Copy Editor Managing

BILL BONVIE

*** ********* **, *********, ** *****

Phone: 609-***-****; Email: **********@*****.***

EDITOR / REPORTER / HEALTH/ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER

OPINION WRITER / AUTHOR / ADVERTISING COPYWRITER

PROFESSIONAL WRITING AND EDITING EXPERIENCE

NEWSPAPER REPORTER AND EDITOR

Have worked in a variety of newspaper jobs (as listed below) for several dailies and weeklies (including the one for which I currently work, the Pine Barrens Tribune), including reporter, copy editor, bureau chief, columnist, editorial writer, and managing editor of a free weekly.

FREELANCE ARTICLE AND COMMENTARY WRITER

Have been writing newspaper commentary and opinion pieces (both serious and humorous) for over three decades. Newspapers in which my op-ed and commentary articles have appeared include The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Record of Bergen County, N.J., The Berkshire Eagle, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; the Orlando Sentinel and the Asbury Park Press.( Fifty of these were republished in a 2014 essay collection Repeat Offenders, which was accepted by the first publisher to whom it was submitted (See Author category).

HEALTH/ENVIRONMENTAL WRITER AND BLOGGER

Have co-authored a substantial number of newspaper and magazine articles on environmental and health-related topics. One of these, an expose of the spraying of airline cabins with a toxic pesticide on international flights written in collaboration with my sister Linda Bonvie, led to the practice being halted by more than 20 countries at the urging of the U.S. secretary of transportation.

Also wrote the twice-weekly blog Food Identity Theft for the website of the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Citizens for Health from January 2014 until April, 2015. The blog, which covered the health effects of ingredients used in processed foods, included a number of original “scoops,” such as the revelation that monosodium glutamate, which cause severe adverse reactions in many people, was among the ingredients used in Herr’s Old Bay potato chips and other snack items, even though Old Bay Seasoning itself (which was depicted on the package) does not contain this potentially dangerous additive.

I also have done extensive “ghost blogging” and online editing of blogs for clients.

ADVERTISING COPYWRITER

Experience includes having written ads, brochures, direct mail, radio spots (both straight and humorous), audio/visual scripts, trade-journal articles and press releases, as well as writing and designing newsletters, for both a select clientele (including a major utility, Connecticut Light & Power) and dozens of ad agencies and design studios throughout the Northeast. Accounts have ranged from high-tech equipment manufacturers to banks, business-to-business services, recruitment agencies, real-estate developers, hotels and restaurants.

FREELANCE EDITOR

Have done extensive editing and rewriting of blogs posted online by clients (which has often involved turning very rough and incomplete concepts into finished professional prose suitable for publication on other sites), along with rewriting and editing manuscripts, including the book UNCHARTED WATERS by Anthony Zolezzi. https://www.amazon.com/Uncharted-Waters-Boat-Boardroom-Lessons-Learned/dp/097*******

AUTHOR

Co-author, A CONSUMER’S GUIDE TO TOXIC FOOD ADDITIVES (first published in January 2017, as BADDITIVES, then updated in 2020, with sales steadily accelerating in the years since until the book was recently ranked among the top 10,000 on the Amazon.com bestsellers list (Skyhorse Publishing, New York City) https://www.amazon.com/Consumers-Guide-Toxic-Food-Additives/dp/151*******

Author, REPEAT OFFENDERS: 50 Essays Reflecting a Record of 'Prior Convictions' Compiled From a Quarter Century of Petty Punditry (published September, 2014, by Divertir Publishing, Salem, N.H.) http://www.amazon.com/Repeat-Offenders-Bill-Bonvie/dp/193*******

Co-author, CHEMICAL-FREE KIDS: the Organic Sequel (2008), THE DETACHMENT PARADOX (2004), and THE STEVIA STORY: A Tale of Incredible Sweetness and Intrigue (1996). Also ghosted a substantial part of the original CHEMICAL-FREE KIDS: How to Safeguard Your Child’s Diet and Environment (2003), as well as editing the entire manuscript.

