Jessica Yellin Founder of News Not Noise

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

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi there, It's me Laura Wasser, the divorce attorney and
the founder of It's over Easy, the online divorce service.
I've been practicing family law for over twenty years, and
I've worked on thousands of divorces, shepherding people through what
may be one of the most terrifying times in their lives.
Along the way, I often have to remind people to

(00:21):
lower their expectations when dealing with matters of the heart.
Rules simply don't apply. Because all's fair in love and war.
So welcome to the All's Fair Podcasts. Fasten your seatbelt
and let's go. Hi. I'm Laura Wasser, and this is
All's Fair. I'm Johnny Rains, the chief content officer at

(00:41):
It's over Easy. Welcome to the show. Today's show is
about the future, and with the presidential election just a
few weeks away, Laura, frankly, I'm a bit nervous about
what is ahead of us. But what's the worst that
can happen? The worst that can happen. The worst that
can happen is already happening. It can continue to happen,
which I think is not a good idea. I think
we need to feel really good about whatever decisions were

(01:04):
making as we near voting day, and get out there
and do something about it. I know that there was
a New York Times article that you shared with me.
It's eight pm on election day. Experts share nightmare scenarios,
so talking about the worst that can happen. Tell us
what this article said, Well, they're actually false nightmare scenarios

(01:26):
that could happen. So um. They basically talk about everything
from you know, fake videos on social media too, weird
sort of things happening to people's email accounts, and what
people can do to protect against that. Remember when it
was about to be why two k when we were
all worried about when, like what would happen the computers

(01:47):
were going to stop whenever? That's what's going to happen
if Trump gets elected again. All right. There's a lot
of stuff in here, by the way, that about what
the Chinese and the Russians might do, and they do
make some good points about ways that our institutions, the
social media companies, and even just general news consumers can
protect themselves against some of these things happening. So I

(02:10):
highly recommend it. Who wrote it. This was a collection
of sort of worst case scenarios by a variety of experts.
It's in the New York Times and UH. Some of
the people that wrote some of the nightmare scenarios include
Chris Painter, who was the top cybersecurity diplomat for the U. S.
State Department from seventeen. Also, Alex Stamos and Renee DiResta

(02:33):
are the director and research manager of the Stanford Internet Observatory.
They write a Nightmare scenario about disinformation from within. So
it's it's fascinating as if the pandemic and the summer
of demonstrations against racism and social injustice were not already
straining our relationships. Now politics and the ideological divide in
our country is coming to a head. What the future

(02:55):
holds and who will be our next president are uncertain.
And whether it's this uncertain to you or something else,
I've observed that the upcoming election is definitely affecting people
personally and in their relationships, the partners, colleagues, even family members.
Whether you believe your vote counts or not, let me
tell you, voting is vital because if you don't vote,

(03:16):
you're abdicating your voice, forfeiting your right to complain. And
you know how important it is to me that one
is able to complain. I think everyone should reserve that right.
And today I want you to meet someone who uses
her voice and her iPhone to serve our country. She's
the founder of News Not Noise, a fresh voice in
the media that provides daily news reports on Instagram. She's

(03:36):
also the former CNN Chief White House Correspondent and an
Emmy and Gracie Award winning political journalist and author. Her
first novel, Savage News, about reporting while female, is available
now from HarperCollins. It was awesome I read it. Welcome
to All's fair, my friend, Jessica Yella, hey, bes Hi,
is so good to be with you. Yes, I'm psychic.
I've been waiting for this for a long time. And

(03:58):
and Jessica and I go back a long where parents
were friends, like we're just we're homies. So but because
not everyone knows you like I do, tell our listeners
a little bit about you, Jessica, I guess I do
this crazy thing, which is I report the news on
social media right now to an audience that wants information
but not from one of the mainstream sources. And I

(04:19):
ended up there in a really weird way. Which is
like you. I grew up in Los Angeles with a
family that cared about public service, cared about giving back.
The whole thing was, you know, you can't just be
a success professionally. You have to make a difference in
the world. I thought I could do that by being
a reporter. I still think you can do that by
being a reporter. And I worked inside the system for

(04:40):
a long time at CNN, A b C, MSNBC, and
I just thought, well, there's a huge audience that we're
not speaking to. And I kind of listened to my gut,
didn't know what I was doing, but kind of made
a change in my life and tried to find ways
to address this audience and sort of through a series
of coincidences is and maybe even accidents, ended up doing

(05:02):
this thing on Instagram and it's kind of working. I
love it. Give us like your stats, like in ninety
eight you started your broadcast career, because I read the
book and I also know you, so I remember when
this was all kind of going down because it was
somewhat autobiographical, this this book and working within the system.
But tell us about how you started, how you got
into being a newscaster. So you know, my family was

(05:24):
very political when I was growing up. And when I
got out of college, the first thing I did was
I got an internship at the White House. And Bill
Clinton was president then, so I was a White House
intern in the Clinton years. And by the way, Monica
Lewinsky grew up here too, and when yeah, true, yes,
in our community. And I always observed working in the

(05:45):
White House that there were two things that could stop
everyone cold in the room. One was the President himself
walking into the room, and the other was that one
TV that was in the corner of every White House
office that was always tuned to CNN, because remember that
was the only cable news channel then, And whenever that
one TV was reporting on the White House, people would
almost freeze and look. And I thought, oh my gosh,

(06:07):
there's people who have so much influence, And it always
annoyed me that they weren't covering the thing that I
thought was important, right Like, we were working on whatever
legislation at the time, welfare reform, crime bill or whatever,
and they're reporting on some like haircut someone got or
you know, helicopter picking someone up for personal use. And

(06:28):
it wasn't Jesse and and it was you know, in general,
TV ends up going to scandal, and I thought, oh
my gosh, I want to do that and focus on
policy so that you can have real influence. Okay, I
was young and naive. What did I know? So I
decided that's what I'm gonna do, and I figured out
how do you get into the media. I came home quick,
Like long story short, I worked at l a magazine

