BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Tim Mak, reporter for NPR’s Washington desk
How/where are you celebrating your birthday and with whom? “Celebrating with a small group of friends at Panda Gourmet, the delicious Szechuan restaurant strangely located in a Days Inn on New York Avenue NE.”
How did you get your start in journalism? “I migrated to D.C. after college for a short, four-month internship with writer David Frum, now an editor at The Atlantic. As it happens, he was starting a website called FrumForum, about the conservative movement in the early Obama years. After working as his research assistant, he asked me if I wanted to be a reporter! It was a wonderful opportunity to get my foot in the door of the journalism field, and I was grateful to get it. And here I am, nearly ten years later, still at it!”
What’s an interesting book/article you’re reading now or finished? And why?
“I’m reading ‘Messing with the Enemy: Surviving in a Social Media World of Hackers, Terrorists, Russians, and Fake News’ by Clint Watts. And the reason, I think, relates to your next question.”
What is a trend going on in the U.S. or abroad that doesn’t get enough attention?
“Social media is dramatically changing the way citizens in our country are getting news. More Americans get news from social media than from any other source. These networks primarily direct us towards things that provoke engagement -- largely things that get us emotional -- rather than information that is edifying or thoughtful. This, along with the susceptibility of these networks to foreign interference, is changing our country in ways we are only now starting to understand -- and well behind in addressing.”
What’s a fun fact that people in Washington might not know about you? “I’m a nationally registered EMT. So for all your journalist-and-emergency-prehospital-medicine needs, I’m your guy!”