| |
||
| August 2004 | The
Monthly Newspaper of the NYSSCPA |
Vol.
7, No.11 |
Shining a Light on the Business Section of the Times Union
By Lois Whitehead, Public Relations Manager
The Times Union is the daily newspaper covering Albany. The 148-year-old paper has a circulation of more than 110,000 on weekdays and 150,000 on Sundays. In addition to providing extensive news from the capitol, the publication features international, national and local news coverage, augmented by stories from the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and The New York Times.
A responsive paper, the Times Union knows how to evolve to meet the interests and needs of its readers.
“When the paper first started, the business section had a small amount of dedicated space, usually tucked away at the back of an existing section,” said Marlene Kennedy, the paper’s executive business editor. “As the business IQ here and around the world rose…and the economy became more important to the lives of everyone, particularly those with 401(k)s, the paper gave business a section front that improved its visibility.”
Currently, the paper has three full-time business reporters who cover industry beats ranging from real estate and finance to high-tech, manufacturing and retail. Two part-time editorial assistants round out the staff.
If she had her way, Kennedy would have a minimum of five reporters and an assistant business editor. “The volume of local news,” she says, “is there to support such staffing.”
The newspaper has a Monday business section called “Portfolio.” Unlike many papers that gear the Monday business section to personal finance columns and rely heavily on wire content, given the lack of weekend staff, Kennedy decided to focus on the investor. She fills the section with stories on Wall Street, mutual funds and investment vehicles, a calendar of upcoming economic events, and financial profiles of publicly traded companies that have ties to the capitol region.
The Times Union does not regularly report on accounting issues, but has covered financial scandals at major corporations nationwide. Their Sunday features periodically spotlight facets of Sarbanes-Oxley and corporate governance.
This summer, the paper began a special year-long editorial project covering a new tech business founded by some recent graduates of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. Kennedy expects the series of articles to provide new and prospective business owners with valuable insight and universal lessons of enterprise.
The Times Union, in cooperation with the NYSSCPA, will host a session on understanding financial statements for journalists in the Albany area this fall.
