Hispanic Heritage Month begins Sept. 15 and runs through Oct. 15, giving business journalists ample time to focus business features on consumers, business owners, workers and investors in the local Hispanic communities.

In her latest post on the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism website, veteran financial writer Melissa Preddy shares a few story ideas and resources for business journalists.

You can read her post here.

“There are roughly six million American citizens living abroad in 160 different countries,” writes Wayne. “As a group, they would be the 17th most populous state and, with numbers like that, they are increasingly becoming a target by the presidential contenders looking for financial support… For reporters covering campaign finance, it’s also time to look abroad.”

To view the full post, and link to others in the Campaign Watch series, click here.

Picture credit: By Flickr user csztova

Twitter has become an important social media tool for reporters, but how do you determine when a conversation warrants a story? And how do you verify the information is accurate?

Rosland Gammon, a former business journalist turned instructor at Alverno College in Milwaukee, talked to Ken Alltucker of The Arizona Republic about how he verifies and attributes material on a social media website.

You can read the full story here.

In a series of posts on the Reynolds Center for Business Journalism's website, Jonathan Lansner, a veteran reporter at The Orange County Register, details how to cover the story of real estate locally and nationally.

Some of the topics Lansner covers include:

• Tips for finding standout stories
• Avoiding traps and mistakes
• A glossary of terms
• Resources and experts

You can also find information on covering other business beats in our Beat Basics series on the site.

Photo: Flickr user CoffeeGo

As a New York Times business reporter, Leslie Wayne has covered Wall Street, politics, banking industry regulatory reform, municipal finance scandals and the aerospace and military industries.Now an adjunct journalism professor at Columbia University and New York University, Wayne shares her thoughts and advice for journalists in our Campaign Watch series.

Recent posts include:

• Digging Inside Super PACs
• Tracking the Big Role of Small Donors
• The Candidates' Financial Divide
• The Impact of the Presidential Election Campaign Fund
• Following Contributions From the Rich and Famous

If you're covering the election -- or are just interested in how the election is being covered -- you can read all the Campaign Watch posts here.