We break down advanced enterprise information that will help you perceive how cash strikes in Chicago and the way it impacts you.
Having spent my whole profession in enterprise journalism, I’ve misplaced rely of the variety of individuals, together with household and buddies, whose eyes have glazed over whereas I defined what precisely a enterprise reporter does. And when different reporters and editors study I’ve all the time needed to cowl enterprise, it usually attracts a glance of shock.
Enterprise information usually has the stigma of being too advanced, boring or disconnected from the day by day struggles of the typical shopper. However I’ve all the time discovered it fascinating as a result of companies impression a lot of our day by day lives, whether or not it’s the inconvenience of not discovering a retailer worker that will help you or the joy of your organization providing you with that hard-earned increase.
In order that’s why I’m excited to announce the Solar-Occasions is launching its new Money section Monday, on New Yr’s Day, with me as its editor. Chances are high you’ve seen the brand new part on-line or in Monday’s print version.
To be honest, we’ve had enterprise tales and investigations on our web site — and sometimes in print — from Solar-Occasions reporters, together with David Roeder, the now-retired enterprise reporter behind the popular Chicago Enterprise column. (He’ll proceed to report for us as a contributor-at-large.)
However this part is one thing completely different. I don’t need individuals to have that glazed look after they learn the Cash part. We wish readers to be engaged.
Beneath the helm of Solar-Occasions Government Editor Jennifer Kho, the newsroom has added staff and expanded our coverage to raised serve readers. After listening to from many neighborhood members who needed extra details about shopper points, private finance and native economies, the Solar-Occasions dedicated to making a Cash part centered on on a regular basis shoppers within the Chicago space. We took steps to create a Cash crew and bolster our on-line and print presence via this launch.
Actually, it’s a wild promise. It’s no secret the information enterprise is hurting. Employment agency Challenger, Grey and Christmas reported final month the information business introduced 2,681 job cuts for the 11 months that led to November, larger than the 1,808 cuts in all of 2022 and the 1,511 in all of 2021.
The nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Research described 2023 as “the worst year for the news business since the pandemic.” Whereas final yr’s job cuts aren’t a record-breaking quantity, any time a paper trims employees it means a much less knowledgeable neighborhood. A November report from Northwestern College’s Medill College of Journalism discovered greater than 130 newspapers closed or merged in 2023. And by the top of this yr, the nation is predicted to have misplaced one-third of its newspapers since 2005.
So it’s vital the Solar-Occasions has taken steps to be neighborhood first and spend money on its newsroom. That’s why I joined the paper as its Cash editor in Could — with out ever having visited Chicago or Illinois. After 11 years of enterprise reporting and enhancing in Southern California and Nevada, I noticed this as a chance to assist reimagine enterprise protection at a newsroom that cares deeply about Chicago and has an extended historical past of holding these in energy accountable.
This implies going past the normal view of enterprise information to discover the way in which cash intersects with the problems our audiences care most about, from housing to crime, politics, fairness and extra. We wish to assist readers perceive why enterprise ought to matter to them and provides them the instruments wanted to make higher choices about their cash.
Readers ought to really feel empowered after they learn our tales, with a greater understanding of how they may also help their neighborhood thrive. Our future protection will take a look at methods Chicagoans can higher handle their cash, tales that discover how neighborhoods are altering and the financial engine of each metropolis — small companies.
Please help us by studying this part and checking us out in print, Sunday to Friday. Tell us what you suppose by emailing money@suntimes.com.
It’s also possible to help the Solar-Occasions by donating or changing into a member at suntimes.com/become-a-member or subscribing to the paper at suntimes.deal.com.
