Robert Gifford
Verified
As seen in:
CBS News 24/7,
Color Research & Application,
Nature,
The Guardian,
Yahoo Canada,
arXiv,
CBS News,
Environment and Behavior,
Journal of Automated Methods and Management in Chemistry,
New Scientist,
SAGE Publishing
and
Covers:
Law, legal, justice, crime, Native American, and Military.
Doesn't Cover:
Hollywood
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Interview
What was your first job as a journalist?
Writing for my college paper that got me published in The Sporting News and The Tulsa World for my experiences playing small college football
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Of course. That's where my writing career began as a 16 year old in rural Oklahoma. Hemingway and Hunter S. Thompson would have been proud.
How is social media changing news?
Less depth, more soundbite (as if it was possible).
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
I need to think about this one....
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To be Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. Speak for the trees for they have no tongue.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
It gets better every day. Justice Willet rules.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
In writing.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Westlaw, Interwebs, Pen, Paper, telephone, and out on the street.
What's your favorite social network?
Twitter. I can do it while driving. I'm kidding.
Who do you wish followed you?
Jeffrey Toobin from The New Yorker/CNN and Justice Willet on the Texas Supreme Court (best Twitter ever).
Why did you become a journalist?
For the same reason I stand before a jury - to find the truth and seek justice.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
The paper wouldn't have me. I sneaked onto my college newspaper for a few articles and then my rural Okie newspaper covering local sports.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
Exposing the corruption in the Oklahoma County District Attorney's Office
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
It's going to suck and you'll want to quit. If you mean it - then stick with it.
When's the best time to pitch you?
From 12:00 a.m until 11:59 p.m.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Still pending. My own?
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
My own.
What's your favorite drink?
Milk. Sweet Tea (I'm an Okie). An Old Fashioned (prefer a bourbon as a hat tip to my time in Kentucky)
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
In a courtroom defending those accused of crimes that our Constitution says it assumed they did not do it.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
The Frontier Newspaper in Tulsa does fantastic investigative journalism. Mother Jones and The New Yorker have great writing.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That I'm only a legal writer.
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