Journalism 371
Reporting on Business
Prof. Pam Luecke
Reid Hall, Room 117
Office phone: 458-8435
Home phone: 463-7860
e-mail address: lueckep@wlu.edu
Class time: Monday, Wednesday, Friday,
Reid Hall, Room 215
Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday,
The goal of this course is to give you an introduction to business journalism and to acquaint you with the opportunities and issues in this growing field. This fall’s course will focus primarily on covering companies, the people who work for them and the consumers of their goods and services. A second business journalism course, offered in the winter, will focus more on writing about the economy, finance and the stock market. Students in the business journalism sequence will be required to take both courses. Other students may take both or either one by itself. (The courses may be taken in either order.)
J371 will emphasize not only the writing of clear business news stories, but also the identification of compelling enterprise and trend stories. You will also learn to find and evaluate business sources. By the end of this semester, you should be able to handle with ease a deadline story on a company’s earnings, merger or layoffs as well as an in-depth company profile. You should also have a solid understanding of how to develop a business beat.
This course does not presuppose knowledge of business, but assignments will be adjusted for students who have already had accounting and/or economics. While the course would be good preparation for anyone thinking of a career as a business journalist, it would also be valuable for someone planning to work on a metro, sports or features desk. As we will discover during the semester, nearly every beat can have a business dimension.
The main text for the course is “Writing About Business, The New Columbia Knight-Bagehot Guide to Economics & Business Journalism” (referred to below as “Bagehot”). You should also buy the Wall Street Journal’s “Guide to Understanding Money and Investing.” You will also be encouraged to examine “Bottom Line Writing” (Fink) by Conrad C. Fink, on reserve in the Reid Hall reading room. In addition, writing samples from “The Best Business Stories of the Year – 2003” will be occasionally assigned. And, we will read “24 Days,” a brand-new book by Rebecca Smith and John R. Emshwiller, the two Wall Street Journal reporters who broke the Enron story. (This was not ordered in advance as a text, so either check it out of the library or order it from your favorite bookstore.)
To reinforce the habit of keeping up with business news, you will be required to read the Wall Street Journal each day. You will also be expected to peruse several business publications each week, to watch business news shows on television, listen to business news on radio and become familiar with online business news sites and online business resources. In short, at least for this term you should become a business-news junkie. To underscore these habits, I will give occasional current events quizzes on business news and events; these will be counted toward your final grade.
There will be a midterm exam and a final written project of
at least 1,500 words. You will write at least five other news stories during
the term and have a number of other written assignments. Expect at least one
field trip, to the Lees Carpets plant in
A few ground rules:
All assignments must be turned in on time. Late assignments will be graded, but will receive a 0.
Accuracy is essential. Your assignment will receive an F if you misspell the name of a person or company, get a key fact wrong or exhibit faulty math.
Your course grade will be determined in this way:
Midterm: 20 percent
Final project: 25 percent
Other stories: 20 percent
Other assignments: 20 percent
Professionalism and class participation: 10 percent
Current events quizzes: 5 percent
If you wish, you may resubmit a story assignment to incorporate suggestions from me and receive a second grade on the assignment. Both grades will be counted. The deadline for resubmitted assignments will be one week after the first story is returned to you.
The following class schedule might be adjusted to accommodate outside speakers’ schedules or take advantage of opportunities presented by campus visitors or breaking business news.
1) Friday, Sept. 12 – Course overview: The dynamic field of financial journalism
For next class:
Read Introduction and Chapter 11 in Bagehot book; CJR handout.
(Also recommended: Fink, Chapter 1)
Assignment: 500-word story on Lees Carpets (due Wednesday)
Look at: lexrockchamber.com
2) Monday, Sept. 15 – Sizing up a business community
For next class:
Read: Bagehot chapters 22 and 23
Assignment: research on economy of
Look at: virginiabusiness.com and roanokebiz.com;
http://www.leescarpets.com/
3) Wednesday, Sept. 17 – Reporting on publicly owned companies: SEC documents, federal and state regulation
For next class:
Read: Bagehot chapters 3, 24
Assignment: research using SEC documents
Look at: freedgar.com, sec.gov, secinfo.com
4) Friday, Sept. 19 – SEC and other government sources, continued
For next class:
Read: Bagehot chapters 25 & 26; read “Corporate Veil” in Best Business Stories
Look at: yahoo.com (finance); hoovers.com; state.va.us/scc/division.htm
5) Monday, Sept. 22 – Financial reports; writing about numbers
For next class:
Read: Bagehot chapters 9, 10, 21; WSJ Guide, pages 58-59
Look at: earningswire.com; businesswire.com; multex.com
6) Wednesday, Sept. 24 – Financial reports, cont’d
For next class:
Read: “How to Read an Annual Report” (handout); (Fink, 136-150)
Look at: fool.com and quicken.com
7) Friday, Sept. 26 – Financial reports, cont’d; industry analysis and ratios
For next class:
Assignment: earnings story
Read: Fink, chapter 3; Handouts on earnings, financial reporting; security analysts; “My Pro Forma Life,” by Rob Walker, in Best Business Stories.
