It’s a pretty big accomplishment for a first-time author to land on the New York Times bestsellers list, but Isabel Wilkerson definitely deserves it. The Pulitzer-prize winning journalist spent 15 years researching and conducted over 1,200 interviews for The Warmth of Other Suns, an account of the men and women who lived through the Great Migration, when 6 million African-Americans moved to the North.

In the latest Mediabistro feature, she talks about her writing process and gives tips to fellow journos who want to write a book. Below, an excerpt:

You interviewed more than 1,200 individuals. What skills do you possess that made people feel comfortable sharing their stories and information?

I always go into interviews with a great sense of gratitude for the courage it takes to share one’s story, particularly one so painful and heartbreaking, things that they had deep within themselves and had just gotten to the point of being able to share. So I think being an empathic listener, someone who was truly wanting to understand what they had endured — those are things I think they could pick up and sense in me. I also think they felt I had a sense of connection with them.

For more, read Hey, How’d You Write a New York Times Nonfiction Bestseller, Isabel Wilkerson? [Mediabistro AvantGuild subscription required]

Frank Bruni used to be the food critic for NYT. Since he left that post, he’s continued writing for the paper on a wide range of issues. Most recently, stinky congressional perfume.

Bruni argues that with more and more celebs putting their names on cologne and perfume, D.C. politicians need their own. As far as I can tell, this is a satirical piece from Bruni, but usually satire has hints of humor. This just reads like a fever dream that Bruni once had where he fantasized about what members of Congress smelled like. (Spoiler alert: They smell like martinis, shirt starch and shamelessness.)

Now, this is a odd idea to begin with. It’s not like these politicians are popular people. Just look at the approval ratings of Congress and you’d know that a minority of Americans like what they see. Why would anyone want to smell like Congress? Bruni writes, “Think about it. Actors, athletes, models and singers have signature scents. Snooki has two. So why not one for the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee?” Gee, Frank…  I don’t know why no one ever made the connection that since people buy merchandise that’s been endorsed by professional athletes, they’d be JUST as willing to buy stuff from Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Ill.) whose brand might be Au de Fatass, a lovely blend of his favorite foods, shrimp and Cheetos. Or Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), whose scent may be something young, fresh, beachy and Dominican.

Which politicos get their own cologne? Read more

Claiming an infringement on its trademark rights, NYT had a parody Twitter account suspended this morning.

NYTOnIt, known for mocking needlessly in-depth stories produced by NYT, was reactivated shortly after its creator Benjamin Kabok made an appeal to Twitter. But in the brief time that the account disappeared, there was an outpouring of tweets by journalists bemoaning the loss:

• “Noooo!”– CBS News producer Sarah Boxer
• “Noooooooo.”– HuffPost‘s Elise Foley
• “We didn’t want the NYT to be THIS on it “– BuzzFeed‘s Rebecca Berg.
• “Guys, corporate media lawyers have no sense of humor and the Times is on it!”– Mother Jones Senior Editor Dave Gilson
• “I love that it took NYT several months to get angry about @NYTOnIt.”– HuffPost‘s Ryan Grim

NYT Spokeswoman Eileen Murphy told Poynter that NYT did request Twitter disable the account. She said the company wanted to ensure its trademark “T” logo was protected. When the parody account account was reactivated, the profile image was removed.

Kabok is now hosting a contest for followers to design and submit an original logo, but is it really necessary?

To the left are both logos side by side. The one with the white background and ink smudge at the top of the “T” was the one used by NYTOnIt.

Cornell’s Legal Information Institute lays out the definition of trademark infringement: “Trademark law protects a trademark owner’s exclusive right to use a trademark when use of the mark by another would be likely to cause consumer confusion as to the source or origin of goods.”

It’s possible the parody account’s “T,” written with the same font as NYT‘s trademark, could cause confusion among some media incompetent fool. Also, the parody account does almost exclusively link to NYT material, which might lead some to think the two are interrelated. So we ask you: Should NYTOnIt be forced to change its profile image?

Answer our Fish Poll. We’ll post the results tomorrow. Read more

On Thursday National Journal‘s George Condon took issue with our writeup of Bloomberg‘s Hans Nichols shouting out a question out of turn at the end of the White House presser with President Obama earlier in the week. We said Hans pulled a “Neil Munro,” as in the heckler who interrupted Obama in the Rose Garden in June, knowing full well he was asking a question out of the realm of Wednesday’s protocol. Condon, among others such as NYT‘s Peter Baker, argued Hans was well within his grounds to shout-out a question at the close of the presser. They asserted that it’s tradition for reporters to push and try to extend a press conference longer than the President and his aides may allow.

Fair enough. But Munro, who was largely shunned and criticized by colleagues after his incident, had another take on the matter… Read more

In the latest episode of mediabistroTV’s “My First Big Break,” New York Times columnist, and former editor of the Washington City Paper, David Carr remembers the first big story of his career.

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