New York Times Reader

It is not just the depth of experience of The Times reporters that makes its business coverage unique, rather it is how Times stories are framed as they are written. Mark Tatge's volume looks at how these reporters balance compelling analysis and historical perspective, showing students specific ways to practice the craft of business writing. Delving into the fundamentals of covering the beat, the book is divided into two sections; one on the economy (inflation, jobs, wagers, debt and taxes) and another on business (Wall Street, mergers, profiles and investigative reporting). Tatge, having spent years at such publications as Forbes and The Wall Street Journal, provides a template for how to decipher complex terminology and cut through business babble, to discover the drama and excitement of how money is made, spent, and lost. MORE ABOUT TimesCollege . . . a series from CQ Press Whether it is the arts or science, medicine or business, you'll find stories that inspire while providing readers an insider's look into the rewards, challenges and everyday routines of beat reporting. The carefully selected pieces in each Reader cover the spectrum from news to features to analysis to blogs and other online innovations. Each volume also features these elements: Conversations with Times writers take readers behind the scenes to learn about their goals for the beat and how they got their jobs, as well as practical nuts-and-bolts information on how they report and write for a global audience in the multimedia age. Story Scan disassembles stories into their component parts, labeling and analyzing the elements that make good beat stories work. Making Connections questions and assignments sharpen thinking and prepare students to go out on the beat to start finding their own great stories.

Mark W. Tatge teaches business and magazine writing at Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. He formerly worked as senior editor at Forbes Magazine and as an investigative reporter at the Wall Street Journal, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Dallas Morning News and the Denver Post. He is a frequent financial commentator on ABC, CNBC, MSNBC, CNN, FOX and PBS.