(06:49):
as a print reporter. Someone told me print will die
go to TV. I made a fake tape. I marketed
it all over the country. I got a gig in Orlando.
I moved to Orlando. I was a one man band reporter.
I was also the only Jew anyone had met. It
was super interesting, probably a whole chapter about blow drying
that we could go into right now, just about you know,

(07:11):
Jewish girls living in Florida and being on TV and
what the funk always says to do about our hair.
But anyway, I digress, as as I am known to do. Yes,
it was so bad. I actually ran into a friend
who was working for Al Gore when I was a
reporter in Orlando, and the first thing he said he
got me an interview with Gore was running for president.
He walks and he goes, oh my god, your hair. Hey,

(07:34):
he's still my friend. He's like, your hair was so
big in Florida, I mean humidity. What are you gonna do?
What do you do? Okay, so you're there. How long
were you in Orlando? For? Eighteen months in Orlando? And honestly,
it was one of my best experiences in reporting, because
you just like learning things and soaking it up and
having these amazing experiences. From there, I went to Tampa,

(07:57):
which is a huge leap in markets, like that's a
much bigger market. I had my own camera person, there
was an editor. I didn't have to do all the
work myself. And I kept saying, I want to be
a political report. I want to cover politics. So they
let me cover the Senate race in the year two
thousand and I went to Tallahassee in the year two thousand.
I was in Democratic Party headquarters And can anyone remember

(08:20):
what happened in the year two thousand in Florida. No,
the recount broke out right the Chad's And so I'm
there and they say Gore one, no Bush one, No
Gore one, no Bush one. Oh my god. Go to
the Secretary of State's Office, and then the whole world
converged on exactly where I was, Tallahassee. Wow. So for

(08:43):
thirty five days I covered the recount. And that's when
I really, all of a sudden, like all my news
heroes start showing up. There's Linda Douglas, There's Cokie Roberts,
there's like all these news stars I've watched my whole
life are They're covering the same story and I'm shoulder
by shoulder with them, and I realized, oh my god,
I can do this. I can cover the story with
the bigs. So anyway, from there, I got to MSNBC.

(09:06):
That was my big leap, but I used all that tape. Um,
I worked the overnights how you know, did what had
to be done. I then went to ABC. I worked
the overnights and Good Morning America. So seven days a week,
I'd worked the weekends, overnights and the mornings during the week.
Tell tell the listeners what overnights are. I'd go to
the office at like I can't remember exactly, but ten

(09:26):
PM you go and make up, and at eleven you'd
be on standby alert, which means if breaking news happens,
you are ready and to go on air and break
the news. But that meant you'd spend some nights just
to sleep on the couch with no news. How often
did that happen that you just were in makeup all
night and you didn't never get to go on the
news of the time. Oh my god. So and we

(09:48):
would practice all these funny drills, like they'd call me
and be like breaking news, breaking news, a planets crashed
and we'd run to the set and you'd be sitting
in Peter Jennings chair at the time of Peter Jennings
with a sleep right, that's much and practice these drills
and it was great training because when it actually happened
that you're on air, it just felt like any other night.

(10:10):
When I was at MSNBC, we would do news updates
every half hour and then breaking news when it happened.
And those years, crazy stuff was happening. There is like
miners who got caught underground and we had to go
wall to wall cut um and there was nine eleven.
I wasn't there at nine eleven. I was intent eleven.
But there there's a sniper in d C who was

(10:33):
terrorizing everyone. And you'd be on wall to wall coverage
for that there was a Moscow I mean, breaking news
is as you know, all the time. So I had
all this experience going on in the middle of the night,
and it just trained me to be able to just
talk and figure out how to keep coverage going even
when you're just the only one up and then you

(10:54):
get home at like seven or eight am and sleep
during the day. I try to wake up and have
some kind of life, which is very hard because you're exhausted,
probably not like feeling super sexy or romantic, or the
number of times I'd be on dates and be like, so, wait,
explain to me again why you can't meet me at seven,

(11:15):
And then you'd explain it and they're like, but I
don't understand. Why are you doing that rather date with me?
And you're like, yes, but I have to do this,
this is my job. It was weird, okay, So then
okay you And then in two thousand three you joined ABC. Yes,
I went to ABC. That's when I did overnights for
Peter Jennings, filling in like not for That's when I

(11:36):
would do overnights in case, you know, there's breaking news,
and then I've worked Good Morning America And the thing
I did is I would you know I was covering
Good Morning America, was a general assignment reporter. I'd cover
whatever is happening, you know, tabloid crime or you know,
crazy celebrity stories. But I would always tell the management
I want to be White House correspondent. And they would

(11:59):
be like, okay, but Martha Stuart's going to jail, so
you're going to cover Martha Stu're going to jail. And
I'd always say, amazing, energetic, happy, Like this is my
advice to younger people. Take the assignment as long as
it doesn't conflict with your integrity. Take the assignment, kill it,
crush it, and then tell them what you ultimately want
and keep doing that. Right do you find by the
way that young people are unwilling to do that these days?

