Meet the new world of journalism head on

By Chris Roush

Sharpen your reporting, get great ideas and hone your writing -- all at the Society of American Business Editors and Writer's Fall Workshop Oct. 20-21 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Driving business coverage online and training for the multimedia world are key sessions -- and the first 25 registrants can get a one-on-one writing critique with some of the industry's best wordsmiths. Wall Street Journal publisher Gordon Crovitz will give his views on the paper's redesign launched earlier this year. Get new insights and ideas on health care issue, short selling and accounting.

Registration is just $175 before Sept. 14.

If you're an editor helping your staff make the bridge online or a reporter looking to make sure you've got the skills you need, Beth Hunt, manager of editorial operations at American City Business Journals, and Ryan Thornburg, former managing editor of USNews.com, are among the panelists who can help you. Get strategies on how to cover companies in your area that have gone private.

Hear from two top editors of consumer and business magazines: Kim Kleman, editor of Consumer Reports, and James Glassman, editor of The American, the new business glossy launched earlier this year.

Want a different sort of business story? Since UNC is home to one of the best college basketball teams in the country, SABEW is also planning a panel on covering the business of college sports that will feature former Tar Heel and NBA players Hubert Davis and Eric Montross. Davis is now an ESPN commentator, while Montross, the center on the 1993 NCAA national championship team, is the color commentator for the Tar Heel Sports Network. UNC basketball coach Roy Williams has also been invited to participate on the panel.

For writers who want to hone their overall skills, the Fall Workshop will offer a one-of-a-kind critique session with some of the best in business journalism. Reporters who register for the conference can send in up to five clips in advance and have them analyzed during a 15-minute session by award-winning business journalists such as Diana Henriques of The New York Times. The first 25 who send in copies of clips are guaranteed a critique at the workshop.

If that's not enough, the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC will be offering a two-day “Business Journalism 101” before the SABEW Fall Conference. The UNC workshop, the only program taught by top-ranked journalism and business school faculty, is designed to help reporters and editors new to the business desk understand the financial side of business. Business journalists will learn more about financial issues they cover and take away practical information they can use to produce stronger business stories. The program also gives business editors and reporters a chance to interact with professors about current issues in corporate America.

More information about Business Journalism 101 can be found here. Its registration is FREE and is limited to the first 25 journalists who also register for the SABEW conference.

For questions, contact the SABEW staff at sabew@missouri.edu or at 573-882-7862 . For Business Journalism 101, contact the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Journalism and Mass Communication toll free at 877-668-674 or execed@unc.edu.

Posted June 21, 2007