The News You Need, and the News the AJC Should Print
Written: Mar 25 '00 (Updated Mar 25 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Thorough coverage; skilled reporting; lots of scoops and gossip
Cons: Occasionally prone to boosterism
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| greggles's Full Review: Atlanta Business Chronicle |
In a town as single-mindedly dedicated to making dough as Atlanta, it's fitting that the best paper devotes itself entirely to covering business. If you've got the money, they've got the time to cover you, and cover you well.
Who's up? Who's down? Look inside
A weekly paper, the Business Chronicle does a bang-up job of surveying just about everything that counts in Atlanta business. Young as the Business Chronicle might be, the paper's coverage is a throwback to the days when the city fathers -- no one voted for them, but there they were -- ruled the roost. Everyone and everything that counts to the Atlanta establishment gets constant scrutiny, from Coca-Cola and Delta to relative newcomers like Earthlink (née Mindspring) and Home Depot.
The paper's stable of reporters is young and highly motivated. Many go on to the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Upside and other top-notch publications. They use the Chronicle as their springboard. Reporters build far-flung networks of sources, and those sources get milked for all they're worth. The result: in spite of a whopping imbalance in staff resources, the Chronicle scoops the Journal-Constitution -- a much bigger, daily paper that ought to get the news first -- just about every week.
Great investigative specials, savvy industry coverage
Alongside its bread-and-butter coverage of small business and breaking news at big companies, the Chronicle carries a lot of exhaustive investigative stories that really make waves. In the last few years, the paper's managed to throw almost its entire staff at under-reported stories with huge ramifications for the region: waste and mismanagement at the Atlanta Housing Authority, lax enforcement by the state Environmental Protection Division, and transportation projects that were sweetheart deals for well-placed local developers. The Journal-Constitution invariably follows up with extensive reporting in the following months [sometimes with journalists snapped up from the Chronicle =, ], but one has to wonder anyone would have run with those stories if the Chronicle hadn't delved into them first.
Another strong suit: sector-specific coverage, which makes up the bulk of the inside pages. Beat reporters get regular columns for to get out tidbits of information that don't merit a full story, and on top of that, each gets a chance to put together a section about their industry on a regular basis. The commercial real estate sections outpace the rest of the specials by a country mile -- no great shock, considering how far Atlanta sprawls. That said, you can count on learning plenty from the regular sections on telecom and hospitality, as well.
On the whole, a really good resource
The weekly lists -- covering topics from "largest law firm" to "largest apartment developer" -- might not make the mouth water, but for people who want to know detailed information, they're the best resource in town. The paper makes a mint just compiling those lists into a book and selling them at the end of the year.
I can only think of a couple of downsides to the paper. Commentary can sometimes get pretty weak -- the paper doesn't have any regular columnists, so the ones they freelance are of uneven quality. More bothersome is the occasional cheerleading that creeps onto the pages, especially in commentaries and in special sections on real estate. Given the city's constant hand-wringing about its image, though -- you've hosted the Olympics, people, so relax already! -- a little puffery here and there probably can't be helped.
If you want to know how Atlanta works, this is the paper you need to read. It might be short on sports and TV listings, but the business of Atlanta is business. And Atlanta business is what this paper's all about.
Full Disclosure: I worked for this paper for about a year. They didn't pay me anywhere near enough to sway my opinion, but hey -- I'm all about being honest.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
greggles
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Member: Greg Greene
Location: Chicago, Ill.
Reviews written: 6
Trusted by: 10 members
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