• Let businessmen talk: Don’t create interviews or stories that set up businessmen with negative charges and allow them only one line to respond. If a businessman can’t comment for legal reasons, explain that and seek a trade representative who can give the business’s perspective.
   
• Don’t view money as evil: Businesses provide jobs and philanthropic support to communities. In order to do that, they must make profits, pay their executives, and sometimes raise their prices. Keep it all in perspective and avoid knee-jerk negative reactions to large sums of money. If in doubt, talk to an economist about the role of money in a particular situation.
   
• Pay attention to a variety of philanthropy: Sure, Warren Buffett overshadowed everyone in 2006 with a $43.5-billion donation. But according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, another 60 donors gave a combined $7.6 billion last year. There are businessmen giving in every city to both liberal and conservative causes, hospitals, schools, churches, and countless other beneficiaries.
   
• Find positive stories about big business: The majority of businessmen mentioned in 2006 came from big businesses, and the majority of those portrayals were negative. Small businesses were sometimes pitted against big ones to enhance the negative image of "big business." While bad things do happen in business, that doesn’t mean all big businesses are bad. Give balanced coverage to both small and big businesses.

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