Building the Syllabus

Andrew CasselVisiting Prof., Spring 2015

College of CommunicationsPenn State University

Goals & Objectives

Spell it out

Objectives: By the end of the term, you should be able to: • Report and write a range of conventional business stories, including

company news, market reports, and economic indicators, as well as regulatory and consumer issues.

• Know how to find and interpret basic sources such as earning statements, balance sheets, economic statistics, stock-market data and regulatory filings.

• Be able to read and explain charts and tables clearly and accurately.• Decipher corporate and economic jargon, work with PR reps and deal

with ethical issues from paying for lunch to conflicts of interest. • Report and write an enterprise story worthy of publication at a regional

or national level.

Texts: What we did Required: “Show Me the Money,” by Chris Roush, and “How to Speak Money” by John Lanchester. Roush’s book is a comprehensive and practical guide to the nuts and bolts of business coverage. Lanchester’s contains an up-to-date and insightful glossary of economic and financial terms, with an emphasis on the financial crisis and worldwide recession that began in 2007 and continues to shape the news today. I will post sections of these to be read before designated class sessions, along with supplementary readings or links. Other books you may want to buy/borrow/download: • Terri Thompson, “Writing About Business: The New Columbia Knight-Bagehot Guide to Economics & Business Journalism”• Mark W. Tatge, “The New York Times Reader in Business & Economics” • Jay Taparia, “Understanding Financial Statements: A Journalist’s Guide” • Helaine Olen: “Pound Foolish” • Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind. “The Smartest Guys in the Room”• Diane Coyle: “GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History”• Mark Zandi: “Financial Shock ” • Michael Lewis: “Liar’s Poker,” “Flash Boys” “Panic” You will also need access to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Financial Times and/or The Economist, as we will be referring often to their business-news coverage in class. Other publications we will monitor and discuss include CNBC.com, Bloomberg, MarketWatch.com, FT.com, BusinessJournalism.org and NPR’s Planet Money. There may be occasional pop quizzes on current business news events to make sure you’re staying abreast.

Texts: What we should have done

• Require subscriptions to the WSJ • Ask for in-class verbal summaries, to stimulate

discussion• Require one written report on a book chosen by

student from my list• Distribute readings from Roush, Tatge, Thompson et

al as needed.

The (Squishy) Schedule

Class notesHow we’ll work: Our meetings will consist of discussions that I will lead, but with your active participation. Questions, observations and arguments are expected and will be considered in determining course grades. You will have reporting assignments, typically involving a 500-800 word story on a company, industry, market or economic topic. Some of these will be live, in-class assignments; others will have lead times ranging from two days to a week. Deadlines for these will be set in advance and strictly enforced: A late story will be marked down by one grade letter per day. Guests: We will have several guest speakers, either practicing business journalists or experts from the business world, who will join us either in person or via Skype. Toward the end of the term we may also attend a corporate annual meeting or take a class trip. Details to follow. In the second half of the term term you will choose a final assignment, in the form of a 1500-2000 word enterprise story. Ideally this will involve some combination of in-person reporting, background research and statistical analysis, and will focus on a firm, an industry trend, a local or regional economy or similar topic. The piece will be evaluated on its readiness for publication – that is, clarity, coherence, organization and accuracy. All suitable work will be published on the class website, and if possible, offered to appropriate news outlets in State College or beyond.

GradingA= Story could be published in a major metropolitan newspaper's business section, or a business magazine.B=Minor editing needed, but is publishable. Conclusions may be weak;C=Needs extensive editing and rethinking. Structure or conclusions may be flawed. May contain spelling error;D=Story needs to be rewritten and re-reported all the way through. May contain more than one spelling error;F=Story has a fact error, or misstates facts from documents. Seriously flawed in writing and conclusions.

The final grade will be determined as follows:50%=Writing assignments in and out of class30%=Final project10%=Quizzes in class10%=Class participation

What actually happened

• Topics took longer to explain• Assignments took longer to complete• Rewrites slowed us down• Stuff happened, schedule shifted:– State of the Union speech– FOMC meeting– Guest speaker availability

Assignments that worked (1)

• Students chose publicly traded companies, prepared background sheets, then wrote about 1) management challenges and 2) opportunities for investors.

Assignments that worked (2)

• In class, on deadline: Using FactSet data and B-school student fund managers, students wrote a daily stock-market report.

Assignments that worked (3) In class, on deadline: Using ‘Dismal Scientist’ and other pro sites, students wrote up daily economic-indicator release summary (CPI, housing prices).

Assignments that worked less well

Students chose local businesses to profile. Choices were all service firms (restaurants clothing stores, a barbershop), profiles ended up fluffy & innocuous. Still, four were published in the Centre Daily Times.

Assignments that worked less well (2)

Students chose personal-finance questions, reported & wrote up answers. Stories lacked authority, students had trouble connecting with experts, topics needed more focus. Useful exercise but could have been planned better.

Assignments that worked less well (3)

A class Wordpress website with students’ “business stories of the week” bombed.

Syllabus recommendations

• Be clear• Be comprehensive• Be flexible