Look at: nasd.com; fdfn.com
8) Monday, Sept. 29 – Financial reports, cont’d
For next class:
Read: Handouts on accounting profession; Nieman, pages 8-9
Assignment: Research on accounting regulation
9) Wednesday - Friday, Oct. 1 -3 – SNPA business-writing conference in
For next class:
Read: Handouts on bankruptcy
Look at: abiworld.com; dotcomdoom.com; vawb.uscourts.gov;
findlaw.com/legalnews/lit
10) Monday, Oct. 6 – Bankruptcy
For next class:
Bankruptcy research assignment; read “Yes, We Have No Profits,” by Nicholas Stein, Best Business Stories and “Turning Red Ink Into Gold,” by Rob Kaiser
11) Wednesday, Oct. 8 – Bankruptcy, cont’d
For next class:
Read: “24 Days,” Part One (to page 103)
12) Friday, Oct. 10 – Discuss “24 Hours,” Part One
For next class:
Read: Handouts on boards of directors
Look at: thecorporatelibrary.com; conference-board.org and catalystwomen.org
No class Oct. 13 & 15 - Midterm
Break
13) Monday, Oct. 20 – Executive compensation, options, insider trading
For next class:
Read: Handouts on executive compensation
Look at: wmmercer.com; execpay.com; salary.com; worldatwork.com
14) Wednesday, Oct. 22 – The view from the corporate communications office
For next class:
Read: Bagehot chapters 27, 28
Assignment: Deconstruct interview of a business executive
15) Friday, Oct. 24 – Interviewing CEOs
For next class:
Look at: aflcio.org/paywatch; nlrb.gov; dol.gov and bls.gov
Read: NNC 16 and Bagehot 40; Handouts on labor
(Fink: pages 127-132)
16) Monday, Oct. 27 — Labor, workplace
Due: CEO compensation story
For next class:
Read: Handouts on whistleblowers
Look at: whistleblowers.org
For next Monday: Story on workplace or labor issue
17) Wednesday, Oct. 29 – Whistleblowers
Due:
Fleshed out final project idea, with proposed source list
For next class:
Watch movie, “The Insider”
18) Friday, Oct. 31 – Discuss “The Insider”
For next class: Read “24 Hours,” Parts Two and Three
19) Monday, Nov. 3 – Discuss “24 Hours,” Parts Two and Three
Due:
Story on local labor or workplace issue
For next class:
Read: Handouts on mergers and acquisitions
Look at: mareport.com/
20) Wednesday, Nov. 5 – Mergers and Acquisitions
For next class:
Read: Bagehot 41 and NNC 15
Look at: consumersunion.org; consumerreports.org; cpsc.gov
21) Friday, Nov. 7 – Consumers
For next class:
Read: Bagehot 38; “Would You Pay $2 million for this Franchise,” in Best Business Stories
22) Monday, Nov. 10 – Retailing
23) Wednesday, Nov. 12 – Prep for Lees Carpet tour
Friday, Nov. 14 – No
class
24) Monday, Nov. 17 – Debrief
Due: Lees
Carpet story
For next class:
Read: Bagehot 31; SABEW code of ethics
(Fink, Chapter 9)
Look at: poynter.org
25) Wednesday, Nov. 19 – Business journalists and ethics
For next class:
Prepare ethics case studies
26) Friday, Nov. 21 -- Ethics, continued
For next class:
Read Fink, chapter 5
Thanksgiving break
27) Monday, Dec. 1 -- Writing issue and trend stories
Read: “This Little Slinky Goes to Market,” by Neil Irwin
28) Wednesday, Dec. 3 – Writing, continued
Due:
Outline of your final project
29) Friday, Dec. 5 – Illustrating business stories
For next class: Finish “24 Days.”
30) Monday, Dec. 8 – Discuss “24 Days,” Parts Four and Five
31) Wednesday, Dec. 10 – Writing, revision
32) Friday, Dec. 12 -- Putting it all together
Final story due: