Interview
What was your first job as a journalist?
General assignment reporter for The New Times in Tucson, Arizona, which had a branch office there in 1975.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
For many years! Beginning with an Underwood manual dating to 1896 patent date.
How is social media changing news?
It is democratizing the means of distribution, but at the cost of eliminating gatekeeper editors and recourse to expertise.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Walter Burns in The Front Page.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
Dedication to free inquiry and debate, ideally.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
I don't recall any in particular.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Email is fine, if the pitch is well thought out.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Computer, telephone, cellphone, tape recorder, notebook, Web search sites, libraries.
What's your favorite social network?
None in particular. I prefer email or telephone.
Who do you wish followed you?
Diplomatic and foreign affairs writers; academics, historians.
Why did you become a journalist?
Out of a desire to use my skills to help the downtrodden and hold institutions responsible.
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?
My United Nations stories for AP in the months leading up to the 2003 Iraq War consistently illegality of the conflict.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Follow your heart, do what you love. Get multiple skills and keep acquiring new ones.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Noon-4 pm Eastern US time.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Finding a National Science Foundation news release inviting journalists for reporting visits to Antarctica.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Anything that begins with a personal introduction rather than opening with a gripping lead paragraph that gets to the heart of the proposal.
What's your favorite drink?
Coffee, or iced water.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Reading history and non-fiction.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That "newsmakers" set the agenda and force-feed stories and ideas to the media. It does happen, but enterprise reporting is the ideal.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
Create a Muck Rack profile.