Cracking Corporate Corruption at Wal-Mart: Self-guided training

Pulitzer winners David Barstow and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab headline this session at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference: Cracking Corporate Corruption at Wal-Mart, on June 21, 2013.

The duo’s investigation into corruption in the world’s biggest retailer won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.

Barstow’s initial story on how Wal-Mart covered up its use of bribery to fuel its Mexican expansion (PDF) also won the 2012 Barlett & Steele Award for Investigative Business Journalism.

PANELISTS

David Barstow, a senior writer at The New York Times, is the winner of three Pulitzer Prizes. In 2013, he and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for “Wal-Mart Abroad,’’ a series that exposed Wal-Mart’s aggressive use of bribery to fuel its rapid expansion in Mexico.

In 2004, he and Lowell Bergman were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for articles about employers who committed egregious work place-safety violations that killed or injured hundreds of American workers. Before joining the Times in 1999, he was a reporter for The St. Petersburg Times in Florida, where he was a finalist for three Pulitzer Prizes.

Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab is a freelance journalist who shared the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting with Barstow. Xanic, as she’s known to colleagues, has worked for two decades as a reporter in Mexico. As a reporter with Siglo 21 newspaper in Guadalajara, she looked into the causes of a gasoline-leak explosion that destroyed several kilometers of homes. As a member of the paper’s investigative unit, she worked on stories ranging from drug trafficking to state corruption.

MODERATOR

Leonard Downie Jr. is vice president at large of The Washington Post, where he was executive editor from 1991 to 2008. He is also the Weil Family Professor of Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

As deputy metro editor from 1972 to 1974, Downie helped supervise the Post’s Watergate coverage. He also oversaw the newspaper’s coverage of every national election from 1984 through 2008. During his 17 years as executive editor, The Washington Post won 25 Pulitzer prizes.

More on the Award-Winning Wal-Mart investigation:

The stories that won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting:Vast Mexico bribery case hushed up by Wal-Mart after top-level struggle (PDF)The bribery aisle: How Wal-Mart used payoffs to get its way in Mexico (PDF)

David Barstow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2009 for “Message Machine,’’ his series about the Pentagon’s hidden campaign to influence news coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a reporter in Mexico City, Alejandra Xanic von Bertrad worked for the Mexican edition of Gabriel García Marquez's magazine, Cambio, and was an editor for four years at the business biweekly, Expansion. In 2010 and 2011, Xanic was part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists team that investigated big tobacco’s global lobbying strategies.

During his 44 years in the Post newsroom, Len Downie was also an investigative reporter, editor on the local and national news staffs, London correspondent, and, from 1984 to 1991, managing editor under then-executive editor Ben Bradlee.

View the original article here

Social Media ROI for Journalists: Boston, NLGJA, Aug. 23

In 2013, more and more newsrooms will revisit their social media strategy and ask, “What’s our return on investment?” How do we know if our newsroom is doing social “correctly”? What does this mean for our organization’s bottom line?

This Aug. 23 conference session, which will help you answer those questions, will be part of Boston: Uncommon, the 2013 convention of the National Association of Lesbian & Gay Journalists, which will be held in Boston Aug. 22-25.

This session is open to only NLGJA Conference attendees. Register here.

Social Media ROI for Journalists will be led by Chad Graham, senior editor of mobile, search and social, The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, and Robin J. Phillips, digital director, Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

In this session, we’ll examine the four stages of social media use in newsrooms:

from an active presenceto engagementto steering the conversationto full integration.

Graham and Phillips will answer the following questions: How do I pick social media goals? How do I select tactics to reach those goals? How do I work with marketing? How do I measure social media?

IS THIS SESSION FOR YOU?

Social Media ROI will be of interest to managers overseeing social media and online news and for individuals who are beginning to ask (or are being asked by their publishers): “Is all this time on social media worth it?”

Chad Graham

YOUR INSTRUCTORS

Chad Graham leads the mobile, social media and search engine optimization strategy for the Republic Media newsroom, home to azcentral.com, 12 News (NBC, Phoenix) and The Arizona Republic. Graham and his team of engagement producers work to enhance real-time conversation and collaboration between journalists, readers and viewers. Graham previously served as a business reporter and columnist for The Republic. He has been an editor for the Advocate magazine and a reporter for the Des Moines Register, Hollywood Reporter and Associated Press. @chadgraham2

Robin J. Phillips

Robin J. Phillips is the digital director for the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University. Her previous position was as online community manager for azcentral.com, the website of The Arizona Republic in Phoenix. She has also served as deputy business editor at The Republic and Newsday, as well as editor for BusinessWeek Online’s small business channel. She has been an adjunct instructor at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She is a co-founder of #wjchat, a weekly Twitter-based gathering of Web journalists. @robinjp

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

This workshop is sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism. If you have any questions about the center’s training, please email Executive Director Linda Austin or call 602-496-9187.

