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.
National Night Out: Your Tax Dollars At Work
Matt A Peskin, the man who created National Night Out (coming up Tuesday, Aug. 7 in a neighborhood near you) is paid a salary of $255,000 plus $42,000 in benefits to oversee an organization with just one full-time employee. Part of his salary is supported by a federal grant. In other words you pay for it. There's no evidence that neighborhood watch groups spawned by Peskin's organization prevent crime. There's some evidence that it makes people feel better about their neighbors. Worth it? Read the Philadelphia Inquirer's story and decide.
The Best Stories You've nEver Read #11
Many of us know an eccentric neighbor who lives alone and keeps to himself. Usually that's just fine with us. But what if the neighbor needs help? Would you get involved? Well Bill Judge's neighbors did and the story they told reporter Pam Kelley is at once inspiring and surprising. Kelley's account can be found in the Charlotte Observer.
-- Dick Weiss
Shannon Next For Hall of Fame?
Cards announcer Mike Shannon deserves induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Post-Dispatch sportswriter Rick Hummel was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame last week. Shouldn't Mike Shannon be next? Dick Weiss and McGraw Milhaven discuss that and how Hillary Clinton's cleavage became a campaign issue on the McGraw Show on KTRS (550 AM).
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The Best Stories You've nEver Read #10
How much would you pay for a playset for the kids? How about $6,000? How about $10,000 or even $98,000? Reporter Diane Mastrul found parents who did just that, all in the interest of keeping their kids away from the video games and the tube. Her story can be found in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
-- Dick Weiss
Trapped At The Top Of The Arch
KSDK provided first rate coverage of the drama that unfolded Saturday night at the Gateway Arch.
KSDK news did a splendid job covering the the story of more than 200 people trapped for hours at the top of the Gateway Arch on a Saturday night. Other TV stations didn't do as well. And the Post-Dispatch was an hour late and a dollar short in its coverage, Dick Weiss tells McGraw Milhaven on the McGraw Show on KTRS (550-AM). Dick's media segment airs each Monday at 11:05 a.m.
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The Best Stories You've nEver Read #9
Shannen Rossmiller slipped and fell in her bathroom on the day of the 9/11 attacks and as a result we're all a little safer. Bored and restless during her recovery from a broken pelvis, Rossmiller, a Montanan and municipal judge, began monitoring internet transmissions among Islamic extremists in the Middle East. Over a period of years, she became one of the FBI's top terrorist cyber hunters by posing as an extremist herself.. Her story is being chronicled this week in a five-part series in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
-- Dick Weiss
Public Relations in St. Louis: An Interview with Rita Holmes-Bobo
Recently I had a chance to discuss trends in public relations with Rita Holmes-Bobo, president of the St. Louis chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and senior manager for public affairs at Express Scripts, Inc. Rita also has worked for the St. Louis Public Schools. She offered some interesting comments on her work with each of those organizations. She also offered some great tips for young people who want to prepare themselves for a career in PR. Click on the link above to listen to or download the podcast interview.
-- Dick Weiss
Robert Novak Outs A Source -- Posthumously
Is it okay to reveal a source's name after that person dies, even if that person told you not long before his death that he wanted to stay off the record? That issue surfaced this week when syndicated columnist Robert Novak outed his source, the late U.S. Sen. Thomas F. Eagleton. Dick Weiss and McGraw Milhaven discuss it on the McGraw Show on KTRS (550-AM). Dick's media segment airs each Monday at 11:05 a.m.
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The Best Stories You've nEver Read #8
This piece from the Los Angeles Times will
tear your heart out. It's about the dozens of babies at LA's Cedars-Sinai Hospital who contracted HIV through blood transfusions in the 1980s before hospital officials could trace the source of the
contamination to tainted blood donations. Many children didn't live long; but others remain alive today. The father of one child who died at age 11 has been on a mission for more than a decade to hold the hospital accountable. Hampering Bruce Kasper's quest is the fact that some of the survivors are keeping their infections a secret for fear of being stigmatized and shunned. But he has found an ally in one young man who wants some answers.
-- Dick Weiss
Anchor Rancor
A television anchor who has both a professional and a romantic relationship with Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa draws fire from critics. Also MSNBC's Keith Olbermann calls on Bush to resign. So what? Dick Weiss and McGraw Milhaven discuss it all on the McGraw Show on KTRS (550-AM). Dick's media segment airs each Monday at 11:05 a.m.
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