Habits and Hustle - Episode 96: Jessica Yellin – Former Chief White House Correspondent for CNN, News Not Noise Founder

Episode Date: December 29, 2020

Jessica Yellin is the Former Chief White House Correspondent for CNN, and Founder of News Not Noise. Starting by finding, reporting, and recording her own news stories just to get work, to working for CNN and becoming Chief White House Correspondent, all the way back again to recording news segments on her phone in her back yard Jessica has an in-depth read on fighting and climbing to success. In this episode Jen and Jessica discuss her time working Obama’s first campaign, her struggles getting started in journalism, and her now popular show News Not Noise. Hear what it took to ignore the pressures of the industry. Catch how listening to herself and the trusted people around her helped propel a new vision for reaching viewers for clear-cut, no drama news. Youtube Link to This Episode Jessica’s Instagram Jessica’s Website ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Did you learn something from tuning in today? Please pay it forward and write us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. 📧If you have feedback for the show, please email [e-mail]  📙Get yourself a copy of Jennifer Cohen’s newest book from Habit Nest, Badass Body Goals Journal. ℹ️Habits & Hustle Website 📚Habit Nest Website 📱Follow Jennifer – Instagram – Facebook – Twitter – Jennifer’s Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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habit nest. Now here's your host Jennifer Cohen. You've been in a journalist for many years and you are the chief White House correspondent and now you are kind of created your own platform that must be a very big difference in terms of experience with what you're doing. It's been a huge change both in terms of like the kind of news I do and just the way I do it. I used to be on the White House lawn with a camera person and they did sound and like all these lights and people and producers and now I'm at home with talking to my phone. producers and now I'm at home talking to my father. So, fundamentally, it's the change. Yeah, exactly.

Well, first I wanted to ask you before I even get into all that, like, to get that job, that's a very coveted position. How did you, what was the evolution of you becoming the chief correspondent at the White House? Because that's no joke. That's, you must have had a cut, you have, I want to know your tricks and your secrets. So I always wanted to be a White House correspondent. When I got out of college, my first job

was as an intern in the Clinton White House dating myself. And I noticed when I was doing that, how powerful the press was. And I decided I want to be one of those people because what they say can actually shape policy and what happens inside this building. So that was my goal. And I was like, young and naive.

So I was like, OK, I'll do that. So I got a job. I went home. Everyone says, go local, go home. I went home and I started writing for LA Magazine where I am from. And then I got somebody told me, print is going away. You've got to do TV, whatever. Like, that's just didn't come true.

But I decided to go on TV, I made a fake tape and marketed myself all over the country and finally got a job in Orlando, Florida. And I moved to Orlando, Florida from LA. I didn't know anyone, I didn't know anyone who knew anyone in Orlando. I landed there without any introductions. And now it was intense. And it was amazing.

And my first job was as a one-man band reporter, which means they give you a camera, they give you a map. And then you figure out the story, you drive there, you set up your own interviews, you film them, come home, transcribe them, write your script, edit it, and take your own standup. Which, class forward, is what I do now. So, when full circle, pick it, quit me. From there, I did like your classic news, like, career or track where I just kept moving up to higher markets and at every top turn, I'd say I want to cover politics and I want to get to the White House.

And it's actually one of the pieces of advice I give people, which is if you know what you want, tell people. Do the work they ask you to do, tell them what you want to do. And that's the way to achieve what your goal is, is you have to not just know it, but put it out into the world. No, I agree. Now, did you go, you went to Harvard, though, right? For college, yeah. Yeah, so I mean, that, listen, that's not,

you have to have somewhat of, like, you have to have some smarts as well, right? Like, you come by it, honestly, it wasn't like pure hustle. It was, you had the combination, which is amazing. And so, did you get your undergrad at Harvard? Then you came back and did this whole thing to in Orlando? Yeah, I got an undergrad at Harvard and then I went to I was a White House intern straight out of school and then that's when I was like, oh okay, I want to be in Washington and I want to be involved in politics but in a different way

and then I went to do this whole thing. So then your first is this whole thing, right? So then you kind of like work up the rings and then you're at ABC for a long time and then you kind of just, you want a Peabody Award and Emmy Award, a Gracie I saw, like you're very accomplished. And then how long will you actually, like how long will you achieve the chief White House correspondent for?

