Paid by the Word: Conversations with Writers and Editors

In this episode of the podcast, I'm interviewed by radio talk show host Mike Bennett. Mike and I go way back, and I hope you enjoy our conversation as he prompts me to reflect on my career as a journalist and share some highlights from my recent expedition into the wonderful and rapidly expanding universe of podcasting. This episode is our Season One Finale, and we'll be taking a short break before launching Season Two in October. Please subscribe to Paid by the Word on your favorite podcast platform and catch up on any episodes you might have missed. They're all absolutely free, of course! 

Following the twin shocks of Brexit and the election of Donald Trump, the concept of a unified western Transatlantic community seemed like a sentimental relic of a bygone age.  Yet in his new book, Pax Transatlantica: America and Europe in the Post-Cold War Era,  author and international historian Jussi Hanhimäki explains why the relationship is far from over.Despite the potential fallout from current trade wars—especially between the US and China—and the rise of economic nationalism, the West still benefits from significant transatlantic trade and massive investment flows. Hanhimäki traces the parallel evolution of domestic politics on both sides of the Atlantic, focusing on the rise of populism. He contends that populism is not causing a rift between the US and Europe. Rather, the spread of populism demonstrates that their politics and culture remain closely integrated.I hope my conversation with Jussi renews your sense of optimism about this truly remarkable alliance.

When you're dealing with the law, every word counts. And every period and comma counts, too! In this episode of the podcast, I interview Tami Aisenson, principal court attorney for the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court. Tami is a lawyer, but quite a bit of her work at the Appellate Division involves writing, and she faces many of the same challenges that confront journalists, such as constantly sifting through facts and evidence to determine what's true and what isn't. In many ways, she's seems like the ideal journalist, engaged in a never-ending search for objectivity and truth. Tami is a graduate of Hamilton College in Clinton, NY, and I'm delighted that she took the time to chat with me. I hope you enjoy our conversation!  

In this episode, I speak with award-winning author and teacher Cynthia Gregory. Her published short stories include Baby Blood, Melting at Both Ends, Use Me, and Rosalinda's Ambition.Cynthia's work has appeared in respected publications such as The Sun, Glimmer Train, the Briar Cliff Review, Santa Barbara Review, The Ear, and Central PA Magazine.  She took second place in the Writer's Digest annual fiction contest, first place in the Glimmer Train Family Matters short story competition, and first place in the Mark Twain Short Fiction Prize. Cynthia is also the author of Journaling as Sacred Practice, a book that helps writers stay focused and productive. She writes that each of the book's chapters, is "a love letter to the art of creative writing, where both the fledgling writer and the seasoned scribe will find encouragement, advice, and lessons in the craft of journaling." I'm delighted that Cynthia found the time in her busy schedule to sit down and chat about her work. I hope you find our conversation, which was recorded in November 2020, to be entertaining and useful. 

In this episode, I'll be chatting with radio personality Mike Bennett, the popular co-host of Mike & Kacy in the Morning on WHUD, the radio station serving New York State's Mid-Hudson Valley, a region with seven counties and more than 1.1 million residents.Many of those residents listen to WHUD, and Mike's baritone voice has become a familiar part of their daily routines. If a snowstorm forces your local schools to close early, or it's National Nurses Day, chances are you'll hear about it from Mike first.Mike is also the author of “Don't Pay the Ransom, I've Escaped: Memories of a Life on the Radio.” I love Mike's book, which captures his gentle humor, his affection for the Mid-Hudson Valley, and his sheer enjoyment of being on the radio. I hope you enjoy our conversation! 

Jackson Thompson is a sports writer for Insider. His articles tend to focus on the health – and the rights – of athletes. Jackson's work has also been featured in The Boston Globe and Sports Illustrated.Over the course of his career, he's covered the NFL, college football, college basketball, horse racing and New Jersey high school sports.  In this episode of the podcast, Jackson shares some interesting tales of sports journalism, and he recounts the time he covered the Hambletonian Stakes, one of America's most famous harness racing competitions.

