What was your first job as a journalist?
Sports writer at the age of 16 at my hometown daily
Have you ever used a typewriter?
yes
How is social media changing news?
It's destroyed about two-thirds of old mainstream journalism.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Clark Kent
What does it mean to be a journalist?
I think Jay Rosen put it best: Journalism becomes a powerful force in the culture when it gains a kind of authority over the present, persuading us that what is happening “out there,” over the horizon of our personal experience, is happening to us and must be followed. When it works, journalism refutes an existence that has grown too private.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Email
What's your favorite social network?
Facebook
Who do you wish followed you?
Melinda Gates
Why did you become a journalist?
To meet Audrey Hepburn as much as anything else.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Editor
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
Profiling Eli Boad and being with him on the afternoon Antonio Villaraigosa pissed him off so much that he cut him off from his gravy train.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Become comfortable with multiple platforms.
When's the best time to pitch you?
24/7
What's the best pitch you ever got?
When we were both young and beautiful.. er, when she was young and beautiful and Mick-less, Bianca Jagger invited me to Paris.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
A Scientologist flack propositioned me
What's your favorite drink?
I'm a fiend for mojitos.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
LA Tennis Club
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Vanity Fair
