Dick's Picks: The Nation's Best Business Stories

Dick Weiss writes a blog twice a month  for the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism that highlights the best business stories around the nation. Here's an excerpt from the latest entry. Click on Dick's Picks to read the entire report.

Connecting The Story Dots 

You can find three sure-fire paths to finding a good business story -- or any story for that matter:

1. Start with an ending.
2. Connect the dots.
3. Zig when others zag.

My three picks illustrate each of these techniques. The San Jose Mercury News begins with endings -- defaults, foreclosures and settlements of court cases. Reporter Pete Carey examined what happens to vulnerable Latinos in Santa Clara County who are duped into signing real estate deals that are far more than they can afford.

Daniel Gross, the Moneybox columnist for Slate, connects the dots with his commentary on how Starbucks began losing its panache -- if not its customers -- by turning out too many cookie cutter stores. He then tied it into many other formerly cutting-edge companies whose fortunes really have gone south.

Ellen Barry of The New York Times came up with my favorite story for this cycle with a piece about weekly papers that are doing well (zigging) while the rest of the newspaper industry is sinking (zagging).

Click here to read more: Dick's Picks.