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.
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #24
Nude photos on phone throw former NFL star for a loss. What happens when the cheering stops in the NFL? , Well, if you are former all pro Tyrone Hughes of the New Orleans Saints and other teams you become a hall monitor at a Dallas high school in the hope that maybe, just maybe, they'll let you coach and add a $3,000 stipend to your $19,000 salary.
But then something awful happens. A kid steals your cell phone. He sees that you've got nude pictures on it. Instead of the kid getting nailed, you get canned because you threatened the kid to get the phone back... or so it's alleged. And once you were making $2.6 million a year and driving a Jaguar.
Dead Pols Society
Tom DeFrank juices his career by pulling the plug on a great story.
Reporter Tom DeFrank gave up a big scoop in 1974 when then vice-president Gerald Ford told him that he expected President Nixon would leave office. Ford begged DeFrank to put it those remarks off the record, though the reporter was under no obligation to do so. Even so, DeFrank caved. Instead of giving his readers the story, DeFrank was rewarded with unusual access to Ford throughout the rest of his life. Now that Ford is gone, DeFrank is free to write what he wants about the late president. 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
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #23
What Killed Baby Lucas?: Lisa Mullenax and her husband, Alejandro Mendez Vargas lost their three-month old baby, Lucas, in 2002. But that doesn't begin to describe their nightmare. Alejandro was accused of killing the child by shaking him. The prosecutor announced he would seek the death penalty As it turned out there was considerable evidence to show that Lucas had died of a rare blood disorder and that the hospital reporting the alleged abuse had overlooked it. Even so, the prosecutor kept after Vargas though it offered to reduce the charges to time served and asked only for a no contest plea. Vargas faced a difficult decision. Should he accept the plea bargain even if he is innocent? This is a heart-wrenching tale well told by Tom Avril of the Philadelphia Inquirer.
-- Dick Weiss
Hillary Plays Ball With Drudge
Hillary leaks to the man who nearly ruined her husband. Click here for the podcast.
It's axiomatic that politicians have no permanent friends no permanent enemies, just permanent interests. Such is the case with Hillary Clinton whose campaign has been leaking material to Matt Drudge, according to the New York Times. Drudge is the guy who was a useful tool for conservatives who wanted to impeach Bill Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Also man bites dog: A state bureaucrat saves taxpayers millions.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
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #22
It was just one of those adult education courses -- a French class. But now Kathleen Diamond's course is in its 30th year with almost all of the same students, many in their 80s and 90s.Kathleen is thinking about saying finis, but hasn't yet. ."We would miss it," one of her students says. "It's become terribly important in our lives." Read Brigid Schulte's moving story in the Washington Post.
-- Dick Weiss
When Pols Use People As Political Foils
Using real people as political tools. Click here for the podcast.
It's not true that the Democrats plan to ask a puppy to deliver the response to President Bush's next weekly radio address. But if they did, that puppy could expect a whipping. That's what 12-year-old Graeme Frost and his family got after Democrats recruited Graeme to respond to Bush's veto of the State Children's Health Program. Should everyday people (especially those who are brain-injured like Graeme) be used in this way by one party and attacked by another? 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
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #21
Many years ago the U.S. government encouraged a practice of having the children of unwed mothers on Indian reservations adopted off the reservation. Those children ended up in the hands of whites, some of whom would mention to their kids ... you have some Indian blood in you.... That made those children curious and sent them looking for their roots. In a moving story, Curt Brown of the Minneapolis Star Tribune tells of a homecoming on the White Earth Indian Reservation in northwestern Minnesota.
-- Dick Weiss
Political Coverage Runs Off The Rails
Sen. Harry Reid plays into Rush's Hands. Click here for the podcast.
Cable pundits obsess over Hilary's cackle, Rush's broadsides and the horse race. Meanwhile the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the nation's newspapers reconfigure the news for your PDA. 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
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #20
Robert Henke wants to make a huge contribution to mankind by building an earthquake probe that can predict the way soils will react in a seismic event. Unfortunately, the effort over 25 years has created a quake of its own. He lives alone in a tiny one-bedroom apartment, having lost his wife and his home, having spent $1 million of his mother's fortune, and having his 17-year-old son face a prison term. Read Gadi Dechter's account of Henke's Ahab like quest in the Baltimore Sun.
Gadi was nice enough to write me a detailed note about how she got this story. If you'd like to read it, click on "Read more" below:
-- Dick Weiss
The Post-Dispatch: Less Costs More
Single copies of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch now cost six bits. Worth it? Click here for the podcast.
Single copies of the Post-Dispatch now cost 75 cents as the newspaper trims its staff. Across the state, the Kansas City Star still sells for 50 cents. But in cities as diverse as Spokane, New York, and Baltimore newsstand prices are on the increase. Does this makes sense with circulation falling? Why not charge more for papers with key sections that lack advertising (such as sports) and less for those laden with ads? McGraw Milhaven and Dick Weiss discuss this and Justice Clarence Thomas's provocative interview on "60 Minutes" 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