Those who successfully complete three workshops or online seminars presented by the Reynolds Center are eligible to receive a “Circle of Achievement” certificate.

View the original article here

Covering Your Local Economy: New York, AAJA, Aug. 21

Photo by flickr user AR McLin

The economy is still the biggest story going, and this workshop will equip you with the story ideas and skills you need to tackle economic stories on any beat.

This workshop is presented by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, and it precedes the Asian American Journalists Association’s 23rd Annual Convention. Workshop attendees are not required to attend the convention.

Get armed with the tools and understanding you need to tackle local economic stories, including those in the labor and housing markets.

Sign up for this workshop for $21.49.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

How to find the economic angle in stories on any beat,How to use statistics to find and develop local economic stories,How to find fresh angles on the job and housing markets in your town, andWhat 10 stories on the economy you should jump on now. Marilyn Geewax

YOUR INSTRUCTORS

Marilyn Geewax is the national economics correspondent for NPR. Geewax is regularly heard discussing economic news on Tell Me More, Talk of the Nation and Weekend Edition. Her work contributed to NPR’s 2011 Edward R. Murrow Award for Hard News for “The Foreclosure Nightmare.”

Before joining NPR in 2008, Geewax was the national economics correspondent for Cox Newspapers’ Washington Bureau for nearly a decade. She has also taught business journalism at George Washington University. @geewaxnpr

Meena Thiruvengadam

Meena Thiruvengadam is a freelance multimedia journalist who previously worked as a staff reporter for several U.S. newspapers. During the Great Recession, she covered the Treasury, Federal Reserve and economic news for Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal in Washington. She also has covered local and regional business news. She’s online at www.meenamedia.com and on Twitter at @Meena_Thiru.

AGENDA: Covering Your Local Economy

12:30-1 p.m.: Registration
1–1:10 p.m.:Introductions and welcome1:10-2 p.m.: How can you tell whether your local economy is recovering; what are the signs to track? — Marilyn Geewax2-2:10 p.m.: Break2:10-3 p.m.: How do you find fresh stories in the slow recovery of the job market in your area? — Geewax3-3:10 p.m.: Break3:10-4 p.m.: How can you tell if your local housing market is recovering? What are the fresh local angles to pursue now – five years after the mortgage meltdown? — Geewax4-5 p.m.: 10 stories on the economy to jump on now – Leave with 10 story ideas and a head start on the resources to start reporting them in your community. — Meena Thiruvengadam

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

This workshop is sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism. If you have any questions about the center’s training, please email Executive Director Linda Austin or call 602-496-9187.

Those who successfully complete three regional workshops or online seminars presented by the Reynolds Center are eligible to receive a “Circle of Achievement” certificate.

View the original article here

The Energy Revolution: Finding Powerful Stories Everywhere: Boston, NLGJA, Aug. 23

You keep hearing about “fracking” in western Pennsylvania and North Dakota, but can’t imagine how it would affect your community.

In this NLGJA convention session on Aug. 23  in Boston, Marilyn Geewax, a senior business editor with NPR, will help you understand how this unleashing of  massive supplies of fossil fuels is changing all of our lives.  The energy revolution is making U.S. manufacturing competitive again and soon could be generating millions of jobs from Maine to California. And it’s having a broad impact on the environment, tax revenues and politics.

This session is part of Boston: Uncommon, the 2013 convention of the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, which will be held in Boston Aug. 22-25. This session is open to only NLGJA Convention attendees. Register here.

Geewax will offer a similar webinar, free on Dec. 4.

WHAT YOU’LL LEARN

Every American has a stake in these changes; all journalists need to understand the basics – and to look for the local angles.  Here’s what this session will help you understand:

1)      Fracking – What exactly is it, and why does this drilling process generate so much oil and gas – and controversy?  Get familiar with the basic terms of the debate so you feel comfortable setting out to tell a story about it.

2)      Manufacturing – Economists say fracking is transforming manufacturing. Huh? Get a clearer understanding of the direct link between the drilling process and the revival of many factories.

This image is from a music video by ProPublica. Its coverage of fracking is at http://www.propublica.org/series/fracking

3)      Jobs, Jobs, Jobs – Many optimists say the energy revolution will help create millions of jobs. Some communities will be building bigger ports to export liquefied natural gas and others will be gaining pipeline-construction jobs. Many may be able to build new infrastructure with revenues from drilling leases. But if cheap energy makes it easier to automate, will some jobs be lost?