So I got to the White House first at ABC News where I was the junior White House correspondent for. So I got to the White House first at ABC News, where I was the junior White House correspondent in Florida for Good Morning America, and that was in 2004, right after Bush was reelected, and I covered things like the Iraq War, the surge, Katrina, all that period of time. And then one thing that happens in your in the White House press court is you have the press pool, like all the other press reporters, at that time traveled

together to like if the president was giving a speech in Kentucky, you'd all get on the plane and go, or if he's giving a speech in, you know, Russia, you'd also get on the plane and go. So you have all these people you're with all the time. It's your crew in a way and I always saw how the White House correspondent for CNN Had all this opportunity to cover all sorts of stories because there was so much airtime at CNN And I wanted to get to CNN So I decided to do something that most people that time didn't do which is moved from the network to cable It was always considered like right Cable you get to the network

and once you're at the end of your life, never leave. Anyone the opposite direct, you end the opposite. Which is my thing, like then I'm at cable and I'm like, I'm gonna go on my phone. But I just, I kind of like, you see where things are trending, right? And so why not hop on the trend? Like cable news was happening.

And so I left CNN, I went to CNN 2007, and this is kind of a cool story. I got there in August, and the presidential election started in November, really. And they said to me, you're new here, but we want to give you a taste of the presidential election. So we're going to send you to the presidential campaign trail in Iowa. But we're going to give you this guy Barack Obama who's not going to be in the race for long. You know, he'll be out in a few weeks a month or two,

but I'll give you a little experience, you know, and that's how these things happen. Like I covered then Senator Obama in Iowa before he was even getting momentum. And that was just a remarkable experience. Oh my gosh, how was the experience? How was he at that point at that time? Super accessible. We had a CNN bus that we called the election express. And we spent way too much time on it. And it had a Wii.

Do you remember that video game where you could play? Of course, yes, yes, yes. So Obama's like, body man used to come on and use our Wii because he'd like, you know, get a break from everything going on. So Obama came on once and did Wii 10s. And I interviewed him there and talked to him. You'd just like, I was like this remarkable experience

for political reporters where you can move there for about six weeks. And everyone in Iowa takes their role so seriously as being the first to vote, but they're always ready to approach you and tell you what they think about every candidate. One of the things you'll get is you'll say, what do you think of this candidate versus that candidate? And they'll go, you know, I've only met with each of them three times. So I haven't yet formed a judgment.

Three times. You would like access to Barack Obama three times, you know. But, but you just saw movements happen. I remember there was a day, it was a blizzard and we were all going into a rally that Obama was holding and there was this like crotchety grandpa man in overalls being dragged there by his granddaughter and he was annoyed and he's like my granddaughter wants me to see the celebrity and one of the things you do is you interview people as they're walking in try to get video of them reacting real time you

find them in the crowd and then talk to them as they leave to see their opinion. So I represented his crotchety-ness entering. Partway through the event, I get video of him standing up doing the wave. Like, it just... That's awesome. And he signed up to be like a block organizer for Obama. Like, it just caught fire. And you could see it happen there.

See, I mean, so what's he is... He was very charismatic. I would imagine back then as well, of course, and, or what, I mean, you tell me, like, because of course it comes across, like super like cool smooth, you know, like your everyday Joe kind of deal, you know, but it's different with from your perspective and your experience.

Totally, I mean, the first thing is that he's remarkably intelligent, just like, unusually off the charts, kind of, intelligence that is both just, you know, intellectual understanding, but also like this calm. The way chess players can see many moves into the future, he kind of, I think, takes in the world that way and can play things out. And he has a sense of like, you know, change over time that gives him that calm. So that you get that vibe from him. He also is hugely charismatic when he needs to be super like regular cool when at moments and then he can get incredibly professorial and monologue-y.