Alfred Poor, PhD, is the founding Editor of Health Tech Insider, a website and weekly email newsletter that provides curated news and original analysis about mobile and wearable technology for health and medical applications. Alfred is known internationally as a speaker, writer, and analyst. Armed with a biology degree from Harvard, he's spent the past 30 years reporting on a wide range of technology topics. For more than two decades, he wrote extensively for PC Magazine and other major computing titles. Alfred is the author or co-author of more than a dozen books, and he continues to be fascinated by shiny, sparkly things that can make a difference for the better in people's lives.In our conversation, we talked about his role as a health tech futurist. We also spoke about the evolution of tech journalism and we talked about what happens to society at large when you stop paying writers to create in-depth carefully reported articles. I began by asking him how the shift to online publishing changed the economics of storytelling ...

Door-to-door selling. If you've ever done it, you know it's grueling work. Throughout most of its history, door-to-door selling was considered a man's job. That was before Avon invented the Avon Lady, a concept that revolutionized selling and opened the door for generations of women who wanted to become independent entrepreneurs.Katina Manko, an independent scholar, has written a thoroughly researched book about the history of Avon's distributed sales force model and its lasting impact on our culture. I couldn't help but draw comparisons between the Avon Ladies and their modern-day counterparts in the gig economy. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Katina, and I hope you have a chance to read her book, Ding Dong! Avon Calling! Wow, just saying that brings back memories of my childhood.

Edvige Jean-François is an award-winning global journalist and producer. At CNN, she served as Washington Bureau Producer, responsible for producing national and political news stories. She covered Capitol Hill, the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. State Department and the White House. She was a producer for CNN's Jim Acosta, delivering reports for The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and other major network news franchises.  At CNN International, a subsidiary of CNN, she served as a senior producer of international features and sponsorships, and as a producer of special projects.I caught up with Edvige recently and we had a wonderful conversation about journalism. We spoke about the skill and the instinct that enables really good journalists to uncover the interesting little stories that are often hidden within the larger stories. I hope you enjoy our conversation!

Professor Phoebe S.K. Young teaches undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Colorado in Boulder. She is the recipient of the 2016 Boulder Faculty Assembly Award for Distinction in Teaching and Pedagogy. She is also the author of two books, California Vieja: Culture and Memory in a Modern American Place  and Camping Grounds: Public Nature in America from the Civil War to the Occupy Movement.  In our conversation, Professor Young spoke about why she chose to write about camping, and what she learned over the course of her research.

Joyce Garczynski is the Assistant University Librarian for Development & Communications at Towson University's Albert S. Cook Library in Maryland. In this role she teaches journalism students about the research process and manages her library's social media. She obtained her Master's Degree in Library Science from the University of Maryland, College Park and has a Master's in Communication from the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to becoming a librarian, Joyce was a Project Coordinator and Research Assistant at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Joyce received the 2019 Distinguished Education and Behavioral Sciences Librarian Award from the Association of College and Research Libraries for her excellence in teaching and service to the profession. She is the author of two books about library fundraising.

Can driving a truck help you become a better writer? Euan Semple is living proof that sometimes, at least, doing something that's not related to writing can result in ... better writing!Euan has been a leader and an influencer in the ever-changing field of digital technology for two decades. An early adopter of social media he implemented one of the world's first enterprise social network systems inside the BBC. He also ran BBC DigiLab, a department whose purpose was to help the BBC understand new technologies across the range of its activities and make better decisions about their use and implementation.  Euan left the BBC in 2006 to establish his own consultancy and has subsequently worked around the world with an amazing range of organizations including BP, The World Bank, The European commission, and Volvo.  His work with them has been to help stretch their thinking about digital transformation in all its forms and to ensure that they end up doing the right things for the right reasons.Euan is the author of Organizations Don't Tweet, People Do: A Manager's Guide to the Social Web, and it's my great pleasure to have him on this episode of the podcast!

In this episode of Paid by the Word, Mike interviews Clark Merrefield, a senior editor at The Journalist's Resource, a project of Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center and the Carnegie-Knight Initiative. Clark  joined The Journalist's Resource in 2019 after working as a reporter for Newsweek and The Daily Beast, as a researcher and editor on three books related to the Great Recession, and as a federal government communications strategist. He was a John Jay College Juvenile Justice Journalism Fellow and his work has been awarded by Investigative Reporters and Editors.In our conversation, we chat about the basics of investigative journalism, and talk about some of his recent articles for The Journalist's Resource.

