REYNOLDS BUSINESS JOURNALISM WEEKARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY

JANUARY 2011

Assignments that Build Skills

Goals:

How to teach business journalism in a town of any size

How to get 20-year-olds to care about business

How to demystify business and economicsHow to get beyond basic speech/press

conference storiesHow to have a little fun in class

12 ACEJMC skills and competencies

Business journalism assignments can address many of these!

1. demonstrate an understanding of the history and role of professionals and institutions in shaping communications;

2. demonstrate an understanding of the diversity of peoples and cultures and of the significance and impact of mass communications in a global society;

3. demonstrate an understanding of professional ethical principles and work ethically in pursuit of truth, accuracy, fairness and diversity;

4. think critically, creatively and independently;

5. write correctly and clearly in forms and styles appropriate for the communications professions, audiences and purposes they serve;

6. apply basic numerical and statistical concepts;

1. History and role of professions

Magazine Tracking Assign each student a different publication to follow

for the term In addition to content, have students report on

ownership, audited circulation, online strategies, internship possibilities

Require oral presentation, one-page fact sheet and “memo to an executive”

Arrange presentations chronologically, beginning with “The Economist”

Variations

Have class complete market analysis after presentations Propose a NEW business magazine to fill an unfilled

niche Which magazine will be next to fold?

Substitute business television shows Include Wall Street Week (Rukeyser), even though it’s

no longer on Have students show representative segments

This term: Economists’ blogs Will have class keep a blog too

Skills learned

Media historyMedia economicsBusiness communication skillsOral presentation skills

2. Diversity and global society

“Working” assignment Discuss Studs Terkel’s 1974 book:

Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do.

Play excerpts from interviews with him Ask each student to identify a person outside of the

university orbit to interview about how he or she feels about work

Record interview Turn in unedited AND edited transcript Discuss in class – have each read an excerpt

Post their transcripts: W&L web site

Resources for “Working”

NPR story about Terkel’s tapes http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?

storyId=3892055 Terkel Interview

http://www.studsterkel.org/index.html New York Times “American Album”

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/us/album_index.html Marketplace

“Working in a Global Economy” http://marketplace.publicradio.org/segments/working/

“Day in a Worklife” http://marketplace.publicradio.org/collections/

coll_display.php?coll_id=20013

Variations

Encourage video interviewsRequire photos of interview subjectsAllow students to work in pairsPut more limitations on choices to drive home

particular learning objectives: Hourly workers Racial diversity Manufacturing jobs Older workers Laid off workers

Skills learned

Interviewing techniquesOral history techniquesListening skillsGets students outside of comfort zonesGrass roots perspective on business

community

Tips

Assignment is deceptively simpleBe explicit about grading criteria

Selection of interview subject Ability to draw person out on the topic Skill at editing the transcript

Ask students to come up with story ideas from the interviews

3. Professional ethics

Plan One Give students names of business journalists to research, e.g.:

R. Foster Winans Lou Dobbs Dan Dorfman Chris Nolan (San Jose Mercury-News) Chiquita stories, Cincinnati Enquirer

Give an oral and/or written report that: Describes fully the circumstances that led to the ethical dilemma

and what the person did. Describes what happened to the journalist as an immediate result

of his actions. Describes what the key ethical principles were in this case and

whether you agree with how it was handled. Updates us on where the person is now. Discusses the implications (if any) this case has for business

journalists today.

Professional Ethics

Plan Two Distribute SABEW ethics code Develop real-life ethical scenarios and pose them to

individual students or teams Examples:

Flowers from a source Dating a source Acting on a stock tip Who pays for lunch Free airplane trip/tickets/samples Acting early on information in your publication’s ads Investing in stocks of local companies, sector funds, etc.

Professional Ethics

Plan Three Role of the financial press in the economic cycle “Can press cause a recession?”

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2004/el2004-29.html

“Media Matters,” Sept. 25, 2001 (PBS) “Dot Con”

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dotcon/

4. Think critically

Enron Have students watch DVD of “Enron: Smartest Guys

in the Room” (or, heaven for bid, read the book!) Write essay arguing a point of view:

Focus on transgressions of one “culprit” Was this a “perfect storm?” Compare/contrast with Fall 2008 meltdown Role of the press

Devote a class to discussion

Other meaty movies

“The Insider” Role of a watchdog Can link to discussion of “whistleblowers” as sources

“Wall Street” and “Wall Street II” First one is dated, but a classic Debate “greed is good” and business ethics Changes in technology and the role of the press

Several lists of “Top 10 business movies”Keep your eye out for current ones

Other meaty books

“The Travels of a T-shirt in a Global Economy,” Pietra Rivoli Good introduction to globalization and trade Aimed at college students