And so I used to say, I mean people would say what's the most surprising thing about President Obama that people don't know and I was like he can be really boring. And there was one time I'm like oh my god he can just so yeah. Yeah. But like a college professor explaining to you how it is, and you're like, dude, I need a sound bite. Can you give me something?

Right, right, right, right, exactly. You're good at that, though. I mean, what I like about your, how you kind of deliver your news is that you're able to break it down in layman's terms for people. You're very good with that. I mean, you know, you do take complex things, and you make it simple enough where people can understand what the hell you're even saying. Do you know what I mean?

Yeah, I love that you said, that's my whole goal, because I always felt like when I was in Washington covering the news, we used jargon. We always covered it like you've walked into a dinner party 20 minutes after it started. What am I missing? And as a result, we leave a lot of people out. But if you step back and introduce people from the beginning, like here are the players, here's why it matters, here's what this jargon means, you can onboard so many more people to caring and knowing and then participating and voting.

And I always thought it was like crazy that we didn't make that effort. And so my whole goal is to explain the stuff in a way anybody can understand because it's not like hard to get. It's just that we don't tell you, we don't give you the tools to get it. Right. And like if you don't have a background to understand, you get lost, incredibly fast, right? So, and especially now, when there's information overload,

but there's, I think what happens a lot now is that you tend to miss a lot of stories because you, there's so much information, and then you kind of are like myopic and what you know, and then you don't know anything else, which happens all the time to me. You nailed it. There's no way, I have a hard time keeping on top of the information and that's my job and I'm trained to be like a soldier on the battlefield serving digital information coming

in at all times, right? I just do that anyway, and I miss stuff. So part of the whole, like I call it news, not noise because my whole thing is to help you pick the signal out of the noise. Here's the answer. So right now, then, like let's just talk about the news for a second, because I feel now all I hear is COVID, COVID, COVID stuff, obviously the vaccine now. It kind of comes in, it morphs itself depending on where you're at.

And before it was, well, still is, election in COVID, COVID in election. Where are the gaps? Like, where is there some stories that I'm just, we're all really kind of, that we just kind of missed because we're so biopic and preoccupied. I love that question. Yes. And and yet those stories did matter. They mattered. It was important and they were dominant. But the kinds of stories that also matter that don't get told enough are okay. We've covered all this drama in the White House and at the agencies say the environmental protection agency at all these scandals got it, but how's your drinking water?

Like what has been the impact of this leadership on you at home? Yeah. What has happened? Like, we know a lot about what Trump is tweeting. Do you know what pesticides are now legal that weren't before? What kind of impact has that had? There's just a story about how construction of the border wall has had these cascade effects on the environment. What's the status of our drinking water? All these things are vital and crucial and we don't tell those stories

enough. So part of my thing is like, I want to reorient so we tell more of those stories. And also to be honest, like, eyes up a little bit, what's going on around the world? You know, it's not, yes, we never talk about, remember there were all these protests in Hong Kong? What happened, right? Like what's that? Right. So some of that is the kind of stuff I try to help my audience understand, and I think matters.

Beyond that, I think some of the most important stories will be the vaccine, COVID, and disinformation going forward. Vitamin water just dropped a new zero sugar flavor called with love. Get the taste of raspberry and dark chocolate for the all warm, all fuzzy, all self-care, zero self-doubt you. Grab a with love today. Vitamin water zero sugar, nourish every you. Vitamin water is a registered trademark of glass oh

So wait, I want to touch upon a few of these things So number the first thing is why is that is there like some kind of Is there somebody at the top or somewhere in these networks or cable networks saying only discuss this like why is it that It's the same information like 47,000 times, but yet these missing gaps are constant. Where is that coming from? Where is the mandate? And why is it not changing? So it's basically like any industry where something works and then everybody sees they make money doing that thing and then it tries to change to do that thing

