No time for blood buddies. Does the friendliness factor score points with reporters? No dice, says George Tamerlani, a senior producer with Reuters Television in Washington, DC. "People call me and speak with this level of familiarity as if we spent time in Afghanistan together," he says. "Being overly friendly won't get your story placed. In fact, grumpy is better, because we are grumpy. Just the story line is fine. If it's newsworthy, we'll wind up coming to you."
On The Record
