest co-chair Lisa Gibbs, a writer for Money Magazine.
Read more here.
Heaster, former KC Star biz editor, dies
by Chris Roush
Jerry Heaster, a former business editor of the Kansas City Star and former president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, died on Wednesday.
Diane Stafford of the Star writes, “‘We have lost a great journalist and a wonderful friend,’ said Steve Shirk, managing editor of The Star. ‘He loved his dialogue with readers and never let them down. His 5,000 columns are proof of that.’
“A staunch believer in the free market, Heaster won legions of fans, as well as critics, for his conservative columns. Heaster himself disdained the label, saying that was far too simplistic.
“Friends and family knew him as a good-humored, gracious and decent man who bootstrapped himself up from a hardscrabble West Virginia background. The Wall Street Journal was his daily bible, and he carefully clipped and kept a library of articles, including his own work, as reference for his prodigious output.
“Heaster retired from The Star in 2006 when effects related to non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma made it too difficult to continue working. Eighteen months ago, he also was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.”
Read more here.
Tatge joins SABEW board
by Chris Roush
Mark Tatge, Eugene S. Pulliam Distinguished Visiting Professor of Journalism at DePauw University, has been named to the Board of Governors of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
An association of business journalists, SABEW was formed in 1964 to promote superior coverage of business and economic events and issues. Tatge came to DePauw in the Fall of 2011. His long career in journalism includes stints as Midwest bureau chief for Forbes magazine, as an investigative reporter at the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s statehouse bureau, and positions with the Wall Street Journal, Dallas Morning News and Denver Post.
Tatge has written extensively about corporate misdeeds, starting with his coverage of the savings and loan scandal in Colorado during the 1980s. In recognition of his journalistic achievements, Tatge has received the Peter Lisagor Award for Exemplary Journalism, the Society of Professional Journalists’ First Amendment Award, the Morton Margolin Prize for Distinguished Business Reporting, and he was honored as the best business writer in Texas by the Associated Press.
He authored the New York Times Reader: Business and Economics and is quoted in newss stories on journalism issues and media matters.
Read more here.
SABEW seeks freelance biz journalist salary info
by Chris Roush
The Society of American Business Editors and Writers is conducting an anonymous survey of freelance business journalists throughout the country to determine their pay and the type of work they perform.
The results of the survey will be made available to all SABEW members by the end of the year on its site, and the data will be updated annually to determine whether pay for freelancers and the work they perform is changing.
To do that, we need the help of freelancers. Please go to the link at the end of this message and click on it. Answering the questions will take less than a minute, but will provide valuable data for freelancer business journalists such as yourselves.
“Freelancers are a fast-growing part of SABEW’s membership and an increasingly important part of the business news media — in fact, a freelancer (David Milstead of Denver) just joined SABEW’s executive ladder,” said Jill Jorden Spitz, SABEW’s president and assistant managing editor of business at the Arizona Daily Star.
“This data helps freelance business journalists determine what is happening in the industry, and it helps SABEW look at developing potential services for our freelance members.”
The survey results will be analyzed by SABEW’s research director, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill journalism professor Chris Roush, and will be broken out among geographic areas in the country, as well as by position, by length of time freelancing, and by experience.
The survey can be found at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PDC5YLM.
Dow Jones CEO Fenwick bullish on journalism
by Liz Hester
Lex Fenwick, chief executive officer of Dow Jones & Co., opened the full day of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers conference in New York with comments about the importance of investing in quality journalism and content delivery systems.
Fenwick, who spent more than two decades at Bloomberg LP, took his role atop the parent company of the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires in February and talked broadly about the digital strategy.
“Absolutely there’s demand for quality journalism and content,” Fenwick said. “We think it (digital) is one of the greatest opportunities afforded to us. We can now get our content to anyone in the world effectively free of delivery charge.”
Lisa Gibbs, senior writer for Money Magazine, interviewed Fenwick and asked about the differences between Dow Jones and Bloomberg. While praising Bloomberg’s corporate culture of making people “feel as if you’re a part of a family,” Fenwick pointed out the two firms were more different than alike despite being in the financial news business. He mentioned Bloomberg was founded as a data and analytics company with news coming later, while Dow had a 150-year history of covering the markets.
He did, however, say he was working to bring some of the customer service aspects of Bloomberg to Dow Jones. In November, the company is planning to launch a help service via online chat. Fenwick is also planning to invest heavily in content and delivering the news in many different languages, reaching a much wider audience.
Other investments he mentioned were a proprietary distribution system to get out Dow Jones Newswires content. Right now, they use Reuters and Bloomberg terminals as well as The Wall Street Journal web site. Fenwick also said Dow was working to build a portfolio monitoring system tied to the content on their sites. People would be able to enter passwords from their brokerage accounts instead of uploading each holding. Dow Jones would then show real-time data as well as news to match the portfolio.
“We can bring this service and content to people in the lanaguage they speak, I think we can drive readership and build a customer base,” Fenwick said.
He mentioned that those with portfolios were more often affluent, something advertisers love.
