Mae Anderson
Mae Anderson focuses on how economic shocks, corporate decisions and policy changes filter down to everyday businesses and consumers. She reports on small business, prices, tariffs and advertising, with a consistent emphasis on concrete impacts rather than abstract markets. Her work follows global events from wars to trade disputes and shows how they reshape costs, risks and opportunities on the ground.
Small business under strain
Anderson reports for the Associated Press on a wide range of issues that small businesses face.
Her author bio describes her as a small business reporter, and her stories track pressures on independent retailers, cross-border firms and local entrepreneurs. She covers topics such as small business acquisitions in a high interest rate environment, highlighting how rising borrowing costs slow deals and force owners to adjust succession or exit plans.
Her reporting on the US–Canada trade war shows how new levies and ill will between the countries fall hardest on small businesses that rely on cross-border sales. In that coverage she details how tariffs of up to 50% and higher energy costs connected to the Iran war erode balance sheets and threaten already thin margins.
She also writes about refund systems for businesses after courts strike down tariffs, explaining how compliance and paperwork become another burden for operators trying to recover money they overpaid.
Across these stories she treats small businesses as central actors in the economy rather than background characters. She follows owners through regulatory changes, wars and court decisions, showing how policy and geopolitics translate into rent payments, payroll and survival.
Prices, tariffs and global supply chains
Anderson’s business coverage regularly links global events to prices at the pump, in grocery aisles and on airline tickets. In a widely carried piece on higher prices for gas, groceries and flights, she reports on analyst expectations that those costs will outlast the Iran war, connecting energy markets, shipping routes and consumer inflation. She explains how disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and elsewhere ripple through supply chains, from crude shipments to retail shelves.
Her work on shipping firms waiting for Hormuz to reopen documents companies being “whipsawed” by changing stances and security risks, with hundreds of vessels stuck and costs mounting. She has also written on cargo ship crews facing attacks in the Gulf as a planned project to guide ships is paused, focusing on the human and operational toll of geopolitical uncertainty.
In Fortune pieces, she quantifies tariffs as a de facto tax on households, including estimates of the annual hit and how potential refunds might show up in bank accounts. She covers efforts to make new levies permanent and legal challenges to those moves, showing how trade policy fights shape both corporate strategy and consumer bills.
Supply chain accidents and disruptions also feature in her reporting. Her coverage of a UPS cargo plane crash at a major aviation hub explains how the incident temporarily disrupts the supply chain and leads to shipping delays, placing the event in the context of the company’s broader turnaround plan.
Across these stories she treats logistics, tariffs and energy as the hidden machinery behind everyday prices, making complex systems legible through specific business cases.
Advertising, scams and consumer behavior
Anderson frequently writes about advertising and the ways marketing reflects and shapes economic moods.
She has covered Super Bowl commercials over several years, from buzziest campaigns featuring celebrity cameos to spots that stress health, caring and resilience during difficult times. In these pieces she pays attention to how major brands adjust tone and message in response to economic anxiety and social tensions, and how they use humor, spectacle and nostalgia to stand out on the biggest advertising stage.
Her work also examines the darker side of promotion, including scams and deceptive ads. She has reported on online ads with elaborate backstories that lure shoppers with emotional narratives, explaining how such campaigns often front for low-quality products or fraud. In coverage of bogus solar tax-break offers on Facebook, she details how scammers target homeowners with misleading claims about eligibility, and how social platforms struggle to police those promotions.
These stories sit alongside pieces on tech and streaming services, including net neutrality fights and the expansion of video platforms by major companies, showing her long-standing interest in the intersection of technology, media and business.
Taken together, her advertising and scam coverage portrays a marketplace where storytelling, algorithms and regulation collide. She follows both global brands and bad actors, focusing on how messages reach consumers and what happens when trust is broken.
Corporate pay and economic power
Beyond small business and advertising, Anderson reports on executive compensation and corporate influence. In a story on CEO pay jumping nearly 10% in 2024, she uses data from a large survey of executives at S&P 500 companies to show how rising profits and stock prices translate into bigger packages at the top.
She explains the methodology of the survey and situates the numbers within broader debates about inequality and corporate accountability.
Her occasional book reviewing, noted in her professional bio, adds another lens on economic and business themes. Across her body of work, she moves between boardrooms, shipping lanes, small storefronts and ad agencies, maintaining a focus on who gains, who pays and who bears risk in the contemporary economy.
4 more business journalists.
Aaron Karp
Aaron Karp is distinct for connecting airline networks, airport infrastructure, air cargo and policy. He is a senior editor at Air Transport World and has covered aviation since 1999. He has also worked as an editor for cargo-focused and daily aviation publications. His real beat is how airlines and airports respond to growth, regulation, trade conditions, sustainability pressures and technology changes. He covers route planning, network development, airport capacity, infrastructure, cargo flows, trade lanes, safety, air traffic control and future technology. He reports through news, features, opinion pieces, briefings and podcasts. He uses data, executive insight and industry conference reporting to explain market changes. His work links cargo metrics and trade policy to carrier strategy, and connects infrastructure and sustainability decisions to resilience, costs and long-term growth.
Adrienne Roberts
Adrienne Roberts is a business journalist at the Detroit Free Press who covers how policy, regulation and corporate decisions affect Michigan’s cannabis market, jobs, universities and health systems. She has a sustained focus on cannabis taxes, licensing, sales, product rules, consumer safety and local tax revenue. She also reports on unemployment, worker protections, corporate settlements, hiring, higher education, student safety, housing, data centers, health care access and economic forecasts. Roberts joined the Detroit Free Press in 2020 after covering automotive retail, dealers and labor issues for The Wall Street Journal. She explains complex business and regulatory changes with data, legal detail and on-the-ground voices. Her stories focus on practical effects for workers, students, consumers and communities, showing both the numbers and the people behind them.
Alex Bronzini-Vender
Alex Bronzini-Vender is a business reporter who focuses on how economic forces and corporate decisions shape specific communities and industries. He covers business for the Washington Monthly, writing reported pieces at the intersection of commerce and public life. His work reflects the magazine’s emphasis on linking markets and money to power, policy, and everyday experience. He treats business not as balance sheets and deals but as choices that affect local realities. In “Fear and Loathing in Palo Alto,” he uses a city tied to the tech sector to examine how a powerful industry influences a community. He grounds his business beat in on-the-ground consequences rather than treating corporate and financial developments in isolation.
Alex DeMarban
Alex DeMarban stands out for tracking major energy projects over time while showing how economic shifts affect local businesses. He reports for the Anchorage Daily News on business, oil and gas, and general assignments. His coverage focuses on Alaska LNG, long-haul energy projects, mining, ports, transportation infrastructure, and the everyday businesses that keep the state running. He examines financing, tax legislation, labor agreements, regulatory approvals, timelines and costs, and connects government and corporate decisions to workers, communities and consumers. He also reports on restaurant closures, grocery stores, breweries, meaderies, parking and trade disputes. His past coverage includes an open-pit mine near the proposed Ambler road, federal port grants and competitive elections. He reports through dollar figures, project details, public records, business owners and affected workers, showing how policy and resource development play out on the ground.