4)      The Environment – Environmentalists are raising serious questions about water use, pollution, earthquakes, and the overall wisdom of increasing the use of fossil fuels like oil and gas. What’s at stake?

5)      The Local Angle –The energy revolution is generating changes all around us – and you, as a journalist, will see the local angles once you know how to spot changes in your own community.

IS THIS SESSION FOR YOU?

The answer is very likely yes. You need to  understand what’s happening in the energy sector if you have any interest in covering politics, business, the environment, globalization, the Middle East, transportation, Wall Street, education/job training or infrastructure. The session is designed for those who may be relatively unfamiliar with the topic, but experts are encouraged to join in for a serious discussion about a defining issue for this new century.

YOUR INSTRUCTOR

Marilyn Geewax

Marilyn Geewax is a senior business editor on NPR’s national desk and its national economics correspondent. She was the national economics correspondent for Cox Newspapers’ Washington Bureau. Before coming to Washington in 1999, she worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, first as a business reporter and then as a columnist and editorial board member.

She earned a master’s degree at Georgetown University, where she focused on international economic affairs. She also studied economics and international relations at Harvard as a Nieman Fellow.

From 2001 to 2006, she taught a business journalism class as an adjunct professor at George Washington University.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

This conference session is sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism. If you have any questions about the center’s training, please email Executive Director Linda Austin or call 602-496-9187.

Those who successfully complete three workshops or online seminars presented by the Reynolds Center are eligible to receive a “Circle of Achievement” certificate.

View the original article here

Strictly Financials or Business Journalism Professors seminars: Phoenix, Jan. 2-5

Pictured left: Sandra L. Combs of Arkansas State University was a fellow in the 2013 Business Journalism Professors Seminar. Photo by Aaron Lavinsky.

ATTENTION: Experienced business journalists and prospective business journalism professors.

The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is offering 24 fellowships worth $1,500 each for four days of study in business journalism – Jan. 2-5, 2014, in Phoenix.

Fellowships cover training, lodging, materials and most meals. Fellows just have to cover their transportation costs.

The seminars will occur during Reynolds Business Journalism Week at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The journalists’ Strictly Financials Seminar teaches the essentials of covering financials, from stock markets to financial statements and company research. | More on the Strictly Financials Seminar

The Business Journalism Professors Seminar will cover the essentials of teaching a hands-on, university course in business journalism. | More on the Business Journalism Professors Seminar

The seventh annual, concurrent seminars (with 12 fellows attending each one) will be led by award-winning professors and journalists.

Wall Street Journal reporter John W. Miller was a 2013 Strictly Financials Seminar fellow. Photo by Aaron Lavinsky.

WHAT PAST FELLOWS SAY

Michelle Park, a 2013 Strictly Financials fellow  and finance reporter at Crain’s Cleveland Business, said, “I gained a re-energized belief in what I do and what my job can do for my community, if only I’ll look and dig where others might not. I left Strictly Financials inspired by my ability to dig more intelligently into numbers that matter.”
Tom Herman, a 2011 Business Journalism Professors fellow and adjunct instructor at Columbia Journalism School, said,“Your seminar was absolutely superb. The professors were excellent, and I learned a tremendous amount from my fellow students, too.”

TO APPLY

Deadline is 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time Nov. 1, 2013. For information on the two seminars, including how to apply online, go to the call for fellows for Strictly Financials or Business Journalism Professors seminars.

Questions? Email Andrew Leckey, Reynolds Center president, or call 602-496-9186.

ABOUT THE CENTER
The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism, located at ASU’s Cronkite School, was launched in 2003. More than 19,000 journalists have benefited from its free training. A calendar of upcoming free workshops, as well as daily tips on how to cover business better, are at BusinessJournalism.org.

The Center is funded by the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation, a national philanthropic organization founded in 1954 by the late media entrepreneur for whom it is named. Headquartered in Las Vegas, it has committed more than $145 million nationwide through its Journalism Program

View the original article here

Cracking Corporate Corruption at Wal-Mart: Self-guided training

Pulitzer winners David Barstow and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab headline this session at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference: Cracking Corporate Corruption at Wal-Mart, on June 21, 2013.

The duo’s investigation into corruption in the world’s biggest retailer won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting.

Barstow’s initial story on how Wal-Mart covered up its use of bribery to fuel its Mexican expansion (PDF) also won the 2012 Barlett & Steele Award for Investigative Business Journalism.

PANELISTS

David Barstow, a senior writer at The New York Times, is the winner of three Pulitzer Prizes. In 2013, he and Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting for “Wal-Mart Abroad,’’ a series that exposed Wal-Mart’s aggressive use of bribery to fuel its rapid expansion in Mexico.

