Small town business reporting

1. Small town business reporting Chris Roush Assistant professor Director, Carolina Business News Initiative May 30, 2003 croush@email.unc.edu (919) 962-4092

2. My qualifications • Business reporter for Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Tampa Tribune and Atlanta Journal-Constitution. • Also worked for BusinessWeek magazine and Bloomberg News. • Spent three years as editor in chief of company that published financial magazines and newsletters.

3. What that taught me • The best business stories don’t necessarily have to be about business. • Good business stories come from the courthouse, from city hall and from the police department. • They also come from talking to people on the street. • You just have to know what you’re looking for.

4. The big city papers • Spend a lot of time writing stories about publicly traded companies who file documents with the SEC. • Makes it easier to cover business, because lots of information is disclosed. • Does it make reporters lazy? In some cases, I would argue yes.

5. Greenville? • No public companies based in the area. • But plenty of public companies with operations in the area, including Wachovia, Wal-Mart, Rubbermaid, Collins & Aikman and TRW. • Does this make your job harder? In some ways yes, but in other ways no.

6. Private companies • Most of your reporting will be done on private companies, who are not required to disclose information. • But there are ways of getting that information.

7. Government records

8. State records • The Secretary of State’s office has records on every business incorporated in North Carolina. • http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/Corporations/. • Here you can search by company name, new corporations or by registered agent.

9. What this will show you • Incorporation records give you a listing of a businesses officers, or executives. • It will also give you a mailing address and a phone number. • For private businesses, the CEO or president is often the owner of the operation, or at least the majority owner.

10. Secretary of State records • You can also search Secretary of State records to get similar information for other operations. • These include non-profit entities, limited liability corporations such as law firms and limited partnerships.

11. Occupational Licensing Boards • There are regulatory boards that govern dozens of industries in North Carolina. • They range from the Acupuncture Licensing Board to the Board of Veterinary Medicine. • These boards have Web sites where you can also find information about businesses in these industries. • http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/blio/occboards.asp?dtm=506469907407407#Z

12. County records • Before any sole proprietorship or partnership does business in North Carolina under an assumed name, the business name must be registered. • An assumed name is any name other than the real name of the owner or owners the business. • Business names or partnerships must be filed with the Register of Deeds Office in the county or counties where it does business.

13. Real estate records • Real estate transactions in Greenville and Pitt County are also recorded at the courthouse. • Large real estate transactions should be stories. How large is large? • Big plots of land being sold – 100 to 200 acres, for example. Is it being bought by a developer?

14. UCC Records • Who owes money to whom, and how much? • These documents are also available through the Secretary of State’s office. • http://www.secretary.state.nc.us/ucc/soskb/SearchStandardRA9.asp

15. The WARN Act • Employers who are laying off or firing workers are required to disclose such moves 60 days before they do it. • This is a document filed with the Department of Commerce division of employment and training (State Dislocated Worker Unit). • Make contact with your local Commerce Department to regularly check for WARN act filings.

16. The WARN Act • An employer must give notice if a plant will be shut down, and the shutdown will result in an employment loss for 50 or more employees during any 30-day period. • An employer must give notice if there is to be a mass layoff which does not result from a plant closing, but which will result in an employment loss at the site during any 30-day period for 500 or more employees, or for 50-499 employees if they make up at least 33 percent of the employer's active workforce.

17. Safety and Health • Worker complaints about unsafe or unhealthy working conditions should be made in writing to the Occupational Safety and Health Division. • The division conducts investigations of complaints made by workers, investigations of work-related accidents and deaths, general schedule inspections of randomly picked firms, and follow-up inspections of firms previously cited for OSHA violations.

18. Non-profit organizations • Even though they’re not in operation to make money, you can still find out financial information. • www.guidestar.com is a Web site with information about non-profit organizations across the country.

19. Non-profit organizations • Form 990 filed with the Internal Revenue Service. • Form 990 is required to be filed by tax-exempt organizations with more than $100,000 in annual receipts or total assets of at least $250,000. Form 990-EZ must be filed by smaller organizations, with at least $25,000 in annual receipts and total assets of less than $250,000. • The forms are public documents that reveal income, expenses, assets and liabilities; expenditures by program category; program accomplishments; names of officers, directors and key employees; compensation paid to officers, directors and key employees. Most religious organizations are not required to file Form 990.

20. Courts

21. Civil lawsuits • Businesses often sue each other for breaking contracts, not paying bills, etc. • Employees and former employees also sue companies. • Divorces, particularly those of executives, often have good information about the businesses owned.

22. Criminal • Would you write a story about the head of the local Chamber of Commerce if he was arrested? • What about a president or owner of a large company that is prominent in Greenville? • Always check police records anytime you’re writing about someone in business.

23. N.C. Industrial Commission • This is a quasi-court system that hears workers’ compensation injury cases. • Hearings are held in all 100 county seats. • Cases can be appealed to the full commission, which meets in Raleigh. Last year, more than 700 cases were appealed.

