Planning Ahead Pays Off for Weekend Sections

Fridays are always busy, what with daily and weekend sections and a column to write. Plus, toss in two hours of project and planning meetings and this Friday was exceptionally long.

But what were the results?

A little planning ahead of time gave us a strong centerpiece on our unemployment report that did more than just report the monthly figures. Instead, we had the numbers -- which were flat like most of the nation -- plus a photo and sidebar that addressed one of the most controversial aspects of the jobs figures: They don't count independent contractors and other self-employed residents. Our photo was of a real estate agent who's not counted in the numbers, but is doing quite well.

A second story to round out a strong Saturday page was about new rules governing appraisers and lenders, who can now be held legally liable for the accuracy of their reports. The new federal rule is intended to eliminate the practice of inflating values in the current volatile market, where homes can sell for well more than the asking price.

The page was rounded out with wire stories on the Google IPO and another record for oil prices.

Meanwhile, the Sunday page had some loose ends that needed attention. The story on a spurt in spending on new medical technology needed some additional numbers and a little tweaking at the top to get to the nut graf a little quicker.

Oh, and there's Monday, too. The story on new packaging soon to arrive on store shelves fits Monday's looking-ahead theme pretty well. It's an interesting report on how premium wineries are betting people will overlook the shabby reputation of boxed wines for the convenience of good supplies of table wine that are ready to drink without the risk of going bad in a matter of days.

In between these duties, I put together my Sunday column, a mix of commentary on the federal and local jobs numbers. Luckily, I had pretty well laid it out on Thursday.

All in all, a very good week. We made major progress on the globalization project, and had some strong local pages to boot. And knowing the project will take a lot of reporting time next week, I've stowed away a couple stories with art. Because on Monday, this starts all over again.

Thanks for this opportunity to share the business section at The Press Democrat with you.

Copyright © 2008 Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism