What was your first job as a journalist?
I began self-publishing consumer activism online about 25 years ago, but I had written at media companies and ad agencies prior to that.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes, and I still like the smell of mimeographs and Wite-Out.
How is social media changing news?
Outrage, the basest coin of the internet, is now the most commercially valuable form of "news." Too many outlets chase those stories now.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Kent Brockman.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Via candygram.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Google Docs and Word and Final Draft and Final Cut.
What's your favorite social network?
Anything but Twitter. Twitter-addicted journalists are a grave threat to American democracy. I am not joking.
Why did you become a journalist?
I like presenting people with challenging and uplifting ideas, and I LOVE taking down scam artists and hypocrites.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Yes, I wrote for the paper and yearbook because I'm a walking journalism cliché.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
My work exposing anti-transgender sexologists helped end their harmful reparative therapy on gender-nonconforming children.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Any time.
What's your favorite drink?
Gimlet, shaken, up. A real gimlet, not that swill with vodka.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Probably National Geographic and Wired.