And you're like, but I was doing this other thing that worked. No, no, no, that made money and it's just a hurt, right? so I mean in cable news a couple key players Decided to do one big story that the way like with cable is in particular people focus and then to turn off Like with cable is in particular people focus and then to turn off dip in and dip out dip in and dip out And so they repeat a lot because they are assuming you're not watching continuously You're dipping in And they decided the way to get you hooked is to create one drama around a big story that you can't get enough of Like a soap opera. Yes exactly like a soap opera and they literally talk about characters sometimes like Mitch McConnell's a character

Trum. Yes. These are recurring family of characters and you want to know what's going on with each of the characters all the time and then somebody does that it works and then everybody's suddenly doing it. And what's one of the effects I'll give you an example right now as, as you're speaking, one of the things that gets covered all the time is that Trump is in a tantrum mood. He's planning to try to do something to undo the vote when Congress meets in January to upset the electoral college. It's on all day long. It doesn't matter. The president's mood is not news, but they're so addicted to covering Trump and his drama that even now that they can let it go They're not why that's a great point. That's exactly what I was gonna ask you It doesn't matter and still yet. He's still gay

He's still getting the same covers. It's like without him I feel like that's so proper like Like they have to make money off it. They don't make money otherwise because people are what's happening. I just I think that the belief is this is how we make money. And the belief is I don't think it's true. I don't think it's the only way to do it. But why be doing it? Why be giving him all this air time even when they don't have to? Because it's one thing they know works because they know it works, it's easy and it's cheap. Because if you're, you know, if you want to go find out what's the status of drinking water in Flint,

you have to send a reporter, a producer, a satellite truck, editors, overnight hotel stays, airline tickets, think of all the things to maybe find a story, maybe not, and that's a three minute piece. But if you just want to talk about Trump's mood, all the things to maybe find a story, maybe not, and that's a three-minute piece. But if you just want to talk about Trump's mood, all you have to do is call some people up, ask them to drive from their home into the set and talk. And you can get in their ear and direct things for hours.

You have absolutely, it's producing a show as opposed to sending people out to create journalism. Now, I don't want to say that alone because there's some remarkable journalism happening and especially at the newspapers and I I'll tell you like my mother texted me this week to say I've been looking at all the newspapers and I noticed nobody has the word Trump on the front page today for the first time in forever. So it's starting to change. It is, but I think that's a great way that you brilliant way to say it. Like it really is like a soap opera and it's kind of that's why it's like they hook you in. They get you that it's like that

emotional juggernaut and then you want to follow what's that? Who is he going with? What's happening with her? And it is also a mood thing, right? Because it's like it's like this up and down emotional rollercoaster of where we are. And when did it change? When did it become that? Like at what point? I feel like was it always like that? I just wasn't aware because I was younger. What is it? I mean, the news changed at a bunch of junctures. There was in the early 70s, when news first started, it was a public service. It was because the government gave networks,

ABC, CBS, NBC, the access to the airwaves. And in return, they had to create news as a public service. So it was a lost center. Then in the 70s, CBS created 60 minutes and it became a profitable show. And they saw they could make money off news. And that started to change how the news worked. It became more of a business. Then fast forward to the morning shows, today's show and all those exploded, huge money makers at the same time that mega corporations bought networks. And so, they weren't just networks anymore.

They were subsidiaries of shareholder-owned corporations that had to report profit on a quarterly basis. So, ratings became part of your profit reporting, and instead of thinking long-term journalism, you thought, what do I have to do to increase the ratings today? So the next shareholder report shows us doing one. Right. That's something. And then, when CNN came along, it made that drama thing where we were focused on one

event, like ubiquitous, that was everywhere. And then all these other cable networks emerged and became competitive and started doing this panel discussion stuff because it's so much cheaper than being out in the world. And so you have all these forces, like the move to profit, the shortening of the amount of time you have to show your profit, right? And then, like, wanting to just do it fast, cheap, and loud to drive as much ratings as possible. We ended up doing that. No, it's true, because even the talk shows,

I've noticed, they've all now evolved and morphed into, even if they're supposed to be like, health-related or this or that, they're all just about now, just fighting, and the lowest common denominator you can possibly find because that's supposedly what gets the ratings. Yes, there are housewives on all of these, on all of the talk shows. A thousand percent and the thing to know about that is that gets the ratings from people who are home watching TV.

