Skip To Main Content
Mark A. Kellner on Muck Rack

Mark A. Kellner

Mesquite
Covers:  Faith, religion, religious liberty, religious persecution, family issues.
Reporter open to assignments, gigs. Previously: Nevada Campaign Reporter, @NYPost; Faith & Family Reporter, @WashTimes; @DeseretNews reporter. RT ≠ endorsement!

Interview

What was your first job as a journalist?

Night police reporter, the Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, PA

Have you ever used a typewriter?

Yes. I learned on a Royal manual, and my teacher was an ex-nun.

How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?

Email, email, email.

What tools and software do you use to do your job?

MS Word, Gmail. Looking for better/more integrated systems. Suggestions welcome!

What's your favorite social network?

Facebook, though it's a love/hate kind of thing.

Who do you wish followed you?

Real Clear Religion

Why did you become a journalist?

To tell stories and satisfy my curiosity.

What story are you most proud of writing or working on?

Working on? The next one. Most proud? A 150th anniversary piece about The Salvation Army that ran in the Deseret News in 2015, among others.

What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?

Read. Read a lot. Then read more. Particularly read Hemingway's newspaper stuff. Oh, and don't quit.

When's the best time to pitch you?

Early morning. But remember, please, that I'm on PACIFIC TIME.

What's the worst pitch you ever got?

When I ran a PORTABLE COMPUTING magazine, got a pitch about MAINFRAME computers.

What's your favorite drink?

Diet Mt. Dew.

When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?

With my wife. If not with her, then working on my stamp collection. (Yes, I'm a nerd.)

Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?

The Wall Street Journal

What's the most common misperception about your beat?

That it's either only about conflict or only about piety.

Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview? Create a Muck Rack profile.