Biz Reporters Want More Time, Resources, Survey Says

By: Erin Olson A survey of 232 business editors and reporters, released Tuesday at the American Press Institute's Business Editors Seminar in Virginia, found that the nation's business sections need improvement in investigative projects and trend stories.

Younger reporters, who comprised the majority of survey respondents, indicated they don't have the time or resources for comprehensive investigative or trend pieces. Editors agreed with that assessment, but the survey found them to have a more positive outlook than reporters on their newspaper sections. Only 8% of reporters rated their sections as "excellent," in contrast to 13% of editors.

Reporters also indicated a need for better direction from their editors and more training opportunities. Only 4% of survey respondents said they had access to business journalism training "very often," while nearly half said they "almost never" or "never" have access to training. Only 14% said they have follow-up discussions with their editors about their articles "very often."

"Many of today's business desks are staffed by younger reporters who had little background in the beat when they started," Vandana Sinha, associate editor and project manager at the Donald W. Reynolds Center at API--which conducted the survey--said in a statement. "With newspapers placing more emphasis on growing readership, it is critical to seek these reporters' assessments of their sections and what they need to cover this increasingly sophisticated beat more effectively."

Most of the respondents had between one and five years of experience on the business desk and worked for newspapers with a circulation of less than 50,000. Nearly one-third of the respondents were between 25 and 34 years old.