EVERY WRITER NEEDS AN EDITOR. Some are fortunate to have good ones; others have bad ones, and many have none at all. If you are in the latter two categories, Dick Weiss can help.
Dick offers workshops and provides one-on-one coaching in person or by e-mail for journalists, freelance writers, students, communications professionals, and those who have simply got a story to tell.
Dick has 30 years experience as an award winning reporter, editor and writing coach, most of them at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Visit "About WeissWrite" for a bio and writing samples.
Newspapers Next?
Innovate or perish: A newspaper ponders some radical options.
In a sign of what may be things to come, the San Jose Mercury News is talking about shifting as many as two-thirds of its print staff (about 200) to online. The paper, under one proposal could be cut to three sections: Live, Play and Innovate. Dick Weiss discusses this and other issues with McGraw Milhaven on the McGraw Show on KTRS-550 AM.
Dick's media segment airs each Monday at 11:05 a.m.
Click on the link above to listen to or download the podcast.
Click here for a list of all podcasts
Forest Park: The Jewel of St. Louis
"Forest Park: The Jewel of St. Louis" features nearly 200 rich archival photographs dating from the founding of the park -- more than 130 years ago -- to the present. The accompanying text, written by St. Louis natives Sally J. Altman and Richard H. Weiss, takes readers on a fascinating tour of the park, revisiting its founding, the 1904 World's Fair, the construction of the zoo, the Muny Opera, Saint Louis Art Museum and Art Hill, the History Museum, Steinberg Rink, Science Center and much more.
Plus there's a look back at key events, people and famous zoo critters, such as the Great Forest Park Balloon Race, Marlin Perkins, Phil the Gorilla, Siegfried the Walrus and the most dainty elephant Miss Jim.
Read about the book in the Post-Dispatch book section.
Listen to Sally and Dick talk about the book on Don Marsh's St. Louis on the Air on KWMU. (90.7-FM).
Visit the Post-Dispatch Store, get a preview look and buy the book.
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #28
A Time to Kill, and a Time to Heal. Click here to read Yuval's story.
Here is the story of Yuval, an Israeli pediatrician who saves the lives of Palestinian children. But Yuval has another job. He's an attack helicopter pilot who rains death and destruction on suspected terrorists and their hideouts in Gaza. The Washington Post's Laura Blumenfeld tells Yuval's story. Click on the link above to read it.
-- Dick Weiss
St. Louis Magazine Shines A Light On The Platform
St. Louis Magazine has a new edition out with a story on The Platform, a nascent online journal that will feature meaningful and interesting stories about St. Louis. It was founded by a group of St. Louis-Post-Dispatch expatriates, including yours truly. Click here to read it online: St. Louis Magazine.
-- Dick Weiss
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #27
American Imports, Chinese Depths. Click here to read Loretta Tofani's special report.
While we were all concerned about what Chinese products, particularly toys, were doing to our families and children, Loretta Tofani, a 1983 Pulitzer Prize winner and international correspondent, developed a different angle. What were these products doing to the Chinese workers who were making them? She found that many were dying or suffering from debilitating illnesses. Solving this problem isn’t nearly as simple as it sounds. Take note of Tofani’s nuanced approach as her story swings between a compassionate look at the plight of Chinese workers and a sophisticated appreciation for what it takes to drive the Chinese and American economies. Her work was funded in part with a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
-- Dick Weiss
Crackpot Crime Reporting
Misleading crime reporting damages St. Louis's reputation.
Once again St. Louis has been listed as one of the most dangerous cities in America by Morgan Quitno Press, an organization that uses FBI crime statistics in a way the FBI says is misleading. Nonetheless, the annual report gets wide attention. This year the city's civic leaders are waging an all-out effort to debunk the report. Dick Weiss discusses this and other issues with McGraw Milhaven on the McGraw Show on KTRS-550 AM.
Dick's media segment airs each Monday at 11:05 a.m.
Click on the link above to listen to or download the podcast.
Click here for a list of all podcasts
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #26
Gerald Boyd: The Jackie Robinson of the New York Times.
This week's installment concerns St. Louis native and former Post-Dispatch scribe Gerald Boyd who went on to become managing editor of the New York Times. He was fairly described as the Jackie Robinson of the Times but his career went down in flames in the wake of the Jayson Blair affair. He died of lung cancer a year ago. Now in a riveting and nuanced account, New York Magazine's Jeff Coplon tells Boyd's story.
--Dick Weiss
A Catholic Ordination At A Synagogue
A synagogue raises the ire of many Catholics when it hosts an ordination for women priests.
When a Jewish congregation agreed to host an ordination ceremony for women Catholic priests it struck a nerve in the community and with talk show host McGraw Milhaven. On Monday he referred to himself as Rabbi Milhaven. Why should this ordination be big news? Milhaven asked. And what was Rabbi Susan Talve thinking when she provided her synagogue as a venue? Dick Weiss responds on the McGraw Show on KTRS (550 AM). Click the link above to listen to or download the podcast.
Dick's media segment airs each Monday at 11:05 a.m.
Click here for a list of all podcasts
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #25
Los Angeles Times photographer Luis Sinco took a picture in Iraq three years ago that captured the nation's attention. It came to be known as the "Marlboro Marine," a battle weary soldier with a cigarette dangling from his lips. What's happened to that soldier since then? It's not a pretty picture.
-- Dick Weiss
Lipstick On A Pig
When circulation declines is that the time to raise prices and trim content?
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch's new tv guide offers larger print, but it's a step down from what it once offered -- and the guide is no longer available to a third of the paper's readers, non-subscribers. This is just one sign that cost-cutting at the paper is taking a toll. Dick Weiss and McGraw Millhaven discuss this and more on the McGraw Show on KTRS (550 AM). Click the link above to listen to or download the podcast.
Dick's media segment airs each Monday at 11:05 a.m.
Click here for a list of all podcasts