Stephen Janis is documentary filmmaker and award-winning journalist whose work has  earned praise in both video and print.  He's the director of the recently released feature length documentary, The Friendliest  Town,  a compelling story of the controversial firing of the first black police chief of a small town in Maryland.He is the co-author of three books with former homicide detectives Why Do We Kill:  The Pathology of Murder in Baltimore , You Can’t Stop Murder: Truths about Policing  in Baltimore and Beyond , and The Book of Cop: A Testament to Policing That Works.  Stephen has narrated a variety television shows including Dead of Night on  Investigation Discovery, NBC/Universal Relentless , the Netflix reboot of Unsolved  Mysteries , and the forth coming crime series Sins of The City on Television One.  He is the co-host and producer of the Police Accountability Report on The Real  News Network, a non-profit news service based in Baltimore.  

Glenn Proctor's life reads like an adventure novel: a difficult childhood, family tragedy, alcoholism, six years in the U.S. Marine Corps (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), four decades in newspaper journalism, sharing in a Pulitzer Prize and judging five Pulitzer Prizes, becoming a peer support advocate and a life coach.  He is a cancer survivor and the author of five books. It's an honor and pleasure having Glenn as a guest on the podcast!Visit his website to learn more about Glenn. Here are quick highlights of his career in journalism:Reporter, Weekend Editor and Night Editor​ at the Akron Beacon Journal ​​Night Editor and Business Editor​ at the ​Louisville Courier-Journal Assistant Managing Editor​ at the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle Associate Editor, Assistant Managing Editor and City Editor​ at the Newark Star-Ledger Executive Editor and Vice President of News​ at the Richmond Times-Dispatch

Ellen Horan is the author of 31 Bond Street, a historical novel published by HarperCollins.  Set against the backdrop of bustling, corrupt New York City four years before the Civil War, the book recounts the tale of a murdered doctor, a mysterious woman who may or may not have killed him … and the political forces at work in the city in the late 1850s … I genuinely enjoyed Ellen’s novel, and I found her descriptions of old New York absolutely fascinating! Ellen has worked as a studio artist and as a photo editor for magazines such as Vanity Fair, Vogue, House and Garden, Forbes, and Art News. She is a visual editor on illustrated books about fashion, design and family history.  Ellen currently lives in Brooklyn, and I’m delighted that she took the time to chat with me.  One of the interesting stories she told me about the book is its origin story. It all began in a print shop where she saw an old newspaper page … on the page was an etching that caught her interest … soon her curiosity became a passion, as she strove to learn more about the story behind the etching.  Ellen’s investigation … and her research … led her to write 31 Bond Street. And the rest, as they say, is history. I began our conversation by asking Ellen if she had enjoyed the process of researching an historical novel based on a real murder … the grisly slaying of Dr. Burdell and the subsequent trial of his alleged killer.  

Rachelle Dickerson began her career in print journalism, working as a copy editor at major American newspapers such as Newsday, the Los Angeles Times, the Houston Chronicle and The Star-Ledger. In between, she taught language arts and journalism in the New York City public school system. After leaving the newspaper industry, she decided to become a lawyer, and earned her juris doctor from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University in Houston.Currently, she is communications manager for Missouri City, a small city in Texas that’s a short drive from Houston. Rachelle assists in managing the city’s day-to-day integrated communications, marketing and branding operations.Rachelle is a native Texan, but she was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and I am delighted to have her as a guest on the podcast. I began our conversation by asking her about one of my favorite topics: newsroom diversity.

Do you have the skill and passion to be a sports journalist? Adam Hirshfield, a senior NFL editor at The Athletic, reflects on his career in the new episode of the Paid by the Word Podcast. Over the course of his career, Adam has covered a wide range of sports – everything from high school football to the Olympics. Before joining The Athletic, Adam worked at USA TODAY, the NBA, Bleacher Report and The Palm Beach Post. I caught up with Adam in February 2021, a couple of weeks after the Superbowl, and we had a great conversation about the joys – and the challenges – of sports journalism.  If you're not familiar with The Athletic, it's a subscription-based publisher specializing in high quality, in-depth sports coverage for die-hard fans. The Athletic has carved a niche for itself by offering original, authentic stories, written by talented local and national sports journalists.

