Howard Chai
Verified
(He/Him)
As seen in:
Medium,
OneZero,
Substack,
The Globe and Mail,
Flipboard,
The Tyee,
Mobile01,
Vancouver is Awesome,
Times Colonist,
Castanet News
and
Covers:
Real estate, commercial estate, housing policy, urban development, and the development industry itself.
Taiwanese-Canadian. Putting the real in real estate news at The Realist. Contributor at @storeyspub, @WesternInvestor, @RENXca, @TheTyee, and @globeandmail.
Interview
What was your first job as a journalist?
Deputy Editor.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Perhaps in another life.
How is social media changing news?
It's giving us another way to "amuse ourselves to death", in the Neil Postman sense.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Hildy Johnson, from His Girl Friday (1940).
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To presents the facts, spotlight things that need it, and not cower to power.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
By email!
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Social media. WordPress. Google Analytics.
What's your favorite social network?
Twitter.
Who do you wish followed you?
Other journalists!
Why did you become a journalist?
Because I felt like I could do some good.
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?
My first profile of a person.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Just start writing. Write the articles you want to write, regardless of whether or not people are reading it.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Anytime!
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Haven't gotten too many! Come change that!
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Haven't gotten any bad ones!
What's your favorite drink?
Milk tea.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
In the kitchen.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
The Atlantic.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
It's very narrow.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
Create a Muck Rack profile.