FTF Business

Fresh Take Business is a new, advanced reporting course that combines instruction in the basics of business journalism with the opportunity for students to publish their professional-grade enterprise stories on WUFT and in prominent Florida media outlets.

With the aim of teaching students how to follow a money trail, Fresh Take Business examines Florida’s best-known companies and industries, including Disney, Carnival Cruise Line, Publix and more; corporate public documents and economic data; small business and startups; scandals and crises; how companies use social media and much more.

Tourism, climate, real estate/affordability, ag, tech and other key Florida economic issues are the strike zones for reporting.  The also course includes reporting on the Florida state legislature’s business-focused bills and significant policy changes.

Fresh Take Business students, working closely with faculty editors,  produce two well-reported and distinctive business stories each semester under their own bylines to be distributed to and potentially published by leading news organizations.

In addition to in-class exercises simulating the real-world newsroom, students will produce two substantial, professional-grade business stories under their own bylines to be distributed to and potentially published by leading news organizations, similar to Fresh Take Florida.

Fresh Take Business professors Heather van Blokland and Gregg Birnbaum work closely with students on all aspects of their reporting. Whatever area of professional journalism students may pursue, having gained business and economic knowledge, along with top-level reporting experience, can be a major selling point to potential employers.

As with Fresh Take Florida, students are hand-selected each semester through an application process and generally are college seniors or juniors. The prerequisite is JOU 3346, Multimedia Reporting.

To apply for Fresh Take Business, please email Heather van Blokland at hvanblokland@ufl.edu.