(12:23):
I mean, is there an entitlement? Like I remember when
I was younger, people would go, oh, these kids, they
just want to go straight to the top and dada da,
And now I'm the old person going, Guys, put in
the hours, Like you don't just get to be Laura
Wasser or Jessicaell and like you need to actually put
in your time, and like you said, do it with
a smile on your face, please, because that's what's gonna

(12:45):
make me then want to put you as the White
House correspondent because I have that power. That's my advice.
I think it's target what your goal is, be clear
about it, and then do the grint work because you
gotta put in that time. As you're saying, I find that,
you know, it's hard to make gross generalizations. But sometimes

(13:06):
the weird thing is the kids who refused to do
the grount work get to bypass it. So sometimes I
wonder were we the fools for doing all well? Like
the guy in the book was just take his shirt
off and they'd be like, you've got the assignment right. Well,
I guess. I guess the flip side to that moral
of that story is if you've got a really good
six pack and you don't have to do the work right,

(13:30):
the system all right. So so I'll have another question. So,
good Morning America. All of this stuff really, but good
Morning America in particular, not specific to when you were there,
but generally speaking, I have to ask the Morning Show
like you saw it and your book came out at
around the same time, Like it's so interesting to me

(13:50):
how these things happened, and being a woman and working
in that world and wanting to be taken seriously but
still having to worry about blow drying and makeup, I mean,
as they do. And then also somebody putting their hand
on your ass or you know, we're gonna go with
him because he's more serious and he sounds smarter because
he's a man. Tell us a little bit about that,

(14:11):
because we have a lot of female listeners, and that
is a huge question We've been talking about a lot
throughout the podcast. So I think the Morning Show was
amazing for drawing out these issues. I don't think it's
specific to anyone program. I think it's sort of really
a composite of so many people's experiences across the industry.
Um and I think it's a snapshot of a period

(14:34):
in time where, you know, I grew up in a
very feminist environment, where my parents taught me you can
be literally anything you want to be if you work really, really,
really really hard, and that being smart winds. And I
was a women's studies in American history major in college,
so I believed in like just that I was feminist
and awake, and I was never going to have to

(14:55):
deal with sexism, and then I entered institutions that were sexist.
And that's not specific to anyone place, it's in general
I encountered. I think I was so shocked that I
didn't actually know what was happening as it was happening,
do you know what I mean. I remember there's this
one reporter who's much much much older than me who

(15:17):
essentially wouldn't speak to me in the hallways at one place.
And when I asked what was going on, one of
my young male colleagues would say, he, I think he
doesn't talk to women. I think he resents that women
are reporters here, like the guy was being awake, right.
And one day, this same reporter walked by my office
and it was that raw when we all, I don't know,

(15:37):
when I was sitting on an exercise ball, when everyone
thought you had better posture if you said on an
exercise ball in that and he said to me, first words,
he says, to me practicing your kegel exercises. I thought
it was nice to meet you. And that's like thirty
two at the time. And I looked at him and

(15:57):
I said, I don't think you can say that at work,
And what do you say he laughed and walked away, right,
But it is it's sometimes you're just so shocked that
somebody would say something that you really don't necessary. I
think what you said is better than what some people
would say. But it's just like, really, dude, And and
he probably is not a bad guy. He just grew

(16:20):
up in an era. Like the guys that say you
look so beautiful today, or what a lovely blouse or whatever.
They don't know. I mean, they're learning and again they'll
age out. But it is interesting to me that that
was acceptable a not talking to you in the halls
and be saying something so asi and I and that totally.
And the thing is, you remember the feeling of you

(16:43):
kind of feel stripped, bear and unnerved. I was unmoored.
I didn't know why, like there's this off feeling, right,
and I didn't have like language or awareness to know
what that was. So for the rest of the it
kind of you. It carries with you, and you know,
you get enough of these and you adjust how you

(17:04):
behave at work as a woman. Right, And at that
time there were also you know, like most of the
anchors were only men, right. Women had different kinds of assignments.
You know, there were breakthrough cases, you know, Diane Saurrier
and Katie Couric, but they were like one off more
than regular. And don't say, just as a side note,
if you look at TV today and you look at

(17:26):
panel discussions on TV, very often you'll see older men
and much younger women. Still. Yes, well I live in
l A too, so I see that time. But it's
just life, right, So okay, So I just want to
talk a little bit because I know you won't, because
I know you well enough about some of the interviews
that you did when you were at CNN as the

(17:48):
Capitol Hill correspondent. You you interviewed Barack Obama, which is like,
I just got the chills all over again, and Hillary
Clinton and Michelle Obama rama Manuel John own Her. I mean,
you've had some amazing experiences that to me is really
like and you've spoken to these people and you've brought
them into our homes, which I just find fascinating and

(18:11):
so fulfilling. And and I want to hear Jessica, what
you think about what's going to happen in November. We
won't we won't hold you to it, but just based
on I mean, you know so much more whenever, by
the way, listeners whenever I have a political question, because
I will admit I'm not as up to date as
I should be. I don't read every single thing. I'm

(18:32):
on a couple of different news things, and I do
listen to Jessica, but a fascinthing specific. I'll even just
text her because she she knows. She doesn't make you
feel like an idiot when you ask her, and she
explains it in a way that makes sense that you
don't have to have, you know, a degree in political
science to to get it. So what do you think?
What do you think is going to happen? Because I
am very worried that I will start kind of believing

(18:56):
the hype and feeling good about things. When Kamala was
announced his running as Biden's running mate, I got really excited.
It was like the first good thing that happened in
like six weeks. And I just am worried about putting
too much hope into this because I don't want to
have my hopestast. What do you think based on what
you know? And I know you were on Bill Maher recently,
like what's your thoughts? I think your attitude is a

(19:18):
good attitude. Nobody should believe this racist cooked Nobody should
believe anything set um enormous amount can change between now
an election day. The numbers are these. Biden has had
a steady lead since March right, so his lead has
been strong and not volatile. That doesn't mean things couldn't

(19:41):
change in the end. Things change in the end for
Hillary Clinton. And it's all about two categories. And this
sounds self evident, but it's worth saying. There's swing voters
who are the people who voted for Trump in two
sixteen but are on the cusp and might be thinking
maybe I need to make a change, and they can't
necessarily decide. And then there's a question of will Democrats
do a good enough job of turning out the people

(20:04):
who lean to Biden but don't love voting like don't
think to them. And it's a two pronged effort from
the Democratic campaign too, and you can imagine the Trump
team is trying to do the same. But so they're
targeting white suburban women who overwhelmingly voted for Trump in
but then voted for Nancy Pelosi to take over the

