What was your first job as a journalist?
Bureau chief for CableVision Magazine.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes, often
How is social media changing news?
Making it much harder to know the truth. Poorly-sourced information confuses people and rumors and conspiracy theories are spread.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
EL Doctorow
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To find and tell the truth so that others understand it and are interested in the story you're telling
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
email
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Word, wikipedia, muckrack, nytimes, WSJ, WaPo
Who do you wish followed you?
David Remnick; Barack Obama; those who are confused by technology.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
I wrote feature articles.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
A story about carcinoid cancer; several people wrote to tell me that the story gave them resources that saved their lives.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
You must be highly inquisitive, tenacious, ready to work hard, and never stop until you learn the truth.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Afternoons pacific time
What's the best pitch you ever got?
To write about a village in Ghana without electricity, that was getting solar-powered LED lights donated so the kids could do their homework.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
A pitch from a major electronics company filled with misspelled words, crossed out words and bad grammar.
What's your favorite drink?
Negroni
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
at the gym
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
The New Yorker
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That I know everything about it
