Foundation Mission Statement
The practice of business-to-business journalism is undergoing enormous change, driven in large part by the rapid rise of powerful new media platforms, including blogs, audio and video podcasts, audio and video Web presentations, webinars, virtual conferences, and social networking environments. Not only do these platforms require new skills on the part of editors, but they change how editors prepare and present content for their traditional print publications. Given their central role as trained and experienced communicators for their specialized audiences, b2b journalists must strive to stay at the center of the editorial process as content increasingly is developed for these new media platforms. Meanwhile, the country's journalism schools have been slow to recognize the key role of b2b media as a major entry point for journalists, as well as a permanent career home for many.
Through its nationwide network of professional b2b publication editors, ASBPE is ideally suited to champion educational programs that serve the b2b editing profession, and to raise the profile of the b2b journalism specialty in the media world. No other organization in the United States today focuses exclusively on the professional development of b2b editors. Seeing this need, the board of ASBPE seeks to create through its ASBPE Foundation a platform for channeling contributions from b2b publishers, and others with a stake in the profession's continuing excellence, into dedicated programs targeted exclusively at the education of b2b editors.
Role of B2B Editors
The work of business-to-business editors is vitally important to the evolution of knowledge in the public and private sectors. Every industry is served by an array of magazines, newsletters, newspapers, Web publications, videos, and audio programming whose only mission is to facilitate the free exchange of information among professionals.
As the knowledgeable and highly trained specialists who manage and create the content for these publications and electronic communications, business editors are the key to the continued free flow of news, best practices, and technical research within an industry. Indeed, business editors are the indispensable knowledge workers who help shape the environment in which businesses and nonprofit organizations operate. These knowledge workers combine expertise in their subject matter with their skills as writers and editors to tell the stories that professionals in an industry rely on to grow their own expertise.
Foundation Board
President
Roy Harris, Jr.
journalist and author
formerly senior editor at CFO magazine
and CFO.com
rjharrisjr@aol.com
(781) 740-3114
Cell: (617) 512-0969
Vice President/Secretary-Treasurer
Robert Freedman
Realtor
National Association of Realtors
Washington, D.C.
Trustees
Tina Grady Barbaccia
Better Roads
Randall-Reilly Publishing
Paul J. Heney
Questex Media Group
Cleveland, Ohio
Warren Hersch
National
Underwriter Life & Health
The
National Underwriter Company
Jyme Mariani
Forth Worth, Texas
Steven Roll
State Tax Report
BNA Inc.
Washington, D.C.
Without b2b editors, companies and organizations would operate in a vacuum, hampered in their ability to grow due to inconsistent and insufficient flows of information among the professionals in their industry.
Press
Press release: Education parity is goal of new trade magazine
foundation
(36K Word doc)
ASBPE and the next generation of journalists