What was your first job as a journalist?
General Assignment Reporter on the National Desk of The Washington Times, 1985.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes. Remember the IBM Selectric?
How is social media changing news?
For the better in making it easier to generate awareness of important stories, but for worse by encouraging tribalism in news consumption.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Henry Hackett, "The Paper"
What does it mean to be a journalist?
Shining light in dark places.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
via email, short, succinct and advancing a story.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Legistorm, Excel, Word Press, Lexis-Nexis, IRE
What's your favorite social network?
Facebook
Who do you wish followed you?
Eliot Jaspin. The best investigative journalist I've ever known.
Why did you become a journalist?
1. You get to ask obnoxious questions.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Editorial page editor, Lion's Roar, Moore Lions, 1968.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
Colorado Springs Gazette's Pulitzer Prize-winning series, "Other Than Honorable," in 2014. I was a consulting editor, doing final reads.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Get it first, but first get it right.
When's the best time to pitch you?
When you have some genuine news relating to Congress.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
The one that was actual news.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
So many, Impossible to say which was worse.
What's your favorite drink?
Non-alcoholic. Sober for 30 years, as of 3/1/21. One day at a time.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Talking to my sweet wife, reading a book, cutting the grass, repairing something, etc.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
The Federalist.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That anything other than my best considered judgement as a journalist would influence how I reported and wrote a story.
