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Media and Journalism ModuleBusiness and Economics For Reporters

13. The challenges of specialised reporting beats part 2

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This week’s lesson

• Last week ways to report the beats of:• markets• real estate• merchandising/retail• banking and finance

• This week the challenges involved in reporting:• Technology• Health Care• Labour and Industrial Relations• Tourism and hospitality• Transportation• Agriculture• Manufacturing• Business and government• Consumer issues

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Technology issues

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Technology

• Technology affects every business everywhere

• Local entrepreneurs often affected directly by changes and trends

• Writing about technology innovations and trends in various industries:• E.g. agriculture, manufacturing, retail, real estate and tourism

• require more than surface knowledge about the industry

• require good sources and connections in each industry

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Technology

• Key questions that can apply to the technology beat:• Describe precisely the difference between the new way of doing business and the old way.

• What are the costs of making such a change? • What are the benefits? • How long will it take to recoup the expenses?• Is special training needed for employees to make the change?

• What are the competitive advantages/disadvantages of the technology change?

• What impact will the change have on the consumer or user of the company’s products or services?

• Find a local slant on technology issues

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Health care

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Health issues

• Many journalists think health care and medicine are social issues

• Considerable sums spent on health care:• Governments• private enterprise• individuals

• The price of health care is of concern to virtually everyone

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Health issues

• Health care is a business • Hospitals, clinics, doctors, nurses, pharmacies, drug and

medical equipment manufacturers and health insurance companies - subjects for business reporting• A story that most media outlets are covering from a medical

or political or sociological point of view could have a strong business and economic angle

• AIDS treatment is a good example. • Which hospitals, clinics, doctors or drugstores are getting a significant portion of their income from treating AIDS patients?

• Is this profitable or does the expense of treatment make it a loser financially?

• Has the cost of AIDS treatment or related issues prompted any facilities to drop patients?

• Area where reporters who keep abreast of national and international trends through reading can localize a national or international story

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Labour and industrial relations

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Labor and industrial relations

• Business reporters track changes in the labour market:• types of jobs• wages and changes in the local area

• Good contacts:• local union leaders• others knowledgeable about worker issues and problems

• owners and top executives help get both sides of stories

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Labor and industrial relations

• Look for the local impact of a national or international phenomenon or trend• For example, the topic of outsourcing:

• How does it affect local businesses? • Even if they are not outsourcing, is it affecting the prices they pay for products or services or their competitive position?

• Local workers may have interesting issues and stories to tell

• Any new business or expansion –or bankruptcy –involves labour issues that should be part of the story

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Tourism and hospitality

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Tourism and hospitality

• Important role of tourism in many region countries identified• attracting paying visitors can have a big payoff•attracting revenue•creating jobs •producing taxes

• Business reporters must look critically at such efforts

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Tourism and hospitality

• Among questions that should be asked:• How much is the country/state/region spending to promote itself?

• Where and how is the money being spent? • What ad and marketing campaigns are being promoted?

• Is the infrastructure sufficient to support the goals for tourism? • First-hand observation is essential• Official descriptions often unrealistically optimistic and glowing• Often extremely contentious• may reveal clashes with traditional land use and indigenous residents

• How many tourists does the area aim to attract? • How does this compare with previous years? • How does it compare with regions or countries that offer similar attractions?

• What do local business people think of the effort? • Interview hoteliers, restaurateurs, local retail vendors.

• Do travel agencies’ experiences verify the statistics and goals of the state?• Travel agents excellent sources of reliable, practical information • Important to contact several agents to get an overview

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Transportation

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Transportation

• Look beyond the easy issues which are:• Freight • Bus and taxi regulation and operation• Air travel issues• Road tests for vehicles• Shipping news

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Transportation

• Consider how you can make the news fresh with related issues of:• Transport infrastructure:

• are there important issues concerning the logistics • Consider changes in transport regulations:

• who is affected• what changes will it mean for the local area• For example, does a new environmental regulation adversely affect a freight company?

• Look beyond issues like fuel prices or increases in rubber price to the potential impacts on transport operators and follow on impacts to related industries:• For example, an increase in fuel costs may impact the transport of a product vital to an area’s economy

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Break

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Agriculture

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Agriculture

• Standard issues that you should report about:• Stock and produce prices• The impact of occurrences such as fire, flood, cyclone, etc

• Farm bankruptcies and liquidations• Farm safety• Profiles on successful agricultural enterprises

• Emerging issues of great interest: • Is there a new industry in your local area?• What makes it special? • What conditions are necessary for it to succeed? • Where are the markets for its products? • Is there opportunity for growth and employment of new labour?

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Agriculture

• Technology developments:• What new practices are being used?• Are there feed developments, innovations in processes, equipment, etc

• Environmental considerations:• Is organic farming of interest in your area?• Are there concerns with pesticide use?• Is there a dispute about the type of land use in an area?

• Is agricultural land being over-developed? • etc.

