What was your first job as a journalist?
Copy editor at Brentwood Publishing in Santa Monica, CA
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Way too much time on a typewriter as a college student, then as a free-lancer before the computer age. Three pitch letters = 6 hours, at best
How is social media changing news?
Smart journalists are using it for both quick and dirty AND in depth research on how ordinary readers perceive and react to news coverage.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Maggie Jordan (Alison Pill) The Newsroom
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Bloomberg!
Who do you wish followed you?
Matt Winkler
Why did you become a journalist?
To get into rock shows for free.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
A piece on women in L.A. street gangs I wrote in 1986 for the L.A. Times. They spiked it, then sold it for five times their fee to Elle
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Good reporting makes good writing easy. Very unfortunately, the reverse does not apply.
