Job Title: Assistant News Director, KTBS

Previously: Newspaper and wire service reporter 

Interests outside work: Cycling, yard work (In this business, you frequently don’t know if you’re doing any good. When you mow the lawn, you can at least see you’ve accomplished something.) 

Nickname: Scoop. I got it my first day on the job as the police reporter. Two Bossier City detectives gave it to me. It stuck. 

Book: Pride and Prejudice 

Food: Shrimp 

Professional saying: Holding public officials accountable is like cleaning the kitchen of roaches. “You can spray once and they’ll be gone for a while. But the roaches come back again, similar to the corrupt politicians. You’ve got to keep spraying.” — Sam Dash.  

Personal saying: “It is important to know how to make a living and how to make a life. You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give.” 

Biggest challenge: The man who gave me the scoop that made my career messed up later. We had to do the story; I couldn’t — and wouldn’t — let him off the hook. It hurt, but we still talk. I’ve found that when it comes to the decent people in public life, you can rough them up — but if you’re accurate and balanced and it’s justified, they’ll still talk to you.  

Second biggest challenge: Not strangling the reporters who don’t have drive. 

Do you miss newspaper work: Sometimes. You can’t do it as long as I did and not miss seeing your byline on the top of the front page.  

Biggest concern: Libeling people and being wrong. The media have enormous power and the pressure to be first can lead to incredibly bad decisions. The runaway bride in Georgia ought to be a lesson to every one of us. I once wrote a story about two men who unjustifiably lost their jobs. I was a rookie and took an official at his word and didn’t track the men down to find out what happened. It still haunts me. The only good thing about it was they got their jobs back.