Thread by @ilyamarritz

Last night I got to intro @AndreaWNYC at a party for her new book, American Oligarchs

I also described the Nine Pillars of Bernstein, based on close observation over many yrs

Ppl seemed to enjoy it, so I'm gonna share the Pillars now

@AndreaWNYC 1. Everyone wants to help you. CEOs, public information officers, other journalists at rival outlets, people on the street. ANYONE could be a source, they just don’t know it yet. Your job is to let them know

@AndreaWNYC 2. READ EVERY DOCUMENT. The whole way thru.

Andrea has read the Mueller report 4 times

She once lined up the time stamps of Chris Christie's concealed texts to his chief of staff w/Bridgegate testimony that was happening contemporaneously...to show his state of mind

@AndreaWNYC 3. SMILE when you’re on the radio. You will sound MUCH BETTER.

@AndreaWNYC 4. GO THERE….together w/ Andrea I have visited
- Paul Manafort’s Bklyn brownstone
- Michael Cohen’s uncle’s catering Hall in Howard Beach (they would not make us lunch)
- a vacant WeWork office of a co that hired Rudy to make speeches in Ukraine.

Every time, we learned stuff!

@AndreaWNYC 5. YES AND...No one has time to be negative. Borrow from improv comedy, and say yes, and.

@AndreaWNYC 6. POST IT NOTES. Put all your ideas on Post Its. Color code them. Move them around. Eventually, your ideas will form clusters, patterns, they’ll start to make sense. If you saw Little Women, it’s a little like how Jo March edits her writing….White boards are also great.

@AndreaWNYC 7. CHECK THE ARCHIVES. There is almost certainly buried gold there.

@AndreaWNYC 8. ASK WHAT FOOD WAS SERVED. Everyone wants to know what the decision makers were eating in the room where it happened

@AndreaWNYC 9. Is a little hard to express...I’ve heard the phrase RADICAL EGALITARIANISM...Or collaboration makes better journalism.

believe in the people around you. Consider them to be as smart and hardworking as you are. Be kind and listen well.

@AndreaWNYC Oh, finally do that all with perfect integrity and good cheer.

And there you have it. The Nine Pillars of Bernstein!

intrigued? Buy her book!

andreabernsteinbook.com