(20:25):
House in Okay. And then there are those people that
is a body of voters, huge numbers of people in
that category. It's college educated white women who tend to
vote Republican but are deeply turned off. And this is numbers.
This is not my point of view. This is just
the numbers deeply turned off by what they view as
the divisiveness Trump is created, by his language that they

(20:47):
see as racist, and they're worried about COVID and their
kids going back to school and jobs. Got it. So
those people are traditional Republican voters who are leaning Democrat.
And the question is many times their husbands vote Trump,
and will they be swayed by their husbands in the
end or will they vote the way of their intuition

(21:07):
right now, So the Biden campaigns working to help or
Democrats in general are working to win those women over.
And then there's this question of turning out this sometime
voters all right now? Tell us about the voters of color?
Is that where you were going? I don't know, okay.
And then there's this other category, which is largely Latino voters,

(21:29):
Latin X voters who lean Democrat but don't always vote UM.
There's and and driving up turnout among certain categories of
voters of color, especially black men black women are overwhelmingly
pro Democrat. The question is will black men come out
for Biden and big numbers or how big so? And
I always like to explain a little for a moment

(21:50):
in that I'm sorry to over generalize audience that way,
but that is how we describe demographics in politics, because
that's how polsters look at trends and they slice up
the electorate by education, race, and geography. Well, that makes sense,
I mean, I get it. What do you think will happen?
And again it's as we get closer to it, and

(22:11):
when this airs, it will be even more of a
moot point. But as the pandemic starts to ebb down,
does that help Trump? I mean again, as time goes by,
no one in March thought that this was going to
be going on for as long as it has. That's
an excellent question, and it goes to what are their
cases for real for election? Right? Joe Biden's making the

(22:34):
case that America is off course, we aren't aligned with
our mission of becoming a country that expands opportunity for all,
where we try to work together and we're unified, right,
and that he has a plan to get us back
on track, which is about COVID, which is about the economy,
which is about school. It hits all those buckets. Um.

(22:55):
The President is arguing that two things his under him.
The economy was very strong before COVID, and even though
it's like flatlining right now, trust him to get it
back because he's a great businessman. So it's a two steps.
And then you know, driving out these kind of dark

(23:15):
theories about Biden being all sorts of you fill in
the blank conspiracy theory. Right, if you're upset about unrest
in the streets, if you're upset that you think protests
are leading to looting, to leading to violence, well, he's
going to crack down and be tough and create a
stable future. The challenge with the President's case is he's
arguing he's both the arsonist and the firefighter, right, and

(23:39):
that's why these swing voters are leaving him because they
get for Biden. The case is essentially like, do you
want a path back to stability? And your question goes
directly to that. If COVID were to vanish, if the
economy were to surge, that case would be hard to make, right,

(23:59):
Biden's case would be less appealing but there's no sign
that COVID is receiving it. In fact, Fauci has said,
you know, brace for impact offense. So you were on
Bill Maher in September. Tell us a little bit about
that you've been on it before. Correct, Okay, it's first
of all, it was amazing COVID wise, because like back

(24:20):
in the studio was like I think the first studio
in person show to happen post COVID, and um, they
were serious, like everyone in his masks, every single person
the building was COVID tested before show. Yeah, no, no.
I went to a taping of VOMO that was on
ABC last night. Voter missed out that Michelle Obama did
with attention same thing like I had to have a

(24:42):
test before temperature. Everyone was wearing a mask. All the
talent wore a mask until they got on the stage
and they were It was a lot of stand up communis.
I mean, it was crazy, but so I felt I
felt safer than I feel in my home because you know,
some of my kids are out and whatever. So it
was really very very well up. I'm impressed. I'm really impressed. Yeah. Um,

(25:03):
it shows that we can, in theory go back to work.
Maybe with the right protocols in place, basically with enough testing. Um,
but the show is always like you never know what
to expect because it's not one of these shows where
there's any rehearsal or planning, Like they tell you a
bunch of topics and you prep the topics, and then
you get on air and then Bill asks you what
he feels, what's on his mind? Right, and he seems

(25:26):
a little salty these days, Like I feel like he's
really making us all suffer for the fact that Hillary
didn't win in two thousand and sixteen, that whole like
we live in a bubble and everything's gonna be okay.
I feel like he's really like, no, guys, you got
and he's he's scoffing, he's you know, he's bullying it
is do you know him? Is that is that for effect?

(25:47):
Is that so that we go, oh, we better pay attention.
We can't be complacent. I think he's always salty, but
I think he and I do think he believes that,
and I honestly think he's right. I mean, one of
the things that happens is you get on set and
you start this conversation and it takes a direction and
then like after I was on the show, there were
all these right up saying that the panelists were so
confident that Biden's gonna win, and Bill Maher was not

(26:10):
having any of it. I'm not I'm not taking that
posture like that's not a what I said or what
I believe. But you know, it's like media things gets fun,
but he is taking this hard stance that he believes
that we have to be like everyone's super wary and
he's worried. In addition that Donald Trump is going to
convince a lot of voters with his law and order message,

(26:30):
He's going to scare enough voters to win them back.
And that's where I was drawing a line, because the
numbers don't show that Trump's law order message is working
with some voters, but it's driving away others of his voters.
So that's your appearance before after the Bob wouldward right after.
So this idea of I wanted to keep the peace

(26:54):
and keep everyone calm was not actually resonating, I don't
think even then. So I mean, it's it's hard to say,
like I haven't seen it in the numbers at the
point where we're taping this, but um, I mean, what
I've found anecdotally is that a lot of the stuff
that's coming out from the president former staff that's quoting

(27:17):
what he said to them, Bob Woodward even playing audio
that the people who believe Trump insists that's all fake news.
They will say that it is doctored. They will say
that they are liars, they will say that they have motives.
There is this wall of resistance. Right, We'll say that
it would that it was Woodward's responsibility to say something.

