Biz writing for the web and multimedia

If you’re a working journalist, chances are you’re spending more time writing for the web and for multimedia platforms. Learn how to polish your writing skills and hone your writing process, particularly as it pertains to online writing with a Society of American Business Editors and Writers conference call scheduled for Monday, Oct. 15 at 2 p.m. EST.

This session is designed to help both experienced and up-and-coming journalists.

The moderator is Mary Jane Pardue. Pardue is assistant department head in the Department of Media, Journalism & Film and an associate professor of journalism at Missouri State University. Before coming to Missouri State, she was business editor at The Commercial Appeal in Memphis. Prior to that, she worked at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and the Nashville Banner in Nashville in a variety of reporting and editing positions.

The panelists will include:

• Janet Kolodzy, associate professor, Emerson College. Kolodzy brings more than two decades of professional journalism experience in print and broadcast news to her teaching of convergence-oriented and broadcast journalism courses at Emerson College in Boston. Before joining the Emerson faculty, she was a reporter, writer and producer at CNN International and CNN World Report. She also served as assistant state editor at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

• Eric Umansky, senior editor, ProPublica. In addition to working closely on ProPublica’s site, Umansky edited much of the news organization’s financial coverage, including a Pulitzer Prize-winning series about Wall Street. Previously, he worked at Slate. He’s also written, mostly on national security issues for The New York Times Magazine, Washington Post, The New Republic, and elsewhere. Earlier in his career, he was editor of MotherJones.com. Umansky is also a co-founder of Document Cloud.

• Dick Weiss, Weiss Write LLC. Weiss is an award-winning writer and editor with more than three decades of experience at American newspapers. While keeping his day job at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Weiss started WeissWrite LLC in 2003 as a writing, editing and coaching service for anyone with a story to tell. In 2005, he retired from the paper to devote all of his energies to WeissWrite. Weiss and his wife, Sally J. Altman, are also editors for the St. Louis Beacon – stlbeacon.org – a new online journal started in 2008. At the Post-Dispatch, Weiss was a metro editor and writing coach.

For more information contact SABEW board members Kim Quillen or Pardue. Quillen can be reached at quillenkim@gmail.com. Pardue can be reached at mjpardue@missouristate.edu