Award-winning journalist, author and Instagram influencer @JessicaYellin joins us today for a conversation about politics and her new media platform News Not Noise. If her Instagram isn’t at the top of your list for news on social, it will be after you listen. Her style of breaking down what’s happening in America with straightforward, honest reporting is refreshing, especially with the presidential election just a few weeks. Laura and Jessica talk politics, including Jessica’s thoughts on the Electoral College—you’ll be surprised by what she says. Plus, there’s info in this episode about how to fortify your news diet as we lead up to the November 3rd General Election with “leafy greens for your soul.” To help staff your polling place visit @PowerThePolls and stay up to date with Laura and Johnnie @ItsOverEasy
Highlights of what we discussed include the following:
- The nightmare scenarios shared in the New York Times article below:
- Title: ‘It’s 8P.M. on Election Day. Experts Share Nightmare Scenarios
- Description: Various election experts share a nightmare scenario that keeps them up at night, and what can be done about now.
- About Jessica Yellin (from Wikipedia):
- 49-years-old | Pisces born on 2/29
- Single and never married
- From Los Angeles, CA
- She attended Crossroads Elementary School
- She was president of her high school graduating class at The Westlake School for Girls in Los Angeles.
- College @ Harvard; graduated magna cum laude; elected Phi Beta Kapa
- Jessica’s Career
- 1998 - She began her broadcast career as a reporter for Orlando's 24-hour cable news channel, Central Florida News 13.
- In 1999, she was named morning anchor.
- 2003 – Joined ABC reporting on politics and culture for such programs as Good Morning America and Nightline.
- 2007 - Joined CNN as a Capitol Hill correspondent.
- As Chief White House correspondent she conducted an in-depth interview with President Barack Obama
- Prior to serving as Chief White House Correspondent, Yellin served as National Political Correspondent at CNN where she traveled the country covering hotly contested races throughout the network’s 2008 and 2012 election coverage.
- Other notable interviews include: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, First Lady Michelle Obama, former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, House Speaker John Boehner and more
- She has also reported from around the globe
Additional details from our discussion include:
- State of the news business, and social media as new way of communicating news
- JeTransition from CNN and the White House lawn to stay-at-home iPhone reporter
- Motivation for writing her novel “Savage News”
- Relevant details to the above:
- Leaving CNN (from Wikipedia):
- 2013 – Yellin becomes Chief Domestic Affairs Correspondent @ CNN
- October of 2013 she leaves CNN
- News Not Noise (from NewsNotNoise.com)
- 2017 – Launches on Instagram providing daily news reports
- They break down the biggest news stories each day, putting the headlines in context.
- They explain what matters, why and what you can ignore.
- The goal: to give you information, not a panic attack.
- Her Book “Savage News”
- 2019 – Published by HarperCollins
- Celebrity & Critical Praise:
- Amy Schumer: “Jessica Yellin is the clear honest voice of our generation.”
- Ariana Huffington: “If The Devil Wears Prada and Broadcast News had a love child, it would be this hilarious satire of the Washington circus
- About the book (from Vanity Fair in an interview by Maggie Bullock)
- Savage News, her roman à clef, sinks its fangs into the biz. Vanity Fair: The fun of the book is trying to discern truth from fiction, who's who.
- News of the week
- Jessica’s appearance on 9/11 on Bill Mahr
- On the panel with Peter Hamby (Snapchat & Vanity Fair)
- One of the things discussed is the election forecasting by Nate Silver’s statistical analysis and some of the other “chaos” focused on by some of the media (like the looting instead of the systemic issues with #BLM) is “worst case scenario catastrophizing,” but the numbers support Biden winning…
- Fox News and other outlets focus in on:
- The upcoming election
- (from the Wall Street Journal’s Twitter feed) As November’s presidential election draws closer, the conversation is switching from who’s leading the national polls to which states the two campaigns need to reach 270 electoral college votes (see attached on next page)
- Trump needs to win in Minnesota, New Hampshire, Nevada and Maine
- Biden needs to win in Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin
- Trump in the news
- (from CBS News) In taped conversations with Washington Post journalist, Bob Woodward, President Trump said he wanted to downplay the severity of the coronavirus. The recordings also reveal the President's view on how close the US came to nuclear war N. Korea.
- Book published on 9/15/20@
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