What was your first job as a journalist?
My first full-time job was as a beat reporter and film reviewer for a small suburban newspaper.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Of course. I taught myself how to type (60 wpm) on my grandmother's ancient Underwood typewriter. Smartest thing I ever did.
How is social media changing news?
Making it more democratic with less censorship.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Howard Beale or Lou Grant
What does it mean to be a journalist?
What it should mean, but doesn't, is to report the news and ideas shaping the world without bias or political partisanship.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Via email.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Nothing fancy: Mostly just Word. However, I have a souped up iPhone that I can write on with a foldable keyboard.
What's your favorite social network?
I get a lot of news from Twitter. I like it better than Facebook. I also like Instagram.
Who do you wish followed you?
Roger Scruton
Why did you become a journalist?
I didn't become a journalist really. I became an author who writes about the subjects I have investigated for my books.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Yes. I wrote opinion columns.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
I like the philosophy beat because ideas make the world go around and yet no one writes about the creators of ideas.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Get graduate degrees in a real subject and write about that subject from the position of expertise. To cover courts, get a law degree.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Anytime.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
As I said, I was invited to be a judge in a bikini contest in Hawaii. Tough work but someone has to do it.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
I was once asked to be a judge in a bikini contest when I worked in Hawaii which could be seen as either the worst or the best pitch ever.
What's your favorite drink?
Coffee.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Honestly? On a freeway picking up my kids from school or, if I'm lucky, at a bookstore.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
I like the British newspapers more than American. I also like "The Idler."
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
People think religion and ideas are irrelevant to the real world when, in fact, they are the most important things of all.
