North Carolina Business News Wire, created by UNC-CH business professor Chris Roush, is a newly created service that seeks to augment coverage of public companies – especially smaller ones – across the state.

Many “go uncovered” and the UNC service “wants to change that.” UNC students are the reporters.

NCBNW launched last week, and WRAL TechWire is committed to being one of its publishing partners.

As the Internet revolution continues to destroy the newspaper industry and transform other media, one especially hard-hit department has been Business. Internet-focused news sites have tried to fill the void but, as is the case of WTW, most have a niche focus – either in coverage (such as technology and life science with a focus on North Carolina firms) or geography. University news teams such as those at UNC-CH, NC State and Duke are a helpful resource for media organizations such as WTW and provide extensive coverage but these are limited to specific university-related news.

Realizing that there is a big void in coverage, Roush hatched the idea for a student-staffed service. While he provides direction and editing, students do the legwork.

And the goal is an ambitious one.

“There are more than 100 publicly traded companies in North Carolina, but many of them — particularly the small, entrepreneurial ones — go uncovered by the media in the state,” Roush says at the NCBNW website.

“The business journalism program at UNC-Chapel Hill wants to change that.”

Having reviewed NCBNW content and talked with Roush about the effort, WTW welcomes the addition.

Our first NCBNW content is being published today: A story about NeuroePro Therapeutics raising $165,000.

Veteran journalist guides student reporters

Roush, who is the Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-CH, is a veteran business reporter and editor. He worked with Bloomberg News, BusinessWeek, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and the Tampa Tribune before joining UNC.

And he has considerable talent from which to draw: UNC-CH’s well-regarded journalism school.

To kick off NCBNW, Roush has assembled a diverse team of students who earn course credit for their efforts (staff bios are included later in this post). He needs the people. As any editor involved in trying to cover North Carolina business can tell you, there is far more news than any one (WTW’s case) or two (The News and Observer) … or around 10 (The Triangle Business Journal) can ever hope to cover.

“[T]his website will contain breaking news about North Carolina public companies based on their Securities and Exchange Commission filings,” Roush explains. “We’ll primarily focus on the ones that don’t get the attention of the larger media.”

SEC filings are not easy reading. Here, Roush’s extensive background comes in to play. He knows what the forms and bureaucratic lingo means. He’ll be working with his student team to help explain what these companies are up to.

Fortunately, the service is being offered free of charge to all media organizations.

Types of stories

They plan to provide stories focusing on:

  • 8-K materially important events happening in public North Carolina companies, including mergers and acquisitions, board member resignations and executive changes;
  • Insider buying and selling;
  • Quarterly earnings;
  • Companies filing to sell additional shares;
  • Executive compensation;
  • Buying and selling of stock by major shareholders;
  • Regional economic data such as unemployment;
  • Money raised by private companies;
  • Patent and trademark applications.

WTW looks forward to NCBNW’s contributions. As readers, so should you.

(If you want to learn more about the program, contact Roush at croush@email.unc.edu).


Meet the NC Biz News Wire staff

The NCBNW staff for the Fall 2016 semester:

  • Joe Baglio is a senior business journalism major from Andover, Massachusetts. He has interned with Deloitte, run a full service dog service called Puppy Pals, and is the president of the Carolina Hockey team at UNC.
  • Elizabeth Fleischer is a senior business journalism major from Charlotte. She has interned with Grant Thornton and the Charlotte Observer and served on the board of directors of The Daily Tar Heel.
  • Elizabeth Harvell is a senior business journalism major from North Carolina. She has interned for The Street.com in New York and has worked at The Daily Tar Heel. She is also editor of The Future of Energy, a site by UNC students interested in how activists, utilities and businesses are reshaping the future of energy.
  • Lauren Thomas is a senior business journalism major from Spartanburg, South Carolina. She has interned for TheStreet.com in New York, Bloomberg News in New York and CNBC.com in San Francisco.
  • Evanne Timberlake is a senior business journalism major from Winston-Salem. She has also studied Hispanic literature and interned for French West Vaughan in Raleigh and for StartupGrind of the Triangle.
  • Justina Vasquez is a senior business journalism major from Fayetteville. She has worked for The Daily Tar Heel and the Reese News Lab at UNC, and interned on the business desk at NPR.
  • Hailey Waller is a senior business journalism major from Manhattan Beach, California. She spent her sophomore year studying at Sciences Po in France, so she is fluent in French. She has interned with the Los Angeles Clippers.
  • Wei Zhou is a senior business journalism from Zhengzhou, China. She has interned with The Wall Street Journal in Shanghai and worked at The Daily Tar Heel as a senior writer.