The hardest thing about business reporting isn’t the what, it’s the why. Journalists need to help their audience see why financial developments matter to them. John Wordock, managing editor for the Marketwatch radio network, says that’s the key task facing…
At a time when many journalists are struggling to find jobs, anchor Rhori Johnston of WTVF in Nashville says folks who already have positions need to work hard to hold on to them. Speaking to a group of 34 broadcast journalists at the…
Learn your way around public records and you’ll find more story ideas than you could ever wish for. And that’s not all. Joe Adams of the Florida Times Union says a records search can turn up personal cell phone numbers,…
When people carp about the quality of local TV news–and they often do–my standard reply is that there’s still great journalism being done out there. You just have to know where to look. The Sigma Delta Chi awards from SPJ…
Tools that most journalists take for granted can pay off for their news organizations on stories big and small. Dave Schultz, assistant editor of the the Bluffton (Indiana) News-Banner, was reminded of that last Thursday when he got an email…
Three local TV stations have won prestigious Peabody Awards for the kind of in-depth reporting many stations no longer seem to value. In an era of budget cuts and layoffs, WWL in New Orleans, KMGH in Denver and KLAS in…
After 41 years at ABC News, Sam Donaldson retired last week. I had the pleasure of competing against him during the 1980s when we both covered the Reagan White House. I shared the CBS News booth with Lesley Stahl and…
Crime reporting is a staple of local news, so it’s important for journalists to provide context for their stories. At the 4th Annual Guggenheim Conference on Crime in Society, dozens of criminal justice reporters, criminologists and representatives of law enforcement…
Most journalists are already getting involved in multimedia storytelling on some level and a majority of them will tell you that time is their biggest enemy. In the daily crush of deadlines, it’s hard to do a great job on…
Josh Hinkle, a reporter at KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, says his ability to speak Spanish got him a plum assignment to cover a local story with national implications. Last May, federal, state and local agents swarmed Agriprocessors Inc. in…
