To report on stories such as the Ambani brothers’ feud, journalists must know how to recognize signs of change within a company and what questions to ask. This requires intimate familiarity with good corporate governance practices and how directors and management in specific companies operate.

Companies not listed on a stock market — especially family-owned enterprises (FOEs) — are often highly secretive, and many state-owned companies (SOEs) might not keep or release reliable information. When writing about these more secretive enterprises, reporters need to develop sources inside and outside the company. Remember that employees, suppliers, competitors and distributors often have insights into companies.

Social networking sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, may provide unexpected insight, especially through employees’ eyes. Blogs, including those by company critics, are another useful tool.

Blogs, including those by company critics, are another useful tool. In both cases, journalists must verify all unofficial information and also be aware of personal agendas and grudges that some employees and bloggers might have.

For expert tips on how business journalists can use LinkedIn to find contacts and research company officials, see: http://bit.ly/IA4ymd

Knowing how to read and analyze financial statements and other company documents and regulators’ reports can often lead to stories, even if senior management refuses requests for interviews.

A Wall Street Journal reporter, Jonathan Weil, spent two months studying the subtleties of accounting for energy derivatives, consulting with accounting and derivatives experts and examining the U.S. Securities and Exchange (SEC) filings of Enron Corp., before writing a story in September 2000 that questioned the credibility of the company’s stated earnings.

His article did not attract much attention at the time. But some media analysts eventually credited Weil as the first to shine a light on the fraudulent accounting practices that led to the company’s implosion and criminal convictions of its top executives in perhaps the greatest corporate scandal in U.S. history.