Ed Rampell
(He/Him)
Los Angeles
As seen in:
Flipboard,
Jacobin,
Truthdig,
The Progressive,
Portside,
The Free Press (CICJ),
CoverAction
Covers:
Cinema, theater, opera, books, travel, Indigenous issues, the climate crisis, human rights, politics.
Doesn't Cover:
Fashion, fluff, sports.
Interview
What was your first job as a journalist?
Freelancer for a 1970s NYC film publication, story about Costa-Gavras - who many years later I interviewed for The Progressive Magazine.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes.
How is social media changing news?
In some way it democratizes mass communications but in other ways through algorithms, etc., and unleashing hate speech, it demeans discourse,
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
"1984's" Winston Smith, who worked in the so-called Ministry of Truth, awakened and resisted.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
First and foremost, to be a mass communicator of the truth and facts to as many people as possible, to the best of your ability.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
I love it when an editor or publisher familiar with my work and/or myself proposes specific assignments to me and already has the contacts.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
The most important tool is a back scratcher. Try writing the Great American Novel when you can't reach that itch...
What's your favorite social network?
HollywoodProgressive.com
Who do you wish followed you?
Well, certainly NOT the CIA, FBI, NSA, etc.!
Why did you become a journalist?
To learn about our world and to communicate what I find out this to a mass audience in order to change and improve the world.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
No, but I did write for the Hunter College newspaper.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
My interviews with filmmakers Oliver Stone and Ken Burns.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Be original, offbeat, innovative and use your talents to better not only your own life but humanity and our planet.
When's the best time to pitch you?
When I'm not on deadline or in between assignments.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
To reenact Herman Melville's jumping ship and staying at Taipivai, Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas 150 years later for The Chicago Tribune.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
To cover the King of Tonga at the Moruroa nuclear testing site.
What's your favorite drink?
Coconut water when it has reached that fizzy, sparkling state.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
At the movies!
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
The New Yorker.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That movies are just a frivolous form of mindless entertainment.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
Create a Muck Rack profile.