What was your first job as a journalist?
TV reporter, WMAZ-TV 13 Eyewitness News, Macon, GA.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes, manual as well as later electric and still later "memory writers."
How is social media changing news?
Lowering standards and further compressing timelines for breaking news.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Lois Lane.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
Sharing facts, and in some cases informed opinion, but making that distinction clear, with goal of educating and occasionally entertaining.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
Skip
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
By Email.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Several social media platforms. Word, Grammarly, Excel, Power Point, Adobe.
What's your favorite social network?
Facebook
Who do you wish followed you?
Intelligent readers and listeners, with an open mind for information and willingness to learn.
Why did you become a journalist?
I grew up in a newspaper family. It to some extent felt like a given.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
I wrote opinion columns for the Lakeside Legend.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
Early career work uncovering corruption in funding intended to weatherize and improve housing for the poor in Macon, GA.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Understand that dues must be paid, you don't start at the top of the ladder, and go into your first newsroom to learn, not to lead.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Via Email is always best, that way I control the time and when I get back with you, bill.csicrane@gmail.com. Overnight.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
To watch a couple, both blinded by wet macular degeneration, literally both regain their eyesight, via an injection into their eyeballs.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
I can't share that on a family oriented website.
What's your favorite drink?
Iced tea.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Yoga practice, or out visiting with friends and family.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Financial Times
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That all politicians and the entire process are corrupt.