(27:39):
All right, right, and so it's almost this fervor. It's
a personality devotion that a lot of the President's faithful have,
and so there's a willingness to excuse or explain anything
that doesn't match their vision. Um. And then obviously with
you know, Democratic voters you're preaching to then verted the

(28:01):
question is is that moving votes? And you know we
have this very small swing vote, Um, is it moving votes?
My guess is that rather the move votes, that kind
of stuff energizes those sometime voters, people who lean Biden
but might sit on the couch. They can hear that
stuff and think, you know what, I'm getting off the
couch and I'm going to fill in my mail in ballot. Right,

(28:24):
all right, So Jessica, I have to ask you because
I'm gonna reveal my true ignorance here. I'm not sure
I ever completely understand stood the electoral college. I mean,
I get it, but I don't get why we still
have it, particularly after two thousand sixteen. I think it
may be outdated. I've heard people say that, tell us,
tell our listeners, I mean not super basic. Most of

(28:45):
our listeners probably know what it is. But give us,
you know, the dumb down version of the electoral college
and why it's still matters and why it's still in play.
First of all, I love you for asking that, because
it is so good for really smart people like you
to model asking questions. And so many people are afraid
to ask this stuff about civics because we're not taught
this anymore, all right, And I think most people don't

(29:07):
actually really know that. So those electoral college is a
really messed up way that we ultimately choose our president. Um.
There's a lot of people who think it should change,
but this is how it works. Each state decides we're
going to send a certain number of people, the electors,

(29:28):
to a gathering, and they will decide who our president becomes,
who is our president. Those electors chosen by each state
ultimately decides the president. Those electors are picked after we
all vote, and it could be constitutionally okay for the
voters to not have a say and who those electors

(29:50):
are or who they select. But the way it functionally
works is each state decides its own rules for how
we vote in our election. Um we cast our votes
as citizens, right, and those add up to a certain
number of votes in the state. Each state has a
set number of electors based on how our popular vote

(30:12):
in the state works out. Those electors are charged with
either voting partially for one cannet partially for other, or
some states say winner take all doesn't matter what the
popular vote breakdown is. If anybody wins even by one
vote in the state, they get all the electors. Now,
this is a really messed up system because it's not

(30:33):
one person, one vote. It certain states where there's a
ton of residents, like California, all our votes only add
up to a certain number of electors. But another state
like Montana, which has way way way fewer citizens, so
gets a huge say in the electoral college with their electors,

(30:54):
and it means that rural states with less population are
weighted of a year in a way in having a
say in who the president is. Then super populous urban states. Now,
why is that our founders were farmers, a grarian and
they thought farmers need to have a big say. So

(31:15):
not so the cities don't have all the control. The
farming people also have a big say in who the
president is. Draw that out, you know, many years later,
and it looks super unequal, and it it hands out
that very often rural, more rural states are read more
urban states are blue, and by that I mean states

(31:35):
that have urban centers, and so red states end up
getting slightly more weight in the electoral college than blue states.
That means that Hillary Clinton can win the popular vote
in but not win the election. Same with Al Gore.
And it could be the case again. And how is
is it antiquated? Does it still make sense? Why do

(31:56):
we still need this again? If I'm not a farmer
and you there and I'm not um is there some
way of either doing away with it completely because we
do have the capabilities whether or not it ends up
happening this way, I'm being able to say one person,
one vote and count them and and keep track of them,
or even kind of rejiggering it so that it makes

(32:18):
a little bit more sense, in which is very different
from when they came up with the electoral college. So
old me at CNN and abc NN, would it be like,
I'm just a reporter. I don't take a position. The
electoral college is what it is. New me is like
hell yeah, like this don't make sense. We need to
change it. But that's a whole process, that's you know,

(32:39):
that's not an easy thing to do. And we have
this problem, which is we all get obsessed with the
electoral college right before every presidential election, and we forget
about it again afterwards. And for sure, if Biden wins,
we're gonna forget it the electoral college. It didn't bother
anything here, It'll be fine, right And change college is
a multi year process and you need dedication and time

(32:59):
commit and people need to stay focused on that after
the election if they want change. What we need to
focus on before the election, because let's just agree, that's
a problem we can't solve right now. The electoral college
is how do we ensure that all the votes are counted,
that the vote is not suppressed? Um, and that the
system works well. And can I just say a few

(33:21):
words on that. We have to be prepared for a
lot of confusion on election day. We have to be
prepared for the possibility that we won't know who the
president is, not just on election day, but for days,
maybe even weeks after. I'm not saying that's for sure
going to happen. I'm saying, put in your head that's
a possible scenario, and that maybe somebody will declare themselves

(33:46):
re elected. The result zone somebody right, declare themselves re elected.
And if that happens, people have to remember the vote
isn't counted until each state declares its own winners. The
states decide what their own count looks like. Okay. The
other thing on election day is there could be extremely

(34:07):
long lines and people need to know if you show
up in the polling hours, by law, they cannot kick
you out or close the doors and make you not vote.
So hey, they can't just say okay, that is very
good to know. And I have another question actually about that.
This year we've seen so much about voting by mail

(34:28):
and the US Postal Service. Why is that coming up
so much this year? Because people know that it's going
to be difficult to go to polls, whether it's pandemic,
whether it's getting there, whether it's voter suppression. And so
they're trying to vote by mail and as a result
of that, we're having problems with the US Postal Service
Or is there more's or something I missed, there's more.
So the first part is correct that because of COVID,

(34:49):
people know that there's going to be anxiety about voting
in person. So there's been a big push by UH
elected officials to expand mail in voting, make sure more
people can vote at home from their home UM and
that was just a neutral, nonpartisan effort to keep people safe.
But the President decided to problematize mail in voting. The

(35:11):
President went on Twitter and TV and has been saying
for months that mail in voting is more susceptible to fraud.
I'm telling you, as a journalist who has looked at
the data and interviewed so many people on this, there's
less there's no evidence of that mail in voting is
not more susceptible to fraud or susceptible to fraud like
fraud is like point O O O one percent or

