Intrigue Leads to Success
at Three “Outlying” Reynolds Center Business Journalism Workshop Locations
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When Andrew Leckey, director of the Reynolds Center, asked me late last fall if I wanted to be involved in the first round of workshops focusing on "High-Intensity Business Coverage," I was intrigued. I had met with Andrew last summer to help him develop the themes and materials for the first round, and had happily attended pilot workshops in Harrisburg, Pa., and Minneapolis. I've long been a supporter of business journalism education and enjoy passing on my hard-earned business journalism knowledge gleaned as both a reporter and then editor in a half-dozen newsrooms.
But I remain, after all, a nosy journalist (aren't we all?), so I had the typical journalistic reaction: What, When and, most importantly, Where?? Andrew sent me a list of the sites, and three immediately called out to me:
Honolulu (in February!), San Juan (in early March!) and Anchorage (okay, in mid-April, but I consulted a weather Web site, and found it would be light late – not quite the midnight sun, but close enough). I was sold, especially as the weather in Washington was getting nippier and the sun, often tough to be found.
I made absolutely the right choices, but not just because all three were beautiful tourist spots. The journalists in what we came to refer to as "outlying areas" were particularly gracious hosts and especially hungry for as much relevant advice on business journalism as we could provide. As they repeatedly told us, they are isolated geographically and don't have many opportunities to attend sessions on business journalism.
They were thrilled that WE were coming to THEM. The sessions were quite interactive, lively and full of pointed questions. And after the session in Hawaii – where many of the questions focused on tourism – I tailored the "Business in Other Beats" presentation to focus on how to cover tourism. As a former business editor at The Orlando Sentinel, I had picked up a few tips on the way on that score, and was eager to pass them along. Also, there were more questions than I anticipated on how Washington policymakers affect businesses in their areas – and again, I was happy to pass along knowledge gained as an editor at both The Washington Post and, currently, Congressional Quarterly.
Here are a few impressions from each of the sessions:
In the afternoon, things got lively when we started discussing the challenges of covering tourism – especially in a place like Hawaii, where the big hotel chains, resorts, most airlines and other tourism businesses are based elsewhere and there's a four- to five-hour (depending on Daylight Savings Time) time difference from the East Coast. Also, tourism companies are so used to promoting themselves that they often view reporters as just another venue for spreading their puffery. We exchanged ideas – many of the reporters offered their own good advice once things got going – for getting around the tourism PR machine, and seeking hard data (sometimes publicly filed reports as required) on how tourism businesses are actually performing. We also discussed ways to get experts and analysts on the phone from so far away. I reminded them that they can also be sources for those same faraway experts, as they are close to the ground and can tell them what is being reported in the Hawaiian press on these issues.
There were plenty of hard-boiled print business journalists with loads of experience, with some students, broadcast folks and Webcasters thrown in. It was a lively bunch, with my co-presenter Merrill Goozner and myself being grilled on how to cover the satellite plants of pharmaceutical companies and high-tech firms that are increasingly locating in Puerto Rico. Tourism was also a big topic of discussion, as was covering taxation issues, given Puerto Rico's unique status as a non-state. Though we had worried that language might be a barrier (as Merrill and I both have rather wobbly Spanish skills), it wasn't, as nearly all of the journalists comfortably switch between Spanish and English. Their only disappointment was that we weren't going to be offering more sessions there right away!!
As such, we had about 30 attendees, with a wide variety of backgrounds: biz reporters for dailies and business weeklies; radio reporters (the state has a rich tradition of excellence in public radio) who sometimes do business; journalism students and some of their instructors. Although we focused on the financials, coverage of private companies, ethics and improving coverage, as we did in the other workshops, this session had a definite Alaskan focus, exploring ways to improve coverage of tourism, environmental business (oil and gas, and the effects of business on the environment) and the largess from Washington to Alaska from the powerful role held by home state Sen. Ted Stevens as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. (When one gets off the plane at the Anchorage airport and heads to baggage claim, you're immediately reminded of how good Stevens has been to Alaska – the airport is named for him!). Not only was this a lively and rewarding session, but I also got the added bonus of attending the awards banquet held by the Alaska Press Club at the conclusion of J-week. Many of those in the business session were award winners, not only in the business category, but also in several others as well. And they told me that next year, they expect to do even better, given what they gleaned in their high-intensity seminar.