What was your first job as a journalist?
I wrote about the UN and NGO corruption in Haiti in 2010.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes. I had a typewriter from the age of 10 through university. It's how I did a good chunk of my uni writing.
How is social media changing news?
It is sadly conditioning it. I can't say social media does anything positive for the news.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Stephen Colbert
What does it mean to be a journalist?
Conveying historical facts with as much objectivity as humanly possible while giving voice to as many actors in these moments which I report.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
Honestly, I gloss over .
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
By email.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Nisus, a voice recording app on my mobile, and when I do films FCP.
What's your favorite social network?
I loathe social media even if I spend a lot of my life writing about it. But LinkedIn is the most human of all of them thus far.
Who do you wish followed you?
I don't. I would rather not that pathological narcissists followed me (which is 50% of social media today).
Why did you become a journalist?
I saw that academic writing was more incomprehensible by the day and that journalism offered more coherent social and political critique.
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?
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Keep on truckin'.
When's the best time to pitch you?
The morning.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
That's a secret.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
A story about why ALL males are born inherently violent from birth.
What's your favorite drink?
Mango lassi.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
The kitchen or the beach.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
I try not to have a favourite. I even make a point of reading publications opposite to my personal politics to keep informed about all news.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That writing on hot topics will always necessarily have to be partisan.