“Nickeled and Dimed,” Barbara Ehrenreich Good insights into issues of wages, benefits, Wal-Mart

“The World is Flat,” Thomas Friedman Be sure to highlight outsourcing of journalism jobs to

India

“The Selling of the American Dream, Micheline Maynard

5. Write clearly and professionally

Final journalistic story Major story on a public company with ties to your

community Expect students to use all skills covered during the term Teach the process Describe assignment early in term Require story pitches and likely source list Require a story conference with you Ask for a second, more developed story proposal First draft – graded! Peer editing of drafts Final draft

Variations

Spend a class or two on story organizationDevote a class to students’ oral descriptions

of story focus and reporting obstacles Have entire class do final story on the same

company: Collaborators on key interviews Competitors on final stories Grade on originality of angle

Topics from 2008-2010

Ruby Tuesday: rebrandingMead/Westvaco: union issuesRetailers

Wal-Mart, Peebles, Dollar Tree, Lowes, Kroger, Food Lion

Distribution: Target, JCrew Blockbuster, GameStop, RedBox

Advance Auto Parts: growth strategyBontex: purchase by Taiwanese companyNtelos (small regional telcom)

6. Apply numerical concepts

Deadline earnings exercise Go to Yahoo Finance calendar for earnings or

conference calls http://biz.yahoo.com/cc/

Pick a company you’ve heard of that is releasing earnings at a convenient time AND having a conference call

Give students the company’s press release Require a cogent story in 55 minutes that includes

comment from the CEO’s conference call

Variations

Play conference call in classLet students do exercise as a take-homeGive them a choice of companiesHave deadline competition for Blackberry

“alert”Note: A controlled earnings exercise in

advance in advisable

7. Other assignments

a) SEC Scavenger huntb) Retail round-upc) Humanizing an economic indicatord) Profile of Fed chairmane) Closet survey

a) SEC Scavenger Hunt

Pick a company of local interestGo through SEC filings from last 2 years (or

more!) and look for small nuggets of information

Craft 20 or so questions to which they must find answers

Require citations of document number and date

Discuss in class

Key skills

Comfort getting around sec.govAppreciation for value of primary sourcesBetter understanding of the purpose of

various filingsUnderscores the value of public documents to

locate incidental information – e.g. a board member’s age, who a company views as its competitors, which other boards an executive serves on – and, of course, executive compensation

b) Retail round-up

Divide local retail community into categories, e.g. Toys, specialty clothing, discount stores, electronics

Assign or let students pick a store from each categoryAsk them to interview the store manager and file a

150-word feed about the store’s holiday outlook (or sales)

Put feeds in a common electronic folderAdd recent press releases from trade groups,

statistics from the Commerce Department, etc.Give students 55 minutes (or more or less) to write a

local retail outlook story

Variations

Can be done before or after Thanksgiving – or post-Christmas

Make part of the grade the quality of the student’s feed

Show students examples of retail roundups in advance

Offer best stories to the local media

c) Economic indicators

Select key economic indicators and assign one to each class member (or let them draw)

Ask each to prepare a fact sheet or memo about the indicator, including: What it measures Who measures it – and how How often it is released Any controversies about the measurement Is it leading, lagging or coincident?

Ones to include: Retail sales, durable goods, consumer price index, GDP

(though not technically an indicator), unemployment Sources: Economic Indicator Calendars

http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/national_economy/nationalecon_cal.html

Economic indicators, part two

After class presentations about indicators, ask each student to write a story humanizing and localizing an indicator

Doesn’t need to be the one they reported onGood ones to use: retail, housing starts,

unemployment

Variations

Begin with general discussion of indicators Include fun ones:

Lipstick http://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lipstickindicator.asp

Hemlines http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2006/04/

short_or_short_.html Superbowl Starbucks

Have class brainstorm a local or campus economic indicator

d) Profile of Fed chairman

Combines writing exercise and research on Fed’s mission and history

Can frame profile as: Advance obit “Resignation/retirement story” Changing of the guard

Tip: Tell students to be careful where they print out their stories!

e) Closet survey

A little, ungraded assignmentEngaging way to begin discussion of trade

and globalizationAsk each to examine12 clothing labels and

write down the country of originIn class, go around the room and keep a tally

on the blackboard of how many items were made on each country/continent

Discuss implicationsVariation: Ask each student to wear to class

that day something made in the USA

Final thoughts

Mix it upBefriend professors in economics,

accounting, business, lawKeep topics freshTeach from the headlinesHave class pools or “consensus estimates”

Where Dow will end the day What unemployment rate will be next month GDP estimate Reward winner with chocolate

Sustain YOUR interest; theirs will follow!