James McGinnis
Philadelphia
As seen in:
MSN,
AWWA Opflow,
USA Today,
Yahoo News,
Yahoo Finance,
U.S. News and World Report,
Yahoo,
The Charlotte Observer,
BioRxiv,
The Sacramento Bee
and
Covers:
Everything
Doesn't Cover:
Bed bugs
Reporter, Adjunct professor
Interview
What was your first job as a journalist?
Can't remember.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes
How is social media changing news?
Social media perverts reality.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Lois Lane
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To listen... and never make assumptions.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
Pass.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Email
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Too many to list here.
What's your favorite social network?
My friends. (Digital social media networks do not represent reality.)
Who do you wish followed you?
Jennifer Lawrence. She may be the coolest person on Earth.
Why did you become a journalist?
You get paid to go interesting places, meet interesting people, and tell stories about it.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Yes, I wrote reviews of the high school plays. (Not my finest work.)
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
The Unclaimed is an ongoing project. We help connect families with unclaimed loved ones in morgues.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Trust no one.
When's the best time to pitch you?
9 a.m.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Spending the night in a haunted house.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Bed bugs.
What's your favorite drink?
Old Fashioned
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Walking the dog
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
The Economist
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
People think that newsrooms have agendas. News operations are like jazz bands. Everyone does their thing. Sometimes, it sounds really good.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
Create a Muck Rack profile.