(35:32):
something with a mail in ballot um, but he's made
it an issue. At the same time, they put a
new guy present. Trump put a new guy in charge
of the postal service, has no experience in working in government,
and he did an extreme slowdown of the mail by
shutting down machines, removing mailboxes, doing all these weird things

(35:53):
that he's saying is meant to save them money. But
what it's effectively done is slowed down delivery of the mail.
And so this immediately sent up off alarms like will
mail in ballots get out to people in time, and
will they get back in time, and will they get lost,
and will they get processed? And what's going on? And
so now there's a lot of noise around the mail
and there's concern that people are going to be panicked

(36:16):
that mail isn't a secure way to vote. What I'm
going to do when I get my mail in ballot
is I'm going to fill it out in person, like
I'm going to fill it out at home, and then
I'm going to look up where my nearing polling places,
because in California they opened a couple of weeks early.
And I'm gonna put on my mask and put on
some gloves and face shield if you don't feel comfortable,
and I'm going to drive there and hand it in

(36:38):
in person. I'm going to take a picture of myself
handing it in, and I'm going to post that on
social media. That's awesome. I love that. That. Did you
guys hear that? That is a very good idea. I
think this year we have to be thinking a little
bit outside of the box because it's really important. And
you know, I've seen all kinds of things calling for people,

(36:58):
young people because I don't know what do Susica. But
every time I've ever been to my polling place, and
I usually go in person because I like to take
my kids and it makes me feel good and I
get the sticker and then we get to take Everybody
at the office feel shitty all day if they didn't vote,
and I'll be like, you guys, go early, go vote whatever.
But everybody that works at those polling places is over
like ninety I mean so, and those are the people

(37:19):
that we really do have to worry about with COVID,
and so I've been reading a lot about how they
may not be able to come out. And so what
I've also seen is that a lot of the local
high schools are going out to kids and saying, hey,
you guys, you're healthy, you're safe, you can do this.
You can't even vote yet, but if there's something you
want to help with, you want to help in this election.
I'm being bipartisan here. You can whoever you want to

(37:41):
be supporting, but if it's important to be there, then
make sure that you'll actually end up voting. And so
these kids are coming out and they're doing and I
think it's really cool and really exciting. I love that.
I totally. There's a place called you can go to
at Power the Polls and they can get anybody listening
information on how you can be a poll worker pulster.

(38:01):
Is it a poster as a poll worker? A polster?
Something else? Right that they don't call it measure? Yeah,
they do. Bright poll worker are the people who go
to the polling places and like check you in or
work in a strip club show. I'm a poll worker,
I doubt would be like your what one poll by night,
a different by day Exactly, if you're free during the

(38:24):
days of the of the election and you're working the
poll at night, we'd like to invite you to come
work the poll during the day, the boss, will you
be giving people time off on election day to vote? Totally?
I always do. Now I'll never know because they're home
in front of their computers anyway, So it's fine with me.
Go please go vote. This is All's Fair with Laura

(38:46):
wasser On I Heart, and brought to you by It's
over Easy. It's over Easy is our online divorce service.
And we know divorces never really over easy. But it
doesn't have to bankrupt you, destroy your family, and neither
to politics. Maybe they do, I'm not sure about that up,
which is what we're speaking about today. Our relationship with
our leaders and the process by which we elect them
is at best fraught with emotion, and at worst it

(39:08):
can be absolutely soul crushing. I know there's family members
I have that I don't even talk to anymore. Our
show isn't a substitute for therapy. But if the election
ahead is causing you or anyone you know, anxiety, keep listening.
Our guest today is award winning political journalist Jessica Yellen,
who's covered Capitol Hill, domestic politics, and national elections, which
is why I wanted her to come so that she

(39:30):
can tell us how all this ship works. We're speaking
today about navigating the news on traditional and social media
and how to keep your cool as we had toward
the presidential election. Jessica, your media company, News not Noise,
is devoted to providing fact based news in small bytes
and easy to understand ways, not panic and tell us
some advice for people listening how we can avoid freaking

(39:51):
out as we get closer to the election. That's a topic.
So one thing I do is um on Instagram, is
I try to I think that the news landscape so noisy,
people get overwhelmed and just like tune it out or
become obsessive, sit there and then can't sleep after watching
hours of this stuff. So I try to isolate specific

(40:14):
stories that you need to know and explain them clearly
and calmly and short, so that you get what you
need without a panic attack. As you said, I give
advice on having a news diet in general, which is like,
you want to be informed, but you don't want to
be living in this state of fight or flight just
because of what's going on in Washington, right. So what

(40:35):
I give a few tips. One is decide times of
day that you will check the news and be pretty
disciplined about that, Like, maybe it's nine am and five pm,
but don't then you don't need to get like your
breaking news every hour. Turn off notifications. I, Jessica, need
to know every minute that something's breaking. Let me your
front line filter. You turn that off zone. Like what

(40:59):
does it matter if you find out that Trump said
this crazy thing at two pm in the middle of
your meeting, or if you wait till five It won't
change your day. It will only change your heart rate. Right,
pick a few sources that you look at and try
to limit it so that you're not down a rabbit hole.
Like it's so easy to all of a sudden be
looking at and then all of a sudden you're reading

(41:20):
some I do this, and I'm reading some article and
I'm like, oh my god, I didn't know this. And
you look up and you're like, this is a website.
What am I doing? Um? And this is a very
new age thing that you will appreciate, but maybe some
of your listeners in the rest of the country will
find strange. But when I'm done with a news story,
when I'm done with that my news break, and I

(41:41):
put my phone down, I literally take a minute and
close my eyes and remember, that's the news, that's not me,
that's their life, not my life. I can separate emotionally
from it a little from that, and it creates is
like stop this moat so that you don't get immediately
swept into the drama of the awful things that are happening.

