This document discusses strategies for teaching business journalism to students in an engaging way. It suggests using real-world examples that students can relate to, interactive exercises like guessing economic data before its release, field trips, and maintaining an entertaining teaching style to prevent the topic from seeming boring. The goal is to show students how business reporting can be fun and to turn them into eager learners on the subject by the end of the semester.

1. Resources and keeping students
interested
Chris Roush
Croush@email.unc.edu
Jan 2, 2014
Business Journalism Professors Seminar

2. Boring!!!
One of the biggest
issues in teaching
“Business
Reporting” is the
belief by students
that the topics is
boring.
n Few read the
business section –
before taking our
classes.
n

3. Math is for smart people
Many journalism school
students are enrolled in
our programs for one
reason: They’re not
good in math.
n They eschew business
and math classes in
college as a result.
n

4. Fun and interesting
So, the goal for us as
professors is to show
them how being a
business reporter can
be fun and interesting.
n By the end of the
semester, you will have
turned these students
into wannabe business
reporters.
n

5. Having fun teaching business
reporting

6. About those SEC filings
n I
strongly believe that
you need to expose
students to SEC filings,
but it can be done in an
entertaining way.
n Give them 10-Qs, 10-Ks
and proxy statements for
companies that they
know.

7. About those SEC filings
Find SEC filings where
it’s easy for the students
to find something
interesting.
n Example: The Coke 10-Q
that details how much it’s
spending to call the
Houston Astros’ stadium
“Minute Maid Park.”
n

8. About those SEC filings
When it comes to
proxy statements,
show them what you
can find out about
people.
n My brother-in-law is
the CFO of
Theragenics, a public
drug company.
n

9. Private company information
The same concept
applies when
teaching students
how to find
information about
private companies.
n Show students is how
to look up the value of
CEO homes in the
area.
n

10. Private company information
n
n
n
Students also like to see
documents that they may
have never seen before.
These can be divorces, or
affidavits.
Ask them to go to
www.SmokingGun.com
and find a document that
has a business connection.

11. Private company information
One that every
journalism student will
enjoy is
http://
www.netronline.com.
n From this web site,
they can look up the
value of their
professor’s house.
n

12. Story assignments
Can you come up with
unusual or offbeat story
assignments for them?
n At W&L, had students
write stories about truffle
maker in town that had
been featured in WSJ.
n In Economics Reporting,
have students cover
post-Thanksgiving retail
sales.
n

13. Class exercise strategies

14. Guess the economic data
n
n
n
n
There can be nothing more
deadly dull to students than
economic data.
Find out what dates something
like inflation or unemployment
is going to be released.
The class before, asks
students to estimate what they
think the number will be.
Winner(s) gets bonus points on
next writing assignment.

15. Guess the earnings
The same type of
exercise can be done
with corporate
earnings.
n Have students estimate
EPS earnings for the
quarter.
n My favorite is
Progressive, since it
offers no earnings
guidance.
n

16. Use examples that they know
n
On the first day of
class, show them a
copy of Fortune
magazine with pop
singer Sheryl Crow on
the cover and ask them
if this story is their
preconceived notion of
business writing.

17. Use examples that they know
n What
does this do?
n Emphasizes that the line between
business reporting and traditional news
reporting is blurring and that every news
story has some sort of financial angle.
n Also opens students’ eyes to the
possibilities in business reporting.

18. Use examples that make sense
n
n
When the economics
reporting class discusses
the Consumer Price
Index, I use tangible
examples.
I explain to them that
when the CPI goes up, the
cost of beer and chicken
wings go up and the
students don’t have as
much money to spend on
those items.

19. Use examples that make sense
When the business reporting class reviews an
income statement for a company and then
writes a story about it, students are taught to
look at the revenues and profits for a
company such as Coca-Cola in this way:
n Revenue is the money that consumers
around the globe pay to buy six packs and 12
packs of Coke beverages.
n Profit, or net income, is the money that Coke
has left over after it pays its salaries and bills.
n

20. Ask for examples
n
n
Discovered one semester
that I had a student from
Houston whose father had
worked for Enron.
Ask students what
companies their parents or
relatives work for, and
what they think about the
coverage of those
businesses.

21. Other tactics

22. Classroom demeanor
n
n
n
Not afraid to mention funny or
humorous events to make a
point.
Compare CEO compensation
when discussing proxy
statements to how much I am
making as a professor.
Discuss construction problems
on campus paid for by state
bond issue when discussing
bonds.

23. Ethics
n
n
n
Don’t be afraid to take
students down memory
lane.
Ask them how they would
handle ethical situations
such as being offered
tickets to a sporting event.
Provide examples of
business journalism ethics
codes.

24. Mistakes
n Don’t
be afraid to talk about the worst
mistakes you’ve ever made as a
journalist.
n Shows the students that you’re a
human being.
n Also explain to them how you worked to
prevent mistakes from happening again.

25. Stump the professor
n
n
n
Ask students to bring in
questions each class
period.
If you can’t answer the
question, then you cut
the class period short by
5 minutes.
If you get the answer
correct, then class stays
for entire class period.

26. Professor vs. the class
Can you have another professor come up
with a business news current events quiz and
administer it at beginning of class?
n If you get more answers right than the class,
then writing assignment at end of class.
n If they get more answers, then no writing
assignment.
n Eventually, they’ll still do all writing
assignments.
n

27. Field trips
n
n
n
Kansas business
reporting class visits the
Fed in Kansas City.
Columbia students go to
the stock exchange and
trading floors.
Can you take your
students to a brokerage
office and hold class
there on a day that you
talk about the stock
market?

28. Field trips
n What
about holding class in the
boardroom of a local company on the
day you discuss management and
boards?
n Or, even better, can you arrange your
students to attend a company’s press
conference if it’s in the area?

29. The end
n
n
n
n
Never thought that
business journalism
was boring.
Like other beats, there
was always something
new each day.
Your class should be
the same way.
If they look forward to
coming to class, then
they want to learn.