Right. People who are on their couch flipping, maybe they'll stop. But it leaves out a huge, huge audience, which is people who are too busy to be at home on their TV, people who are on their phone. Right. And they want something different. They do not want that endless panel of people shouting. And I think that's a great opportunity and cause for hope that we can like re-engineer

the way we provide information so that it's short bites that inform you and keep you feeling okay, like locked in, like there's a confidence and empowerment that comes from feeling informed. And that's addicting. Absolutely. And that's the thing, like I guess, and that's a good dovetail to your, what you're doing because that's for sure, because now especially and that's a good dovetail to what you're doing, because that's for sure, because now especially people are now, they want to have the, what do you call it?

News, not noise, right? You give the news, not noise, because I wanna just know the news. I don't have time to kind of decipher myself this, that, and the bias is the other problem. Like, where do you go? And that's what I was gonna ask you, is because, every network is skewed, right?

You have, and so sometimes I don't know who to kind of, to kind of like lean towards, right? Because one says the other ones, not telling the truth, one says the other ones, align, and so really, at the end of the day, I just wanna have some news news so I'm informed, but I don't need to hear all the other stuff that's going around in the bias.

I mean, we all have bias, right? But as least amount of bias possible, you know? I always say like try to be transparent, try to give people the information, and so like empower them to make up their own minds. Right. It's been hard lately because, you know, it's not a secret that President Trump lies a lot,

doesn't traffic in a lot of facts. And so as a journalist, you're constantly fact checking him and that can look partisan to people who are watching, right? It's constantly saying that's not true, that's not true, that's not true. But it's not right or left, it's just fact and not fact. Right, fact, not fact, exactly. And so that's one challenge is to help the audience understand. And one of the ways I've navigated that is I say to my audience,

like, this is super uncomfortable because, you know, for another time this week, I have to come here and tell you this thing. He said, isn't true. It makes me feel uncomfortable that I'm constantly saying that, but that's my job. So I hear my sources and how I know. And people respond to that, like when I'm transparent about the larger situation it puts us in as journalists and how they might be receiving it. Well, right.

That's the thing. I mean, authenticity, transparency. Where do you get your sources? Like, where, so let's start with that. So then you come from this humongous job, you know, where you have a huge crew. And then you said like yourself, you then are now doing in your backyard on your phone. I mean, that, what was that, like, what was that transition like for you?

And then how are you kind of doing it, like explain the process? So I left and then I wrote a novel and while I was writing the book, which took a while, all my friends were like, what's that called? Savage, news, right? That was, yeah.

Yeah. That was fun. And it was like a needed diversion and, you know, like after all this zaniness, just like to sit quietly and write was radically changed. But it's based on real facts though, loosely been. It's inspired by, you know, things that I witnessed and lived and my friends did. Okay, so just tell people. so it's called Savage News. It's a fictional book based inspired by story.

It's a novel, it's funny, and it's about a young female reporter trying to, who's serious, and she's trying to break real news stories inside a network that doesn't want serious news. And that wants to, you know, just get ratings. And she is competing with like all the craziness of that, including, you know, she breaks news and does her work and her management wants to talk to her about her hair. And they're once harping on like, why isn't your hair looking flat or good or which is there's a whole chapter on her dealing with her hair which is very real. I love books like that. I love the morning show. I'm sure you saw the morning show.