(42:01):
I like that. And by the way, the news media
doesn't want you to do that. They want you to
get sucked in, they want you to become addicted, and
they want you to feel. I mean, you can still
feel invested in what's going to happen in our country
politically without feeling Because I do know people that have
gone into deep, deep depressions, went into them after two

(42:22):
thousand sixteen. I can see them kind of scrambling around now,
and I worry for what will happen if Trump is
reelected because I can say these are the people I know,
because I can see where that will go that will
be as serious of the anxiety that's produced now that
could lead to the depression. I do worry about these
people a lot. It's funny. I spend a lot of

(42:44):
my day d m NG with my audience, and some
of them are these swing voting women, But a lot
of them are these people you're talking about who are
living in this frenzy, you know, panic, And they're like,
I've turned off all the news. You're the only thing
I watched. But please tell me, please tell me everything,
and you just I literally tell them, take off your shoes,
go walk in some grass, like help find things that

(43:05):
ground you touch soil, like literally touching the earth sometimes
grounds you. I know that sounds, but I do. What
I'm saying is like we're living in a high stress
time with COVID and the news. If you think the
news is panicking you, it is, don't judge yourself for it.
Find egg off ramps and are we at risk? I

(43:26):
mean again, if we only had a couple of these small,
bite choice things and which will likely be the things
that best kind of represent where we feel about politics,
are we missing out? Are we blind? Are we wearing
blinders if we're not watching Fox News and not seeing
how the other half lives? Or is that safe enough?
I advise that people have multiple news sources in their life,

(43:49):
so that you're not getting your news only from one
p O V. It helps you have a broader lens,
But that doesn't mean take in everything. Right, So if
you like the New York Times, also read the Wall
Street Journal. Right, they're not that far apart, but they
do have slightly different tape. Um, if your online, pick

(44:10):
three sources you like and just make sure they're all
covering similar stories in similar ways, or if there's differences,
you understand them. These days, I also advise following Instagram
and Facebook or whatever your social life is where you live,
follow accounts that differ with your point of view, so
that you're seeing how the other side is talking. Now,

(44:32):
some people find that so panic inducing they can't and
so judge your own like anxiety level. But I like
to have a diversity so you see what's out there.
I think that's wise. I um, yeah, alright, So again, guys,
between now and the election, you really really must follow
at Jessica Yellen y E L L I N. She's

(44:54):
been doing this since two thousand seventeen in this media
construct and it works, and she says the go is
to give you information, not a panic attack. Also, and
again we're not signing off yet, but I just I
have to plug it because if it's all getting it
to be a little bit too much for you. I
definitely recommend Savage News. And I just want to say,
Amy Schumer said, Jessica Yellen is the clear, honest voice

(45:16):
of our generation. But then even better, Arianna Huffington's said,
if the Devil Wears product and Broadcast News had a
love child, it would be this hilarious satire of the
Washington circus. And it's totally true, and it will give
you a little disconnect from everything that's going on. It's funny,
it's heart wrenching. I just loved it, and I loved
it because I know you too, But I think I'd

(45:37):
love it even if I didn't. Okay, So, jess you're
also an ambassador for the nonprofit, nonpartisan media Wise Voter Project.
What's their stance on navigating digital information? So they offer
some really constructive tools to help you understand what's real
and what's not because we are saturated with propaganda and
disinformation on social media. I'm inundated all day with questions

(46:01):
about is this true? Is this not true? Especially with
all this Q and on stuff going on, and save
the children and people thinking that like there's mass sex trafficking,
but there's absolutely no source for this. You know, where
are you what's the original source that's driving this. People
don't have an answer. So when you are getting information
forwarded to you on Facebook or on any outlet from

(46:24):
your family member, you're not sure. Here are a couple
of basic steps. One, look at the original source. Like
I said, sometimes I'll read an article and then look
up and see it's from some random blog I've never
heard of. Question that, what is that sources motivation for
sharing this? Go to their homepage, check the about buttons,
see what their mission statement is. If none of that exists,

(46:46):
question whether this is true. So check the source and
what's their motivation. One to see if other reliable outlets
are reporting on the same thing, and see if it's
in a similar way or a different way. And check
what the new huance is. If you only see something
explosive from one source and you're not seeing it all
over the media, media is copycats. Media is desperate to

(47:08):
get on a hot story. If you're seeing a hot
story no one else is on it, you got to
question that. And number three is so that that means
have like different sources in your diet, right. And number
three is like, look at where this is coming from
and see if the reporter. It's that reporter themselves shares

(47:28):
their social media account, shares a handle away for you
to access this information and access them directly. Um, and
if there are original materials, is there a video, is
there a document? It's what you do. You wouldn't go
to court without some like evidence. Okay, I mean I
like that. It makes me feel better than I can

(47:48):
check in with you find out if it makes sense,
I can d M you. I didn't even know I
could do that. That's so cool. I just I feel
like your profession, news media particularly, has changed so much
in the last fifty years. I mean, there's so much
more information and misinformation out there, and I'm so happy

(48:09):
to be able to like check in with you. Get
kind of because it's just what ends up happening. I
think to a lot of people, as we just put
our heads in the sand, we don't want to hear
it at all. It's too confusing, it's too depressing, it's
too anxiety producing. But where that leads is then a
complete like closed offness, which then does end up with
not voting, not participating, not staying in the loop. And

(48:30):
like I said, what what I've learned through this pandemic
is that there's equal doses of anxiety and depression that
so many people are experiencing. And this issue with regard
to politics and this election is right in the eye
of that storm. It's definitely accelerating people's anxiety and panic.

