The Dispatch Monthly Mailbag with Haley Byrd Wilt

Dear Dispatch members, thanks for sending in questions—and for giving me an excuse to talk about science fiction (among other topics, of course) during a “work” activity.

We’ll start off with work-related questions, though:

Aylene Wright asked about the pros and cons of print journalism and TV journalism.

I rely on written journalism more for my own news consumption because it is almost always more detailed and nuanced than a TV news hit about the same topic. I also enjoy writing more than being on TV—I only did a few hits when I was at CNN. But TV journalism often has an easier time reaching larger audiences than print, and it can be used for really compelling storytelling and investigations. The best journalists I worked with at CNN were adept at both, using TV to push their written stories further.