What was your first job as a journalist?
With no experience whatsoever, I somehow got an internship as a reporter at a small weekly published in my hometown.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
It would have to be Hergé's Tintin.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
More important now than perhaps ever, it means to report and analyze the facts, and to point out what's not facts.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
DocumentCloud is pretty good. A few other databases.
Why did you become a journalist?
If only I could remember that clearly.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
We reported on school staff and students who got too drunk on a train and were thrown off and reported to police. Fun story.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
Recently, I'm proud of my coverage from Washington of the 2024 Presidential campaign.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Find a niche and learn something.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
A conservative organization reached out in New York to try to sell the story that Swedish companies should abandon Iran during Obama's adm.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Used to be lots of PR stuff that were a waste of time.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Traveling, or on my boat.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
WSJ, Outside, the AP news site.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That we all are out on a political mission as reporters.