You watched it. I love stuff like that. Even if it's very loosely based, I find it to be super entertaining. Yeah. And that's a lot of what this was. Oh, I love. Okay. So I didn't mean to digress. Okay. Continue with what you were saying. You were saying you were the process of transitioning from this big job as chief White House correspondent for CNN, and now in your backyard and all that stuff. So I had this thesis that I told, to talk to you about it, that the news should be told differently for this different audience. And I did all the things like I went and I'm from LA saying that with producers and I met with studio people And I was like we should do a show that does this and everyone's like oh no no one wants news or

Nobody wants politics or there'll be no audience for that or people only want conflict or they like the panels and there's no other way to do it and I just listened kept going around getting no until my friends are like stop asking for permission I just listened, kept going around getting no until my friends were like, stop asking for permission, just do it. And I'm like, where? And they were like, on your phone right here. And I remember I was at lunch with somebody and I, she asked me what was going on in Congress. And I told her. And then she said to me, you know, when are you going to start on your phone? And I'm like, I don't know what to say. And she's like, what you just told me. Like, just explain the thing. Do that. And then one day I was like, enough people started saying it that one day I invited

someone over to do help me tape this. And I was like, I don't want to do it. I changed my mind. And she's like, I'm just not leaving until you do it. So that first thing was just, that was the impossible barrier. Because it was such a weird, and I did it in 2018, people weren't doing, I was like, nobody was doing news on Instagram that. Right, nobody, I mean, at all.

And it was like, this is, you know, nobody's gonna get what I'm doing. And somebody asked me, like, how did you keep going? And I said, well, I did the first one and I didn't die. So I knew I could do it again. Right, right, right. That's a great, that's a good way of looking at it, right? Like, you didn't die, so you might as well just keep on going. That means there's like nothing smoke me, so.

Yeah. And then what happened? So then like, you're like, okay, I'm gonna do it again. Do you have like, how many people were watching it? Or like you and your friend? I think I just sort of organically at that point had like seven or eight hundred followers and a couple of people messaged me like,

oh that was, what are you, you know, what are you up to? How are you? And then my few friends that were really on me to do this, like we're all so supportive that they're like really on me to do this, like, like, we're all so supportive that they're like, you have to do another one. And they made me do it. I mean, the funny thing was I was in my backyard when I shot it and they were like, that's amazing. Next time maybe you want to be indoors because I look like it looks like you're captive in the Colombian jungle.

You live and learn, I guess, right? Yeah. And so now, so you do it on Patreon, is that what you're doing? You're... I do. He's on Instagram. And then I... I don't know. Don't you have a Patreon account?

No. Oh, you do. And people support it on Patreon, and then part of what you get with Patreon is I do zooms, where... Oh, okay. okay yeah that's the video. Can show up and ask questions and the questions I'm getting lately are like people keep forwarding me articles saying how scared should I be about like right. The roar of our engines, the pump of our hardwoods, the pedal to our metal, the sparks that ignite us, the pistons that push us, the sparks that ignite us, the pistons that push us,

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And so how are you like, in case of where do you, so are you doing, are you just a, like you're just like, you're a news how like you're going at everywhere, like, well, who are your sources? What are you doing?

Like, how do you kind of get the news that you're going to share and then break it down? Well, first of all, I have relationships from having been a quarter of a so long. So I talk to people and I first hand gather information. And I have like a little kitchen cabinet that I when I don't really feel a story, I'll ping them and be like, what do you think the story is today? Or should I do this or that? But also, it's like when you have your 10,000 hours, I just, I've built a Twitter feed,

I have like a set of places, resources I go to, I just scan the landscape in a way that is muscle memory for me. Yeah. Where I hear things and see something and I'm like, that's a story. Like, that's moving away, that's moving off, we shouldn't look at that, we need to do this.

Or this is right, I just, you vibe it after a while. Right, like it's what you do, it's like a nature. Yeah. And like also, it's a very, your business or the news business, it's a very competitive business. I'm sure when you were doing this as a court, like are people all vying for like the first person to like break a story or like, what was that experience like?

