NATASHA BERTRAND

NATASHA BERTRAND National security correspondent, Politico

Twitter is definitely a distraction. But at the same time, I see it as a tremendous asset. If you’re constantly fighting with people, and you just see it as a tool to waste time and be frivolous, then it’s not going to help. You get out of it what you put in. Building up my Twitter following [to more than 500,000 people] has been invaluable. I get a lot of tips via Twitter, and via my encrypted email address, which I have in my Twitter bio. So, most of the time when people reach out to me, they say, “I follow you on Twitter,” or “I saw you on MSNBC.”

I have two screens at work. On one, I just have [Twitter feed aggregator] Tweetdeck. My colleagues think I’m crazy. I have a very intense Tweetdeck situation. I probably refresh [email] every 5 or 10 minutes, because I’m impatient. When I’m on the phone with sources, I’m constantly making sure that I don’t miss any tips that come into my inbox. I’m responsive at all times, for better or worse.

I don’t disconnect as much as I should. That is probably a recipe for burnout. But right now, in the Trump era, everything is just so fast-paced that it’s really a moment—and if I squander it, I feel like I’ll regret it. It’s hard to remain detached when you’re a journalist and constantly working with people who are hostile. In Washington, people associated with Trump are very suspicious of the media. So it is kind of difficult to completely remove yourself. —As told to Talib Visram