(48:51):
And it's a difficult thing. It's like you can't detach entirely.
You have to engage. But like we're talking about, let's
find ways to engage that are constructive and healthy and balanced.
And part of that is finding the sources. And part
of that is knowing when to dismiss crazy disinformation because
it is also a pandemic right now, and we have

(49:12):
to all empower ourselves to make judgments and say, this
crazy thing that's coming to me, I'm not forwarding that
on right. I like that, and I like the idea
of having a news diet. God knows, I haven't had
any other kind of a diet. Excellent a news diet
I could probably handle all, right, Jessica. As a journalist,
you asked questions, and as a lawyer, we have a
formulized method we use in the discovery phase of litigation,

(49:35):
and they're called interrogatories, and we've adapted this tool for
a show, and it commences with me swearing you in, So, Jessica,
do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. I do. Which relationship in
your life has had the most profound impact? I have
to say it was my dad. Um, my dad. You
knew him, I think a little bit. He died, Ira, Ira,

(49:57):
He died uh in two thousand two. Um. But he
always told me be true to yourself. Whenever I had
any kind of crisis as a kid or decision making
as an adult, the advice he gave me was go silent,
go inside and figure out what is your truth and
follow that. And so I've made a lot of conventional

(50:18):
choices in my life, but I also have done crazy
things like moving to Orlando and no one I know
lived there and everyone thought it was nuts, or leaving
CNN and doing Instagram on my iPhone news. And the
only reason I keep following that is because he told
me this, be true to yourself, and it's working. That's
the other reason. Well, what's your favorite love song? Uh?

(50:42):
So they're both by Brian Ferry. Can I say to you?
Can say too, I'll let you slave to love, and
the other is turn to Turn You On, which both
sounds like sex songs, but they're actually loved. I know
them both. I actually saw him. What's the theater? All
that's on the Wiltern? Was it at the Wiltern? And

(51:05):
it was before they took the seats out, believe it
or not. At the Wiltern theater, I saw Brian Ferry.
It had to be like the late nineties. Maybe, Oh
my god, I used to fantasize I was sure I
would marry some British man named Michael who always how
we're a tuxedo where the bow tie was untied high schooler.
I don't know why this guy was gonna marry always
at tuxedo, Michael, where are you? Maybe he was a

(51:28):
waiter looking he worked at Dantanna's. Keep looking in the
right place. Okay, what is the one piece of advice
that you would share with your twenty something year old self.
It's what I was saying earlier, which is like, get true.
I know what you want, ask for it, and then

(51:49):
do what you're asked, as long as it aligns with
your integrity. I wish I had like a motto quick
way to say that, but it's really like make it
clear what your goal is and then do the work
to get there, even if it's not what you dream
of doing. Have you ever been had you been ever
asked to do something that's in align with your integrity? Yes?

(52:10):
Have those lines of integrity changed as you got older
and stayed in the business. Have have the gold post
moved at all? I moved the gold post all the
time when I was. I mean, when you're ambitious and
you're working in an environment, adapt to the environment to
do what it takes to succeed, right, And sometimes it
doesn't always feel great, and sometimes you just do it

(52:30):
and then you hit up against a thing where you're like, yeah,
I actually can't go further. I can't, okay, And um,
you risk, especially as a woman, being called difficult m
hm uh. And I've been called difficult and tough, and um,
I guess yeah, I'm at home doing news on my iPhone.

(52:50):
But I believe is true, and um, that aligns for me.
I like that all right? Which romantic comedy could you
watch on repeat? Sliding Doors Love? We don't get that
one a lot, do we, Johnny. That's a good one though,
and it really makes sense, particularly now when just one
little thing coul kind of shift everything, huh, And you

(53:12):
also feel like maybe there are multiple versions of what
could be at the same time, and you're like, how
do I pivot into the one that works for me?
Right universe? I love it, Jessica. I think everyone listening
now knows that there's no reason to panic over the
upcoming election. You've been very informative and calming, so thank

(53:33):
you so much for joining us on All's fair, you guys.
Jessica's book Savage News is available on Amazon and all
your favorite booksellers, and you can get exclusive digestible news
you can trust on her Patreon page, Patreon dot com
backs last. Jessica Yellen and Jessica also tell everyone where
they can find you online. Please. You can follow me
on Instagram at Jessica Yellen, Jessica y E L L

(53:56):
I N. I do daily news report on video and
post all sorts of news updates that are broken down
real simply every day. Anybody that has ever felt like
you were kind of playing above the rim when you're
reading or watching certain news things, go to Jessica. It's
not news for dummies, it's news for smart people who
may not be as schooled or as fluent in that lingo.

(54:22):
And it's just I'm telling you you'll feel good. Talk
about a news diet. This is like leafy greens for
the for the for your soul. Thank you, thank you
for coming on today. We loved having you. Great to
see you. Jessica is amazing. She's always been amazing. She's
so smart, she's so funny. I'll also tell you something.
She's she's little, she's even littler than me. But she

(54:44):
gave me a ride somewhere once a couple of years ago.
It was the Prius. I get in the Priest and
we're driving, and you know, she's so brightened whatever, and
then all of a sudden she starts her radio and
it is just the heaviest US hardcore rap music I've
ever heard, loud like she must have been listening to
it on the way to wherever we were coming from.

(55:06):
It was hilarious. I'll I can never see her without
thinking about that. I can't believe I forgot to mention it.
I mean, as the election looms, everybody has an opinion
and there's so many voices out there, but remember you
have a choice, and when you make a choice, you
also choose the consequences, so lots to think about, but
don't let the anxiety overtake you. Please vote, stay in
this conversation. If you're new to our show, We're Psyched

(55:29):
you're here, And if you haven't already subscribed, tap that
app so you'll be the first to know when fresh
episodes of All Spare drop. And before you go, let
us know what you think about today's show and rate
us at Apple Podcasts. You can also ask us anything
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leave a comment on our insights blog and we'll discuss
it here on All's Fair with Laura Wasser. That's me.

(55:51):
See you next Tuesday. And in case you didn't hear me,
vote on November three, Vote like your life depends on
a baby, because it well may w