What was your first job as a journalist?
Chasing a hijacked military tank across the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes - but I was barely out of nappies
How is social media changing news?
Immediacy - there's just a blink of an
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
William Boot
What does it mean to be a journalist?
Rigorous research and fact checking. And making weighty subjects engaging.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
By email with a clear brief, word count required and the fee stated please.
What's your favorite social network?
Instagram
Why did you become a journalist?
Because I wanted to be a novelist and mistakenly thought it might be a way in.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Sadly, there was no high school newspaper!
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Write and write and write. And use social media to the hilt to make connections and inform your approaches to commissioning editors.
When's the best time to pitch you?
In the morning, UK time. But I'm never far away from my emails.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Sounded fun but turned out to be advertorial - was completely mis-sold to me.
What's your favorite drink?
Negroni.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Immediacy: there's just a blink of an eye between an event happening and the public knowing about it. This is both good and not so good.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
The New Yorker
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That it's easy.
