What was your first job as a journalist?
Reporter at the City News Bureau of Chicago
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes
How is social media changing news?
Making it fast, and often ignorant, meaning journalists have to try harder than ever to sort fact from fiction.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Russell Crowe in State of Affairs
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To have integrity, seek truth and never give up on a promising lead. People - everyone - have stories to tell. Dig deep.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
Can't recall
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
email
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Written, some data and some photo/audio
What's your favorite social network?
Twitter
Who do you wish followed you?
David K. Shipler
Why did you become a journalist?
I was always the curious sort, and I never figured I was so clever as to know everything - so, I ask questions.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
No
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
Showing how medical advances, just as much as police tactics - or more so - have driven down homicides in Chicago
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
The field is fast-changing, but we're in a world of curiosity, and the need for journalists to answer and investigate will always be there
When's the best time to pitch you?
Any time
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Anything dealing with mental health, the industry surrounding it and the often-ugly tie with politics and crime.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
About unproven fraud in a suburban town. No evidence to back it up.
What's your favorite drink?
Water
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Outside, walking
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Washington Post and The New York Times
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That crime, the courts or politics is a simple fill-in-the-blanks exercise.
