Aileen Gallagher chats with Janet Ozzard, editor of the "Strategist" section of the magazine:

Mediabistro: As an editor, how do stay on top of all the new and current stuff that's featured in The Strategist? How important are your staff and writers in keeping you abreast of stuff that should go in the section? What role do publicists play?

Janet Ozzard: Like every editor, I read as much as I can; newspapers, magazines, online. But the staff and writers are very important, of course. They're the critical filter. One of the good things about working on a city magazine is that we are the reader. We're not writing about someplace we've never been, or some experience we've never had.

Publicists, I'm sorry to say, generally don't get the Strategist. I get a lot of pitches for stuff that's already been somewhere else, or a trend that's come and gone, or a product whose main claim to fame is that it's new. Just because it's new doesn't make it better.

Mediabistro: There are so many outlets in New York City for info about restaurants and new stores and real estate etc. What do you do editorially do differentiate yourself? How do you stay on top of your competitors?

Janet Ozzard: We're selective. Again, we won't write about something just because it's new. There has to be a compelling reason, or reasons. Our food writers Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite, for example, are incredibly diligent, skeptical reporters. If they say they're going to do a food map of Red Hook, they'll go out and spend three days in Red Hook, walking around, eating, interviewing people. Then they'll come back and do research. And they're great writers. Who can beat that?

More here.