What was your first job as a journalist?
Covering the wacky state legislature in Jackson, Mississippi (but I slung newspapers for the Albany (GA) Herald). Does that count?
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Oh of course! TV newsroom had LARGE FONT. THWACK!
How is social media changing news?
It's amplifying anxiety and depression. It's God-awful. I avoid it.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Hunter S. Thompson may as well have been fiction!
What does it mean to be a journalist?
Advocating for powerless people
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
E-mail.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Trint is my new favorite. Transcription.
What's your favorite social network?
Meeting people face to face.
Who do you wish followed you?
Women who are frustrated that men in power do not listen
Why did you become a journalist?
Front row seat to history. Never boring.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
We started an "underground" newspaper: The Misty Mountain News. It was godawful and short-lived. Published on a 1st generation "photocopier"
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
My own! Finding my birth mother and learning my biological family history! It's how boy meets girl in "lunatic asylum" then 9 mos later...
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Ignore the naysayers. There is still a great deal of good in the world. Go find it.
When's the best time to pitch you?
You name it! I'm awake from 7am to 10pm. But I check my messages from 8:30am to 5pm.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
My best pitches as a reporter were not pitches per se - they were tips and often came in cryptic phone calls or anonymous letters!
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Soooooo many. But the craven self-serving pitches from local TV sales departments are way up there.
What's your favorite drink?
Diet Dr. Pepper
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Walking on the Mallard Creek Greenway in Charlotte, NC
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Washington Post
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That men are incapable of hearing women.