And you know, are you happy to be away from it or like what was that experience like and you know are you happy to be away from it or it's still kind of like that like what is like tell us. You know it's a weird combination you're everybody's extremely competitive to break news and book guests that's a big yeah who's gonna get the get um. But you also live such a strange existence as a political reporter because you're like it's incredibly intense and you're always on, that there's also a camaraderie among reporters. So you compete for soup, but there is a really like supportive vibe there. And it does get, you know, the competition is much more like inside networks or who's getting this slot or who's going to be anchoring or what is that person is there, what does that mean,

they just sent them that story, you know, all that game happens. Right. Um, I'm glad to be out and doing my thing because I wouldn't have wanted to cover the incremental developments inside the Trump White House. I wouldn't want to be like, he's in a bad mood now or he did this on Twitter. Just I think it's noise. I don't think it helps. I think it's not the purpose of journalism.

But it's hard to say that one should ignore what the president's doing. So for me, it worked a lot better, like to be outside explaining, giving people a big picture in context, what this means, what matters with doesn't. And I have one of the cool things about Instagram is unlike when I was on camera for big networks, where you're talking to sometimes millions of people, when the light goes off and you're done with your life shot,

you have no idea how it went over. And like I say, you know, in my backyard or my room, what I immediately get, like, I didn't know what that word meant. Here's an article, oh my God, in my local community, you need to talk, and there's this conversation that happens that makes it all worthwhile. So I guess I'm gonna say, do you like it? Do you like this experience?

Are you having a good time with it? What are the, like, give me some things that are working well. What kind of things are, like, kind of, you're still trying to figure out the new, it's a new medium for you. So. I mean, the part that I love is the instant. I like the experience of taking something complicated

and showing people they can get it, like making it accessible. I feel like a lot of flow and joy in that. I also like being able to decide. I don't have to get anyone's approval to tell decide what my story is or what matters and what doesn't. And I think one, that's a big one. I think just in that alone, people would be And a big one, that's a big one. I think just in that alone, people would be interested to follow you or like listen, because right away, you're not getting paid by some big, you know,

conglomerate to kind of like skew the news that way. And even just like a boss to say, this is what I think is gonna rate today. And it's all over things right. So for me that's super satisfying and the engagement with the audience, the instant feedback. And it's been really lovely like one of the things that I found out after this year and this was a goal is to help more people like get engaged, register, participate in vote. And at the end of the election cycle, I found out 27,000 people said that they hadn't voted in the last cycles, but did this year

because of news, not noise. Wow, that's a big amount. It made me really psyched. So those are the good things. The bad things are every decisions up to me. It's the same thing. Who do I go to on the days that sometimes I'm just like, I don't want to decide. Yeah. And I miss the camaraderie of a newsroom and the experience of having first of all,

CNN's just amazing. I want to do this story and then the infrastructure and support and ability to do things there is remarkable. And just being able to go to my, you know, I used to sit in between Dan of Ashenglory and Borgian and be like, you guys, do you think this is the angle or is that? And just to have the conversation. Yeah. That's the stuff I miss. And so how long, well, how long were you at CNN and when did you leave in 2018?

Is that when you left? I was there for, I think, seven years. And I was at ABC for four before that. So I was in DC for about, like, 10 years. And I left as we were gearing up for the, I left ahead of the 2016 election. Oh, that's when, oh, okay. were gearing up for the I left ahead of the 2016 election. Oh, that's when oh, okay.

So what what did you do between 2016 and you wrote the book? I know savage news. I took a break. I took it first and then I wrote the book, which I thought would be really fast and turns out it took four ever. It is not easy to write a novel. Oh my God. No. Did you write it by yourself?

But did you have help? I, I finally would help to that. I hired an editor. And anybody who's writing a book for the first time, I would so recommend it because you've someone to send pages to and then they respond and send them back. Just the conversation helps you get stuff done. Yeah. No, I, yeah, I would imagine I had, you know, I've written a couple of books. And if I didn't have the supportable, I had editors and stuff, but I can't imagine doing it alone. It's a huge project and it takes time consuming, very, very time consuming.

