Ms. Demer Verified

Lisa Demer writes very Alaska-focused stories, particularly about government, crime, public corruption and social issues. She does some features, but mostly straight news. The news staff uses wire stories about new products rather than writing its own. [CR-LF][CR-LF]She prefers to receive press releases via e-mail. The newspaper usually takes its own photos, but occasionally uses contributed material. Rather than send pictures in the initial e-mail, tell her whether they are available, and she will request them if interested. The best time to contact her is early in her day, keeping in mind that she is four hours behind the East Coast. [CR-LF][CR-LF]She says a successful pitch has to be about "something happening in Alaska about Alaskans." She almost never does stories based on national reports unless Alaska really stands out. For people pitching stories from inside Alaska, she advises them to find the story in what their trying to pitch, like an interesting person or some kind of narrative. She advises, think about whether or not you would want to read it. [CR-LF][CR-LF]Ms. Demer has been a reporter for about 25 years at five different newspapers, starting at a small semi-weekly paper near Athens, Ga., and working her way to the Tampa Tribune in Florida before moving to Anchorage in 1994. Since then, she has won several awards from the Alaska Press Club.

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