What was your first job as a journalist?
United Press International statehouse bureau reporter in Providence, Rhode Island
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Had a Hermes Rocket and one of first portable electrics decades before the first Harris Tubes. Even had a Tandy TRS w "cuplers."
How is social media changing news?
It is basically upending journalism as we know it, ending what has been the focused, trained observation of events with a neutral eye.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
No one comes to mind
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To always have your eyes out for the story not told, the words not heard, the trend not seen, the possibilities not realized.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
no idea
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
email
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
An assortment of SEO spyware, various video software, Snagit, Otter -- love this part of the job
What's your favorite social network?
If I must, it would be linkedin. At least it gives the patina of seriousness and attracts educated and professional participants to its rolls
Who do you wish followed you?
That concept has no meaning to me
Why did you become a journalist?
I grew up in D.C. in the era of Woodward & Bernstein. We ended a war and brought down a president. There was no debate in my mind.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Sometimes. Mostly I ran for and filled various posts in student government.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
The secret migration of Jews out of Ethiopia in an undercover airlift in the 1980s. Then, embedded with guerrilla fighters in Eritrea.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Run!
When's the best time to pitch you?
it's email. I don't take calls unless it involves traveling for a story
What's the best pitch you ever got?
From a photographer neighbor who asked me if I wanted to go with her to Sudan and document the secret transport of Ethiopian Jews
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
I wouldn't know as I ignore stories that have no resonance with my interests or my work
What's your favorite drink?
Sparkling mineral water
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
At a computer
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
NYT, WSJ
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That it is easy or glamorous. Real journalists are in the ground, digging trenches