I mean, it was, yeah, and I had worked with a couple different editors and they were amazing. I just, yeah, if I read again, it'll be nonfiction. Yeah, exactly. So can you give me some things? I know you said the water. Can you tell us about the water? Because I'm now curious. You were saying the water quality of the water we're drinking.

Can you give us some information on that? And anything else that, like beside anything about, anything that, like I said, those missing gaps gaps by the time this air is going to be probably no one's going to know anyway, but A couple of things that we can I can keep where we can keep our ears and eyes out for that we're just because of the how it works We're missing I think that Inge I mean how your water is is a hyper local thing and so we would have to answer that on a case-by-case, but there's still problems in Flint, Michigan. There are a number of pesticides that were deregulated.

That was the one. By the Trump administration, one in particular that is proven to cause brain damage in children. And they barred it because like migrant workers, they wouldn't want them to interact with it and bring it home to their kids, and then a Trump administration made it legal again. There are a whole bunch of things like this that have happened, and that everybody, myself included, has been too busy to sort of find the like,

what's really gone on since this happened. The Biden administration is vowed to undo all those things, like at restate those regulations. But it's important that journalists go out and find out, you know, what has been the effect. And one of the interesting things about the Biden administration is they make clear that climate change is going to be a priority in all their conversations, even in negotiations with foreign adversaries and foreign partners. So I think the environment and climate are going to be massive topics to follow on the domestic level like you at home and around the globe.

I think that infrastructure repairs as like sort of boring as that sounds actually isn't because it means like everybody complains about the road as they drive to work, right? Or like bridges that are so narrow that there's crazy traffic, all those things, when they talk about infrastructure, that's what they're talking about, makes your life clear. So my like kind of suggestion is people get interested in the stuff that might sound boring at first, but that's the stuff that is really interesting because it totally impacts your life, environmental policy, infrastructure, you know, immigration. These things are going to be like changing

and we should all notice. Yeah, and you cover all of that stuff, right? I cover a little bit every day so that it's digestible. Digestible, okay. And so, and so do you have like, are you gonna have a, do you have a podcast that I know of? I don't have a podcast. I'm surprised because this is your perfect person to have like a news podcast. It kind of, that would be like an evolution of IG, wouldn't it be?

I just have to decide what's the next thing to do. And is it that? Is it, yeah, we're just those things. So how do people follow you and get more information on, I mean, just tell us your information so people can kind of get those little new snippets and sound bites. The news, not the noise. The news, not the noise. You can find it on Instagram at Jessica Yellen, Y-E-L-L-L-I-N. My Patreon is News Not Noise on Patreon, and we're starting

a newsletter soon, so that can come to your inbox. But the main thing is I do, in Instagram, I do, I post to stories every day, kind of like a news roundup, feed posts on like what's going on and I do a video a few days a week and live interviews with real experts and newsmakers about what's going on in the world. My videos aim to help break down one big topic in the news in a way that helps you both understand it and know why it matters to you. I love that. It's such a disruptive thing to do.

I really kind of admire that you've done it this way. It's like you came up, like you said, you went from the cable from the, when you call them like the networks, sorry, networks to cable, you're kind of you doing everything as a disruptor and it's gonna work and him. Listen look at CNN now It's like massive

So I I wish you all the best when we're doing I love it I mean even in those short period time that I've known about it I've I've really kind of was able to kind of decipher much more in a small amount of time So thank you for being on my podcast being on habits and hustle and I really look forward to kind of following this journey with you Thank you so much for your kindness and for having me on this really journey. No, absolutely, I appreciate it. And don't be a stranger.

Maybe you can come on once and I'll just kind of give me some breakdown of news or all of us, because we were all, like I said, very my optic on two topics or one. And then we don't know what's going on. It's actually to kind of keep us abreast of the situation basically. That sounds really fun. I'd love it. Thank you so much, I had a great night. You too. Take care. This episode is brought to you by the Yap Media Podcast Network.

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