We Mean Business

Covering money and politics

At some time during their careers, almost every journalist is sure to run into a situation involving an elected official, a candidate, and funding. It could be the money that the official is spending on the job. Or, it could be the funds that a candidate is raising and spending. In this week’s episode of How to Cover Money, co-hosts Micki Maynard and Mark Remillard discuss the complexities of covering money in politics, especially with the rising costs of campaigns and the rise of Super PACs. They cover the importance of understanding the legislative process and the role lobbyists play in shaping political outcomes.

Covering the business of sports

Sports can be a tricky beat, because so many journalists focus on the teams and the outcomes of the games, and miss the vast sums of money that surround professional and college sports. Sports business coverage is critical to understanding the role agents, managers and stadium financing have not only on the game itself, but the local community and fans. In this week’s episode co-hosts Micki Maynard and Mark Remillard discuss the business side of sports, emphasizing the importance of covering sports finance. They highlight tips and insights from Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports and the MLB Network who is an expert on sports transactions. 

Interviewing small business owners

This episode looks at a subject that is likely to come up with young journalists: interviewing the owners of small businesses. Co-hosts Micki Maynard and Mark Remillard discuss the importance of interviewing small business owners, highlighting the significant role their businesses play in the U.S. economy. With 23 million small businesses and 22 million self-employed individuals collectively creating two-thirds of jobs since the 1970s, there is a high chance you will talk to these people often as they make up the bulk of your local business community. Maynard and Remillard discuss the challenges of these interviews and how to build a network of connections to make future interviews easier.

Dealing with ’big name’ CEOs

In this episode of How to Cover Money, co-hosts Micki Maynard and Mark Remillard look at a nerve-wracking subject for many young journalists: interviewing big-name business leaders. They offer some advice on how to lay out an interview strategy, how to make the most out of short and long interviews and how to ask the super tough questions CEOs may not want to answer. The episode includes tips on making connections to get your interviewee to relax and how to effectively end the interview.

Finding the best sources

Business journalists and reporters who cover money often find themselves needing sources on short notice. In the episode, co-hosts Micki Maynard and Mark Remillard recommend where to start looking for sources and how to find people who are knowledgeable on the subject as well as accessible. In order to have a truly good story, journalists will need a range of sources from professors and analysts to company officials. It's especially important for business journalists to not only find diverse sources but be wary about returning to the same source over and over again to keep their reporting fresh.

Asking the (good) dumb question

This episode of How to Cover Money covers the art form of asking questions. Although it may take a while to learn, co-hosts Micki Maynard and Mark Remillard make it clear that any reporter can learn how to ask “good dumb questions” during interviews to get the information you most want to report on and make your reporting understandable for your audience.

Writing business for broadcast

Broadcast writing brings unique challenges for reporters and can, at first, seem intimidating for newcomers to branch into. In this episode, co-hosts Micki Maynard and Mark Remillard discuss successful tips and strategies for reporting business stories specifically for a broadcast audience, how that may differ from traditional print media, and how to keep all those numbers interesting to the audience on air. Whether you’re working for radio, TV, or creating your own podcast, this episode is sure to give you some practical tools to do your job well.

Elements of feature stories

In this episode co-hosts Micki Maynard and Mark Remillard discuss the elements of writing compelling business feature stories. They give advice on what aspects to focus on and how to organize a story in order to maintain reader engagement. They also note the importance of being ready to cast a wider net, or follow a different direction than you originally intended to based on the interviews you are having.

Common newsroom problem: Story ideas

In this episode, co-hosts Micki Maynard and Mark Remillard discuss strategies for reporters to generate story ideas to keep their editors happy. If you’re a reporter who is experiencing “story block” this episode will give you a range of ideas to help you break out of your slump and keep those stories generating time and time again.

Think like a business reporter

Reynolds Director Micheline Maynard and co-host Mark Remillard of KTAR News in Phoenix offer tips on ways to find the money in any story, even if you aren't a business journalist. The two discuss the importance of not letting numbers scare you from covering money stories. You don't need advanced math skills to find out where the money is in any type of story, simple addition and subtraction will get you started. They give tips on speaking the "secret language" that is money and how to translate it for a wide audience, as well as the importance of never being afraid to ask "the good, dumb question."