Richard Whiting is a Executive Editor at Index-Journal at Community Newspapers, Inc.. He possess expertise in journalism, newspapers, editorial, editing, copy editing and 27 more skills. Colleagues describe him as "I had the pleasure to work with Richard for seven years at The Index-Journal. When he arrived in 1999, I was serving as sports editor. I later worked under him as assistant managing editor and then managing editor. Richard arrived with a bold vision for our local newspaper. He had many years of experience shepherding a daily newspaper and brought with him excellence in leadership, writing, editing, grammar, design oversight, production expectations, quality control and much more. Richard was an editor's biggest advocate. He had an innate sense of understanding regarding what his team needed to do their jobs to the best of their abilities. He did not lose sight of budgets or overall vision in championing new initiatives or upgrades, but instead weighed the pros and cons of all moves. The newspaper took a giant leap forward in production quality, story diversity, and overall general excellence. His weekly columns were always insightful and thought-provoking, while his attention to detail and thoroughness in monitoring assignments was superb. My personal journalism career and future success in marketing are directly tied to my tenure under Richard. "What Would Richard Do?" stays in my head six years after leaving the newspaper to work as marketing coordinator at the area's largest hospital. As sports editor, I found no greater advocate than Richard, who wasn't afraid to consider a good sports story for 1A news. Sports rarely made the front page when I arrived in 1996. In fact, we didn't have our own section -- we were tucked inside another section -- and generally had two pages. The paper went to a morning daily under Richard, adding a full sports section, a Saturday paper -- which was so important because of Friday night football -- and consistently more pages (3-4 daily, with 7-10 on Sundays). We added digital photography, laptops, a professional-level call-in reporter, and expanded the sports staff. This allowed us to cover more sports in Greenwood and the Lakelands, provide more extensive coverage, and not only compete but outdo the competition when it came to in-depth coverage of our local teams. Richard is an "idea man." He formulates visions, ensures they can be manifested, then properly delegates them to his team without micromanaging the processes to reach the vision. He holds everyone equally accountable in reaching goals, and he coaches those who need assistance in doing their part. He's always on top of the latest trends in news delivery, but he never loses sight of the value of journalistic integrity and ethics in the newspaper business and won't sacrifice those for fads. I received every level of support I needed to do the best job I could while serving as sports editor at the newspaper. It allowed me to broaden my understanding of sports being a small part of a bigger picture of the entire news landscape. Richard's support, coaching and mentoring inspired me to expand my career goals and pursue unlimited dreams."