Dan Hirschhorn - National Political Correspondent, The Daily
1/19/2012
By Susan Lanier
If the past few weeks of finger pointing, name calling and political debate are any indication of what’s in store, the 2012 presidential election is sure to be exciting. There will be slander. There will be gaffes. There will be endless debates over the current state of the American economy. As parties draw their lines in the sand everyday American voters will turn to their newspapers, televisions, Twitter and iPads for up-to-date political coverage that will help them make one very important decision: Who will be our president come 2013?
Newly appointed national political correspondent, Dan Hirschhorn, joined The Daily in December and said his first priority is to, “cover the presidential campaign day in and day out with speed, accuracy, relevance, context and political sophistication.”
Hirschhorn’s work already has these qualities in spades, and that’s no easy feat when even he admits that, “national politics is perhaps the most competitive journalistic sphere in an intensely competitive industry.”
Most of his journalistic career thus far has been devoted to covering politics. He founded and served as top editor of Pa2010.com, a political news site that quickly became a go-to source for coverage of the 2010 Pennsylvania elections, from March 2009 to November 2010. More recently he completed a one year stint as a political reporter and editor at POLITICO. He said these experiences have been invaluable.
“Together, they have given me an understanding of the metabolism, know-how and voice needed to succeed in contemporary political journalism.”
Hirschhorn admits there are small difference between writing for The Daily, which is exclusively available on Apple’s iPad, versus the more traditional online-only outlets he has worked with in the past.
“The transition to what is, in many ways, a daily product has been notable.”
However, he added, “I've long been the kind of guy who likes to break little scooplets online in the time between daily production cycles, and I've been heartened to see that there is plenty of appetite for that here.”
Reporting the second a story leaks and being conscious of the real time dialogue surrounding daily news is very important to Hirschhorn. He said this is the main benefit of social networking tools like Facebook and Twitter.
“If there's one thing that I think adds the most value and personal fulfillment to the journalistic experience for reporters in this day and age, it's the ability to communicate with readers and stakeholders in real time,” he said.
However, he emphasizes the importance of seeking news from a variety of sources, stating that the danger of Twitter is that “groupthink and hive-mind behavior can lead bigger insights to go unrealized.”
Pitching Tips
Hirschhorn is only interested in receiving news that hasn’t been reported before. “If there’s no new information in your pitch, I’m unlikely to bite,” he said.
His biggest pet peeve is PR professionals who don’t know what he covers.
“I want information that's directly relevant to what I cover. I'm far less interested in source pitches trying to get me to interview people with general expertise.” He added that, “If you can't take the time to see what kind of pitch I'd be interested in, I can't take the time to read your pitch.”
He prefers to be contact by email, and doesn’t mind the occasional follow-up provided that, “you really think it’s worth my time.”
Follow Hirschhorn on Twitter @DanTheDaily