In 2004, he and Lowell Bergman were awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for articles about employers who committed egregious work place-safety violations that killed or injured hundreds of American workers. Before joining the Times in 1999, he was a reporter for The St. Petersburg Times in Florida, where he was a finalist for three Pulitzer Prizes.

Alejandra Xanic von Bertrab is a freelance journalist who shared the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting with Barstow. Xanic, as she’s known to colleagues, has worked for two decades as a reporter in Mexico. As a reporter with Siglo 21 newspaper in Guadalajara, she looked into the causes of a gasoline-leak explosion that destroyed several kilometers of homes. As a member of the paper’s investigative unit, she worked on stories ranging from drug trafficking to state corruption.

MODERATOR

Leonard Downie Jr. is vice president at large of The Washington Post, where he was executive editor from 1991 to 2008. He is also the Weil Family Professor of Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

As deputy metro editor from 1972 to 1974, Downie helped supervise the Post’s Watergate coverage. He also oversaw the newspaper’s coverage of every national election from 1984 through 2008. During his 17 years as executive editor, The Washington Post won 25 Pulitzer prizes.

More on the Award-Winning Wal-Mart investigation:

The stories that won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting:Vast Mexico bribery case hushed up by Wal-Mart after top-level struggle (PDF)The bribery aisle: How Wal-Mart used payoffs to get its way in Mexico (PDF)

David Barstow was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Reporting in 2009 for “Message Machine,’’ his series about the Pentagon’s hidden campaign to influence news coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As a reporter in Mexico City, Alejandra Xanic von Bertrad worked for the Mexican edition of Gabriel García Marquez's magazine, Cambio, and was an editor for four years at the business biweekly, Expansion. In 2010 and 2011, Xanic was part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists team that investigated big tobacco’s global lobbying strategies.

During his 44 years in the Post newsroom, Len Downie was also an investigative reporter, editor on the local and national news staffs, London correspondent, and, from 1984 to 1991, managing editor under then-executive editor Ben Bradlee.

View the original article here

Apply for fellowships to attend Business Journalism Professors Seminar 2014

The Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism is offering fellowships worth $1,500 for four days of intensive study in how to teach an undergraduate course in business journalism Jan. 2-5, 2014 in Phoenix.

Limited to 12 prospective professors, the eighth annual Business Journalism Professors Seminar will take place during Reynolds Business Journalism Week at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Fellowships cover the full cost of training, lodging, materials and most meals. Fellows have to cover just their transportation costs.

Dianne Finch of Elon University attended the 2013 Business Journalism Professors Seminar. Photo by Aaron Lavinsky.

This seminar will cover the essentials of teaching a hands-on course, including deciding what to teach, organizing your course, keeping students interested, plus how to teach financial statements and the use of data. It is an opportunity for prospective business journalism professors to learn from experienced instructors and journalism professionals.

WHAT PAST FELLOWS SAY

A 2013 participant, Melita Garza of Texas Christian University, said, “This is an outstanding program: It offers constructive ideas that I can immediately apply, and important resources, including colleagues to network with in the future.”Former SABEW President Rob Reuteman was a 2012 participant and participated in the Reynolds Center’s inaugural Visiting Professors Program at Colorado State University in spring 2012. He said, “It’s an intensive workshop. I don’t think there was a wasted minute. Every aspect was valuable to me in important ways.”

HOW TO APPLY

The selection process is highly competitive, and applicants must supply the following by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time Nov. 1, 2013, at BusinessJournalism.org:

Contact informationA 500-word statement explaining why they should be chosen and how the seminar will improve their instructionA resumeA one-paragraph bioA letter of support from their dean or department head recommending the applicant and outlining the program’s commitment to offering a course in business journalism.

WHAT TO EXPECT

To give you an idea of what to expect, here’s the agenda for the 2013 Business Journalism Professors Seminar.

And here are video recordings, slides and handouts from each day of the 2013 seminar:

Day 1: Business Journalists as Investigators, Deciding What to Teach, Organizing Your Class, Keeping Students InterestedDay 2: Designing Assignments, Teaching the Business Narrative, Teaching the Use of Data, Preparing Students for InternshipsDay 3: Teaching Financial Statements and SEC FilingsDay 4: Using Multimedia in Your Class, What Do Editors Expect, Jump-starting Your Program When You Return Home

Business journalists from around the country, who are attending a concurrent seminar called Strictly Financials, will attend some classes with the professors.

QUESTIONS?

Contact Andrew Leckey, Reynolds Center president, at Andrew.Leckey@businessjournalism.org or 602-496-9186.

View the original article here