Walter Middlebrook is the Foster Professor of Practice in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at The Pennsylvania State University. Middlebrook has worked in editing roles at the Minneapolis Star, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Dispatch, Newsday, New York Newsday, The New York Times, USA Today and The Detroit News.At The Detroit News, he supervised an award-winning investigations team, while producing weekly entertainment and opinion stand-alone sections. Before that, he managed the newspaper’s award-winning department that included the metro desk, state house, and Washington, D.C., bureaus.Middlebrook has earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Detroit chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He also has earned a Distinguished Alumni Award from Boston University and the Spirit of Diversity Award from Wayne State University.He is a native of Memphis, Tennessee, and an Eagle Scout. I am delighted to have Walter Middlebrook as a guest on this episode of the  podcast, and I am sure that you will enjoy listening to the story of his career as a journalist.

Joe Toplyn began his television career on the writing staff of Late Night with David Letterman. He later served as co-head writer of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, head writer of Late Show with David Letterman, and co-executive producer of the comedic detective show Monk. A four-time Emmy winner, Joe is the author of Comedy Writing for Late-Night TV: How to Write Monologue Jokes, Desk Pieces, Sketches, Parodies, Audience Pieces, Remotes and Other Short-Form Comedy. I have found Joe’s book to be an extremely useful guide for multiple genres of writing. The book’s all-around utility never fails to challenge and amaze me. Joe also offers writing tips and advice on his website, www.joetoplyn.comIn our conversation, Joe shares several of the techniques he uses to tighten his prose, sharpen his jokes and consistently deliver world-class humor. Give us a listen, and enjoy!

Martha Laham is a college professor, writer, and author. She has taught business, marketing, management, and advertising at universities and colleges for more than 30 years. In addition to teaching, Martha has authored college textbooks in marketing and selling, developed instructional materials for educational publishers, and contributed to HuffPost. Prior to going into the education field, Martha worked in the media, advertising, and promotion industries. She is the author of Made Up: How the Beauty Industry Manipulates Consumers, Preys on Women’s Insecurities, and Promotes Unattainable Beauty Standards and The Con Game: A Failure of Trust. In this episode, Martha talks about Made Up, and explains how the beauty industry uses its monolithic power to influence our behaviors and our beliefs.

For most of recorded history, we have enjoyed an abundance of energy sources. As a result, we haven’t been forced to think much about using energy efficiently. We no longer have that luxury. Although we still have plenty of energy sources, it’s becoming increasingly clear that our environment has a limited capacity for absorbing the harmful byproducts of our energy-intensive economies. This episode features a conversation with Elena Cahill, author of Power Economics: An Executives Guide to Energy Efficiency, Conservation and Generation Strategies. Elena is an attorney, educator, business executive, investor and entrepreneur. She's a respected energy industry consultant with decades of hands-on experience, and her perspectives reflect many years of practical work in the field.Elena has a down-to-earth approach to energy economics and decarbonization. "Energy efficiency is more of a journey than a battle. It starts with small steps, taken at the local and state levels. It is a matter of identifying and then practicing good habits in our daily lives, at home and at work," she writes. I always enjoy my conversations with Elena, and I hope you find this episode interesting, useful and inspiring.

Journalist and historian Colin Woodard is the author of six wonderful books: American Nations, American Character, Union, The Lobster Coast, Ocean's End and The Republic of Pirates. In this episode of Paid by the Word, Colin talks about the 11 rival cultures of North America. For me, this conversation was like having a loud alarm go off while I'm trying to sleep. Understanding the long and complicated history of North America's competing cultures is essential, especially now, when it seems as though the United States has entered a new age of political instability.I hope you enjoy listening to our conversation, and that you are inspired to learn more about our common past -- and our likely future.

Dan Mangan spent more than a dozen years as a general assignment reporter for The New York Post, where he wrote stories on a wide range of subjects, including the Sept. 11 terror attacks, the off-field activities of New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez, and a rabbi who arranged for a bar mitzvah party in a Manhattan jail for an inmate's son.Dan got his start in journalism writing obituaries for his hometown newspaper, The Hour, in Norwalk, Connecticut. Later on, Dan was a reporter at The Stamford Advocate, also in Connecticut, where, among other assignments, he covered the trials of Alex Kelly, a local high school athlete who became an international fugitive. Kelly spent more than seven years on the run before being extradited from Switzerland to the United States and convicted of rape.Today, Dan writes about politics for CNBC.com. I caught up with him recently and, naturally, we talked about the craft of journalism.

