"If I were teaching a journalism class, I'd tell students to be a human being first, and a journalist second," he has said. "Because even if you're a cold bastard, you get better stuff. Respond to people as you would respond to them naturally, not just as a "journalist" would respond. That's important, since most people think journalists are assholes, which is not without some justification. Most subjects though, at least the ones I often write about, tend to be kind of lonely. Even and especially the famous and quasi-famous. So when you become their friend – in the artificial way journalists and subjects become friends – you're halfway there. And sometimes you even stay friends after. Most people just want to be understood. And all people like talking about themselves."