24. Bankruptcy Court • http://www.nceb.uscourts.gov/ • The North Carolina Eastern District is located in Raleigh. • Companies file for bankruptcy court protection when they can no longer pay their bills. • Chapter 11 filing will reorganize debt; Chapter 7 is liquidation.

25. Lawyers • Want to find a lawyer, but don’t know where to begin? • www.martindale.com • This will allow you to search for a lawyer anywhere in the country as long as you have their name. • Great for finding out-of-town lawyers filing cases in your jurisdiction.

26. N.C. Business Court • Complex legal matters that involve corporations across the state. • http://www.ncbusinesscourt.net/ • Can search active cases and the court calendar from this Web site to see if there are any cases of local interest.

27. The economy, stupid

28. Small town business stories • Consumers account for nearly 70 percent of the gross domestic product with their purchases. • What are consumers doing now in your area? Are they spending more? • Retail sales in Greenville were $116.9 million in December 2001, down from $133.7 million in December 2000. • Total retail sales in Greenville in 2001 were $1.55 billion, down from $1.58 billion in 2000.

29. Small town business stories • Stock price volatility gains headlines, but less than half of all households own a stock or a mutual fund directly. • Only 10 percent of households own 90 percent of stocks. • Interview consumers to see if stock prices have any impact on their spending plans.

30. Small town business stories • More than two-thirds of consumers own a home. Capital gains from rising house prices have supported consumer spending, especially cars and trucks, for at least three years now. • Interview homeowners to see how they respond to market incentives. • Have they refinanced? What did they do with the money?

31. Small town business stories • Unemployment and layoffs grab headlines. • New job creation rarely does. • Working for the same employer for a decade or more almost never rates a story. • Interview a sample of people to find people in the two latter categories and tell their stories.

32. Small town business stories • People who have lost their jobs are rarely unemployed for very long. • Interview a sample of people who’ve lost their jobs to see how long it took to find a new one. • What did they do to find the new job? • Unemployment rate in Greenville-Pitt County was 4.4% in 1998, up to 6% in 2001.

33. Small town business stories • Community colleges are the unsung heroes of the U.S. educational system. • Globally, only the United States and Canada have this type of institution. • Interview some students at Pitt Community College to find out their career goals and aspirations.

34. Small town business stories • The people in the bottom 10 percent of income distribution on average spend three to four times their income each year. • This suggests that temporary periods of very low income are planned for by many people. • Interview people in this income segment to see if this is true in Greenville.

35. Small town business stories • Turnover in the top 10 percent of income distribution is very high. • Interview people in this income segment to see how long they’ve been in this group. • Find some inspiring examples in Greenville to uplift readers.

36. Small town business stories • During the past 20 years, more than 40 million new jobs have been created in the United States. • Interview a sample of people in Greenville and find people in these new jobs. • Tell their stories. Did they move to Greenville to find the job? • Greenville-Pitt County labor force rose to 69,120 in 2001, up from 58,670 in 1995.

37. Small town business stories • About half of the people in the labor force work for companies with fewer than 10 employees. • These companies rarely make news, yet they are the most dynamic companies in the country. • Find some interesting companies in Greenville and tell their stories.

38. Small town business stories • Many small businesses struggle to provide benefits such as health insurance and retirement plans for their workers. • Talk to small business owners in Greenville about what they’re offering workers. • Do workers have to help pay for health coverage? How much?

39. Other resources

40. Good books • Writing about Business: The New Columbia Knight-Bagehot Guide to Economics and Business Journalism, edited by Terri Thompson. • How to Read and Understand the Financial News, by Gerald Warfield. • The Best Business Stories of the Year, 2003 Edition. Edited by Andrew Leckey and Allan Sloan.

41. More good books • Best Business Crime Writing of the Year, edited by James Surowiecki. • Bottom Line Writing: Reporting the Sense of Dollars, by Conrad Fink. SHAMELESS PLUG: Show me the Money: How to write business and economics stories for mass communication, by Chris Roush (due out in 2004)

42. Good Web sites • http://www.investopedia.com – Good site for tutorials and a business term dictionary. • http://www.investorwords.com/ -- The biggest, best site for investing terms on the Web. • http://www.economist.com/encyclopedia/Dictionary.cfm -- Breaks business terms into categories such as accounting, banking, E-commerce, economics, HR and personnel.

43. More good Web sites • http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/business/specials/glossary/index.html -- The glossary contains more than 1,250 business terms, organized and cross-referenced for your convenience. • http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/reference/busconn.html -- A selective guide to Internet business, financial and investing resources, compiled by Rich Meislin, editor in chief of the New York Times Electronic Media Co.

44. One last thought • Good business writers are hard to find. • Make a name for yourself writing business stories, and your career will take off. • A knowledge of how to write business stories can be applied to any beat at a newspaper or any publication.