Frank Bass
Verified
As seen in:
IEEFA,
Bloomberg Businessweek,
Bloomberg News,
HuffPost,
The Washington Post,
The Verge,
Al Jazeera English,
Fast Company,
International Business Times (U.S.),
The Boston Globe,
Realtor.com
and
Covers:
business, economics, freedom of information, government, demographics, politics, defense, health
Doesn't Cover:
non-exclusive news
Editor. Author. Dog Dad. ACNS MA grad, @UAFairbanks. Editor, @IEEFA_institute, @SocialExplorer. Ex-@Bloomberg, @AP, @WSJ, @MapLight, @AJEnglish
Interview
What was your first job as a journalist?
Intern, Columbus (Mississippi) Commercial Dispatch.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes. Manual and electric. Carbon paper, even.
How is social media changing news?
It's making it more immediate and less leisurely. More information, less context. More democratic. Less accurate.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Kleber Cantrell.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
Responsibility.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Email.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Microsoft Office, especially Excel and Access. ArcGIS. SAS v9.x. Python. CogniView PDF2XL. ASAP Utilities. UltraEdit. Red Swingline Stapler.
What's your favorite social network?
Twitter. Sad!
Who do you wish followed you?
China.
Why did you become a journalist?
Go to exotic places, meet interesting people, and tell their stories. Comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.
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?
A series that helped reduce the number of infant deaths in Alabama.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Be prepared to change, and be prepared to change often.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Late afternoon.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
Create a Muck Rack profile.