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Special note - Public health emergencies

• In the agricultural beat enormous potential for interesting reporting in relation to public health emergencies that involve food and agriculture

• Many examples - cyclone in the Solomon Islands can cause widespread devastation and follow on effects to other countries and economies

• Agricultural journalists bring unique credentials to covering public health emergencies: • understand the complex food enterprise• can help put a crisis within larger, useful perspective• familiar with the scientific and technological concepts

involved in health emergencies• have information contacts that may be especially valuable

during a crisis• have special know-how to provide leadership in creating or

adapting emergency channels for communicating with various audiences when crises disrupt traditional channels

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Special note - Public health emergencies

• Agricultural journalists face some special questions and challenges in covering public health emergencies:• what posture will they take in relating a crisis to the

various interests it touches (for example, the general public, producers, agricultural marketers, food industry, public agencies and agricultural research organisations?) • Will the agricultural journalists be advocates for specific sectors?

• General critics or defenders? • Neutral observers, honest brokers? • Focused mainly on human interest aspects? • Investigative?

• Specialist journalists often the feel the weight and discomfort of expectations around them• How can agricultural journalists avoid stepping on the toes of readers/listeners/viewers, commodity and producer groups and marketer/advertisers who expect supportive coverage during a crisis?

• In getting at the heart of public emergencies, how can agricultural journalists avoid offending what may be a limited number of valued information sources: agricultural scientists, government officials, leaders and others?

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Special note - Public health emergencies

• In the face of possible crises related to food and agriculture, should the agricultural journalist communicate ahead of them or wait to cover them if and as they strike? • Should the agricultural journalist communicate ahead of them or wait to cover them if and as they strike?

• If advance coverage is desirable, what types and approaches are likely to be most effective?

• How can the agricultural journalist prepare, in advance, to work effectively in times of such emergencies? • If a communicator works within an interest group related to food and agriculture, what approaches should the communicator use in working with mass media - and within his or her own organisation - to deal with public health threats and emergencies?

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Manufacturing / industry

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Manufacturing beat

• Interesting opportunities for reporters who can look at three separate possibilities:• A new manufacturing enterprise starting• The operations of an existing manufacturing enterprise• A manufacturing enterprise in trouble and potentially closing

• The new enterprise• Examine the long and short term prospects of the new

enterprise• Consider similar industries in other locations/countries

• What is the general state of this industry? • Why has this area been chosen for the operation?• What factors have influenced the location?• Was it a popular choice or was there opposition (for example

environmental concerns)• Is there a political dimension to the story – tax incentives

or tariff considerations?

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Existing manufacturing enterprise

• Opportunities considerable:• Industrial and labour relations issues, including worker safety, occupational health and safety, employee relations, productivity, etc.

• Compliance with all regulations• Impact on the local economy – is the enterprise a good corporate citizen

• Profitability or otherwise of the business• Factors helping or hindering the business• Are there new government regulations that impact the business>

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The troubled enterprise

• Source of many stories• Consider:

• the long and short term prospects for the enterprise

• the local impacts of the industry failing• at the human face of the employees who may be out of work

• the impact on families and others affected in the area

• what other industries or sectors does this impact• does it supply other companies

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Business and government

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Government and business

• Be very vigilant when covering the government/business beat:• it is not enough to just understand its inner workings• must also look for the impact of government decisions• ask the basic question, “Who cares” and find people whose lives are affected

• stories that feature these people are more interesting to the audience

• Much of the business of government is conducted in meetings:• expect to cover plenty of them• a dull meeting does not justify a dull story• audience depends on the journalist to tell them only what's important

• best stories about meetings focus on the people who are affected by what happened

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Government and business

• Critical to know how to read and interpret a budget and other financial statements:• follow the money trail to see what is happening particularly when

covering government and politics• stories about government funding may seem dry - but taxes and

spending affect the audience directly and people need to know where their money is going

• documents are the lifeblood of government• obtain them and understand them

• Political reporters in a democracy have one central mission: • provide citizens with the information they need to make an informed

choice between the candidates for elective office• examine the candidates' backgrounds and qualifications, their

positions on the key issues, and what the candidates are saying in campaign appearances and advertising

• look at the candidates' supporters - their interests can often shed light on what a politician will do if elected

• The government / business beat touches the lives of almost everyone• unemployment, the cost of food and fuel, personal savings and

investment, matter to EVERYONE

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Consumer issues

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Consumer issues

• Characterised by:• product recalls• safety issues

• Interesting topics include:• Cars and vehicles• Household appliances• Home and garden concerns • Health and fitness• Personal finance • Babies and children • Retail issues • Food

• Expand the consumer beat to include scams – you can break news about tricksters, fraudsters, people setting up get rich quick schemes, etc.

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ClosureThe important thing is not to stop questioning.

Albert Einstein

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Summary

• Considered the kind of topics you should look at and the challenges you might face in the beats of:• Technology• Health Care• Labour and Industrial Relations• Tourism and hospitality• Transportation• Agriculture• Business and government• Consumer issues

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Coming up!

• Complete the business and economics section of our course

• What it means to produce insightful and well structured business features:• Producing insightful business features, based on trends or issues in business or industry, for print and electronic media

• Future trends in reporting on business, industry and finance

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