Eric J. McNulty is a writer, speaker, and educator who specializes in crisis leadership. Eric is the associate director of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative, a joint program of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He is also an Instructor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Eric is a co-author of “You’re It,” a non-fiction book about leadership in times of crisis and transformation. The book offers uniquely detailed accounts of crises and disasters such as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the Boston Marathon bombings and Superstorm Sandy.Eric is also founder and chief provocateur of the Elephant Wisdom Project, an organization dedicated to raising funds for elephant conservation. I began our conversation by asking Eric to tell us about the Elephant Wisdom Project and how it came about.It’s always a pleasure talking with Eric because you never know where the conversation will go. If you’re interested in learning more about Eric and his projects, please visit his website, www.ericmcnulty.com

Newspaper journalist Thomas Maier is the author of five highly successful non-fiction books. His topics include the Newhouse publishing empire, the life of Dr. Benjamin Spock, and the intertwined relationships of two famous families, the Churchills and the Kennedys. His newest book, Mafia Spies, shows how the CIA recruited two gangsters to assassinate Fidel Castro during the Cold War. In a starred review, Booklist called it "brilliant" and "enormous fun" … A paperback version of Mafia Spies has just been published, and it’s a great read!Tom is probably best known as the author of Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love. He also served as a producer of the Emmy Award-winning Showtime series based on the book.In this episode, Tom talks about his adventures as a biographer, and shares how his investigative reporting skills led him to astonishing stories about his subjects.

In this episode of Paid by the Word, my guest is Naedine Hazell. Naedine is a consummate journalist with three decades of experience working at daily newspapers. For more than 20 years, she served in a variety of newsroom management roles at the Hartford Courant, the nation’s oldest continuously published newspaper. She served as city editor, special projects editor, page one editor, assistant managing editor, and editor in chief. She also spent four years as a travel writer for the Courant.Naedine was a Pulitzer Prize judge four times, and at the end of this episode, she talks about her experiences judging Pulitzer Prize submissions. It’s a great story … and I am delighted to have Naedine as a guest on this podcast.

Globally respected technology leader and best-selling author Jonathan Reichental muses on the success of his book about smart cities and shares his motivations for writing.

Editor and writer Heather Clancy shares her expertise and insight on green business journalism, and explains how gardening and scuba diving inform her approach to work.

Ralph Keyes is the author of 16 books, including The Post-Truth Era and Is There Life After High School? which became a Broadway musical that is still produced in the U.S. and abroad. In this episode, Ralph talks about his newest book, The Hidden History of Coined Words and shares fascinating stories from the annals of neology.

Experienced writer and editor Lydia Dishman shares practical tactics and advice for career-minded journalists and freelance writers. This episode deals with the gritty details of writing professionally and creating the mindset required for producing high quality content on a consistent basis. Lydia also talks about why it’s important for journalists to keep diversity in mind when looking for expert sources.

Does the idea of writing or editing in a foreign country excite you? Globe-trotting writer and international editor Tom Popper talks about his career and offers practical advice for footloose scribes.  I enjoyed chatting with Tom, and I hope you enjoy listening to this episode!

Elisa Wood, an energy writer and chief editor at Microgrid Knowledge, shares professional advice for writing and editing technology stories. Even if you aren't a technology writer, you will enjoy listening to Elisa's perspectives on writing for niche media outlets.

Admired sports columnist and author Kevin Cowherd offers his perspectives on journalism, fearless writing and the importance of including the voices of real people in non-fiction narratives.Kevin is the author of When the Crowd Didn’t Roar, a wonderful book that chronicles a 2015 match-up between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox played in a stadium with no fans. Many of the events described in Kevin’s book eerily foreshadow the major league games played in empty stadiums and arenas during the pandemic. I caught up with Kevin recently and spoke with him about his long career as a newspaper journalist. It's a great interview, and Kevin clearly demonstrates why he's one of the best sport writers in the business.

In this episode, I am honored to have Paula Paige as my guest. Paula is a former colleague and a newsroom legend. She is unquestionably one of the best copy editors I have ever worked with, and she’s also a great human being. She’s compassionate, thoughtful, and resilient. Paula is the only person I know who has had two parallel and fully-realized careers: one in civilian journalism and the other in military public affairs.In our conversation, Paula talks about the fine points of editing, and explains why it's important to keep up with the latest trends in language.

Award-winning author and journalist Mike Barlow provides tips, tactics and survival strategies for professional writers and editors.