At a time when the newspaper industry is suffering significant losses and the financial industry is redefining itself, a new undergraduate course will combines the two areas. Adjunct professor and veteran business writer at The Philadelphia Inquirer Joseph N. DiStefano has developed such a course at Saint Joseph’s University.

Students enrolled in DiStefano’s course, Business Research and Reporting, will learn about the precarious financial state of the news media and how hyperlocal business reporting is fueling the engines of newspapers and local companies.

DiStefano says the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis has shifted the type of stories business writers explore in their reporting. When stocks were doing well, reporters wrote “cheerleader stories,” he says. “Now, we’re responding to reader concerns about the economy and writing stories focused on the job market, loans and foreclosures, and other vulnerabilities within the industry.”

At the conclusion of the course, DiStefano says he wants students to have a stronger idea of what kind of news becomes news. “For business students, this course will familiarize them with data and information commonly reported by the media. I want these students to learn how to evaluate this information and share it with others,” he says.

For communications students, this course offers reporting strategies for the budding practitioner. “Students will learn what makes a good news source and how to investigate empty claims,” he says.

Despite the challenges within the newspaper industry, DiStefano says business research and reporting is of more value today than ever before.

“Business reporting gives people a reality check,” he says. “We live in a world defined by our surroundings. Citizens have a right to know who the players are in their area or what their taxes are paying for or what companies are pumping toxins into local atmosphere and why.”

Thomas Jefferson once said, “information is the currency to democracy.” DiStefano views newspapers and, more specifically the business section of your local paper, as a credible, independent source of information for citizens. “The companies won’t tell you, the government won’t tell you…citizens rely on us [newspapers] to inform them of what is happening in their backyards.”

DiStefano’s class, Business Research and Reporting, is offered for the first time this fall semester and open to undergraduates of all majors.