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I'd like to see you cover the big story at Bostic Construction, or at least link to the Business Journal's excellent ongoing coverage of the topic. I think I've seen one N&R article on the subject. Seems like the blog can help you catch up -- if you talk to a single good source, that turns into a blog post, and after a while the blog posts and the energy they help generate create a big feature article.

I agree with Ed. The implosion of a $200MM company should be big business news, and it has received very little coverage in the N&R.

But the Bostic story has a ways to go before it completely plays out, and you have an advantage over the Business Journal - you can post a story in minutes, while they have to wait as long as a week.

I could say that's not exactly the kind of story idea I was looking for, but in the interest of civility ... what I will say is that the Bostic story is bigger for the small audience that reads the Business Journal than it is for us.

Nate DeGraff has caught up with it, though, and will keep up with the bigger developments as they happen.

As far as long-term coverage for the future goes, I defer to my friend John Nagy, the new business editor. (It feels good, by the way, to forward the big decisions to somebody else for a change.)

Now I return to my topic ... got any good story ideas about blogging for the masses?

Not to belabor the point...But what are you talking about? The Bostics are local celebs. One was a prominent politician, both were football players...the implosion of the company was seemingly rapid and complete. Why it's not a blogging topic, and fodder for print, is confounding. Nate, John Nagy...any comments?

Ed, you made a good point. The whole Bostic story came on the radar about the same time as Dell. Given our limited resources, we went with Dell. Nate did a decent job catching up to what has been pretty good coverage by our colleagues over at TBJ. We'll stay plugged in to it and follow major developments, but it's not going to be of the caliber of, say, what Roy Carroll wants to do with the old Wachovia tower. Yeh, the Bostics are minor "celebs," but they're largely out of the public eye for now, especially Joe.

And Patrick, you're right about the magnitude of the company, but that's not the sole measure. Does it affect a lot of local people? (No.) Does it have a major impact on the community? (Not really.) Does it say something about our times (A bit.) The TBJ does well in covering a lot of business stories that other businesses care about. We have a much wider audience, and not all of them care about all the nuances of this story.

I have to agree with Ed and Patrick. The lack of coverage seems to me to come more from being nice to good guys (they ARE good guys and good to Greensboro) and not making their misfortune or bad management into a public spectacle. I think the N&R has the right to "protect" favorite sons, but the comparison of the value of the story weighed against the "nice" protection of the Bostics just doesn't hold water. I don't want anyone held up to ridicule, but public scrutiny is what news is about -- at least that's the argument made for other stories run incessantly that deal with non "good ole' boys." Do you want names? Can you spell "AHA"?

So, who is your audience for business coverage, both in the paper and at this business blog, and how is it different from the BizJournal's audience?

Ed, good question. I'm preparing a blog on that very issue. Sit tight. Hopefully I'll finish it before this baloney sandwich (no pun intended there.)

Sue, sorry if I misread your comment, but are you suggesting our lack of coverage was so we didn't have to drag out the Bostics' dirty laundry? Far from it. I thought I made it clear previously: we had other stories of higher priority to pursue.

You can argue that the Bostic story is a priority, but scroll up a few posts to look at my criteria. Bostic Construction had no significant projects locally (I believe they had already finished the A&T dorm work), did not employ a large number of people locally and their legal troubles did not signal significant trouble for the greater community or economy.

We make judgment calls all the time on what to cover. Being "nice" to someone or trying to soften bad news is not in the criteria.

John said in his 2/25/03:
"their legal troubles did not signal significant trouble for the greater community or economy."

I disagree. I can't tell you how many local subcontractor's and their families, and the vendors that these Subcontractor's used (and now can't pay because they havent' been paid) have been affected.

If you factor all the employees that had to be let go by the Subcontractors Bostic used, in addition to the Bostic employees let go, you have a huge loss of jobs.

Bostic relied heavily on a loyal base of local Subcontractors that included Framers, Brick Masons, Painters, HVAC, Electrical, Landscapers, Grading/sitework, Trim Carpenters, Welders, Exterior(vinyl, railing & gutters),etc. These Subs were loyal to the Bostic Organization and were willing to travel to all of their job locations ( in at least 9 states) and do whatever it took to get the job done on time. And what recourse do they have now? Squat.

Oh, sure - they can file liens and mount up huge attorney bills. Only to be told that these liens are being erased/dismissed due to foreclosure - so that the foreclosed property can be sold "unencumbered". Where is the justice in this?

Oh, the Bostic's and Mr. Morris will be fine. They have their investments in the 20+ properties they completed (and have ownership interest in) that will pay them handsome returns for years to come.

There is a huge trickle down affect when you look at the big picture and all the people & companies (here & in other states) that were affected by Bostic's failure. How is that not a worthy local story?

There are many people who don't read The Triad Business journal and will never know about this story. But our community has a right to know. Why not cover it from the stand point of all the small business owners and Subcontractors that were affected and what they can do in the future to protect themselves from unscrupulous companies like Bostic.

There were also vendors that Bostic used locally that have been greatly affected as well.

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