Monday, December 05, 2005

Fifteen Questions

Congratulations. You've just been hired as second banana on the Missoulian's business desk. It's your first day on the job, and your boss has just told you that Lee Enterprises, the Missoulian's owner, has announced that it is moving its corporate headquarters from Davenport, Iowa, to Missoula. (Not really. It's just an exercise in backgrounding a business.)

Your boss will contact Lee officials in Iowa to do the main story on the reasons for the move and the consequences for Missoula.

Your job is gather information for a sidebar, perhaps a big graphic. You've got the rest of this class period to provide that information in the form of a comment to the blog. You may use any sources short of calling Lee or its employees. Cite your sources. Be sure they're authoritative.

The questions:
  • How many newspapers does Lee Enterprises own? What's Lee's total daily circulation?
  • What's its biggest paper? What's its circulation? How has the paper itself been in the news lately?
  • Who are Lee's top corporate officials?
  • How much was its top official paid in 2004?
  • What's Lee's stock selling for today?
  • How much revenue did the company report on its most recent annual report?
  • Lee is not forecasting normal earnings over the next few years. Why?
  • How old is the company? Who is its founder? How did its connection to Montana come about?
  • Are there any independent business analyst who follow Lee? Name a couple.
  • What's the most unusual fact you've found to spice up the profile?

2 comments:

Dennis Swibold said...

Mythbuster No.1 -- Be a little circumspect about corporate histories and claims to fame. Mark Twain may have worked for the daily in Muscatine but that was long before Lee bought it.

Mythbuster No. 2 -- A Bismarck Tribune reporter named Mark Kellogg did die with Custer at the Little Bighorn in 1876, but that was 102 years before Lee's purchase of the paper.

Dennis Swibold said...

Good scavenging, newzhounds. The one fact that seemed to vary widely, however, was Mary Junck's compensation. What gives? See the newest blog entry.