NEWSPAPER JOBS

REPORTER/ COPY EDITOR

Pine Barrens Tribune, Southampton, N.J. (May 1, 2018 - present)

As a reporter, I have not only covered municipal governments and myriad local stories in up to a dozen rural and suburban communities but have delved into the hidden aspects of agenda items (e.g., a substantial hike in water and sewer rates affecting the residents of a senior community) and broader county and regional developments (such as covering a series of lengthy hearings on a controversial proposal to convert a long-popular dragway into a storage area for junk cars), as well as writing obituaries for area notables. One article I did on the fatal shooting of an immigrant by a state trooper on the Garden State Parkway was linked to by The New York Times after I discovered that the victim was being treated for schizophrenia in talking to his ex-girlfriend.

As copy editor, I have not only vetted every issue for both errors and stylistic inconsistencies but made sure that headlines were written in old-school professional style (something I introduced to the paper when I first came aboard) and have penned many tabloid-style wordplays on lead stories.

WEEKLY REAL-ESTATE ADVERTORIAL WRITER

The Press of Atlantic City, November 2019-January 2022

Researched and wrote advertorials appearing in the Sunday paper about shore community and suburban homes on the market every week for 26 months after interviewing the owners by phone and determining their most unique and attractive features, as well as coordinating photos. Gig also included cover features for the paper’s monthly real-estate magazine (one of which was for a theater for the presentation of stage plays in downtown Atlantic City).

MANAGING EDITOR/ STAFF WRITER

South Jersey Review, Washington Township, Gloucester County, N.J. (March - November, 2000)

After taking over the reins of this free weekly, I quickly turned it into a source of information on issues of importance to local residents that were totally overlooked by other area media. Exclusive articles that I both initiated and wrote included cover stories on an alleged case of racial profiling by police, Verizon’s having caused a major delay in a $3 million county road project, and interviews with a new, progressive-minded municipal judge and an acting police chief who was making major reforms in the department even while his position was being challenged. Also was responsible for assigning and editing correspondent contributions, editing sports stories, assigning photos, writing creative headlines, and other editorial tasks.

STAFF WRITER, The SandPaper Surf City, N.J., 1992-95

Responsibilities included reporting and analysis of diverse local and regional issues. including nuclear power and the difficulties faced by coastal homeowners in obtaining insurance. Achievements included scooping area dailies on a number of important stories, including an insurance company memo that revealed illegal redlining practices, an interview with the Whitman Administration’s insurance commissioner that disclosed unannounced regulatory changes, and coverage of an ABC News 20/20 segment on federal flood insurance that caused a huge amount of controversy, complete with a follow-up interview with correspondent John Stossel.

COPY EDITOR

Asbury Park Press, Neptune, N.J., 1995-1997

The Telegram (now The Connecticut Post) Bridgeport, Conn., 1984-85 and again in 1988

Journal-Courier, New Haven, Conn., 1986-87

The Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, Mass. 1971, and again in 1973-74

Responsibilities included editing stories and writing headlines, story summaries and cutlines for both local and wire copy; editing features pages (including selecting items and photos and writing snappy heads and cutlines for “People” column), and editing and designing obit pages, ensuring accuracy and completeness of information and deciding when special obits were warranted.

REPORTER, Milford Citizen, Milford, Conn., 1974-76

Was the sole reporter responsible for a separate edition covering neighboring West Haven, with one exclusive story involving a politician's criticism of high-school hockey fans turning into a major controversy that brought several hundred people out to a city commission meeting, with repercussions that lasted for months.

REPORTER, COPY EDITOR

Atlantic City Press (now The Press of Atlantic City), 1965-69

Covered several municipalities, as well as regional issues such as a lawsuit filed against Atlantic City by a number of suburban communities, with my coverage praised by the presiding state judge as reflecting a more accurate understanding of the issues than that of the attorneys for either side.

OTHER EMPLOYMENT

COPYWRITER, Cronin & Company, Glastonbury, Conn., January-December, 1983

Conceived and wrote print ad copy, radio spots, and other materials for a variety of accounts.

CENSUS TAKER, 2010 Census, Little Egg Harbor, N.J.

PUBLICITY COORDINATOR, Cartoon-In (family business involving mall performances around the country and abroad by my mother, Pauline Comanor, a well-known cartoonist), 1971-2000.

Website: http://billbonvie.com/

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