Speaker 1: Sad bab Welcome, Welcome, welcome to the second hour of
Speaker 1: the program, live from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois,
Speaker 1: where we are day two of the Democratic National Convention,
Speaker 1: and I am pleased as much. We're gonna do a
Speaker 1: little inside baseball right now because joining me now, Morgan
Speaker 1: would is the White House correspondent for the Black Information.
Speaker 2: Network on iHeart Property or Project.
Speaker 1: And I gotta tell you, Morgan, first of all, how
Speaker 1: good is that theme song? She was over here dancing
Speaker 1: on the stage with me too. A listener made that
Speaker 1: from being ignorant.
Speaker 2: Said, may I absolutely love that.
Speaker 1: Same what we did for exactly So, Morgan, I am
Speaker 1: fascinated by the entire concept of being a White House
Speaker 1: correspondent because as a nerd for the news, I watch
Speaker 1: all these things on you know, on TV. Can you
Speaker 1: tell me just as a day okay, as a White
Speaker 1: House correspondent, what is your day like?
Speaker 2: Well, it's a bunch of hurry up and wait. I
Speaker 2: can tell you that much.
Speaker 3: I started out my very first event was with this administration,
Speaker 3: the Biden Harris administration, and my first event that I
Speaker 3: got invited to was the Juneteenth Proclamation. So as you
Speaker 3: can imagine, working for the Black Information Network. That is
Speaker 3: a huge issue, or it was a huge, huge issue
Speaker 3: for the black community. So it was great to show
Speaker 3: up to that and see that Biden then and work
Speaker 3: to turn that into a federal holiday. So a day
Speaker 3: in the life of a White House correspondent. Of course,
Speaker 3: we're getting up and we've got all these different types
Speaker 3: of information that we need to send a secret service
Speaker 3: to vet us before we can even get to every day.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, oh my gosh, yeah, the other And trust
Speaker 3: me that security measures are different every day.
Speaker 2: You might come in one gate one day.
Speaker 3: Another gate another day, depending on what the event is
Speaker 3: and getting there it could be like a hurry up
Speaker 3: and wait.
Speaker 2: And now.
Speaker 3: I just want to put it out there for the
Speaker 3: ladies and maybe the guys who like to.
Speaker 1: Wear heels, Yeah, don't wear them. I noted that today
Speaker 1: we did the R and C coverage too, and there
Speaker 1: was a lot of women in sky heels and all
Speaker 1: was like, precious. I don't think that's a good idea.
Speaker 1: The DNC women got the NEMO right, like, there's sensible
Speaker 1: shoes in this place.
Speaker 2: No pun intended.
Speaker 3: You want to put your best foot forward, but you
Speaker 3: know what, it's it's yeah, just don't do it. Your
Speaker 3: dogs are going to be barking by the end of
Speaker 3: the day. And frankly, you know, it's comfy, cozy, but
Speaker 3: at the same time professional.
Speaker 1: So yeah, is it almost like a little fraternity all
Speaker 1: the people that are in that room that are there
Speaker 1: on a daily basis.
Speaker 2: Whose job it is to be a White House correspondent? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, well it depends on who you're working for, Okay, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: for the most part, all of the press we tend
Speaker 3: to work together. You know, if you're in the front row,
Speaker 3: you know, you might want to move out the way,
Speaker 3: and we work together to make sure that everybody gets
Speaker 3: their coverage it is respectable.
Speaker 1: How do you decide what question because normally if you
Speaker 1: get a question, you get one, maybe you get a
Speaker 1: follow up. You're not getting an interview with the with
Speaker 1: the spokesperson. How do you decide what is your lead question?
Speaker 1: What are you going to go with?
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, that depends on excuse me, what your listenership
Speaker 3: or for us will be listeners, what's important to them.
Speaker 3: You want to definitely cover what is important to your
Speaker 3: audience base. And I think that's what each journalist has
Speaker 3: an opportunity to do from that White House?
Speaker 1: Have you, as you're rather new to this administration. I
Speaker 1: know that there are people who have covered multiple administrations
Speaker 1: at White House Press Corps. What have you heard from
Speaker 1: them about the differences between the administrations and are they
Speaker 1: happy with the accessibility of the Biden Harris administration obviously
Speaker 1: Joe Biden, Pryor and now Kamala Harris as the candidate.
Speaker 1: Is that a different You're not covering the campaign though,
Speaker 1: are you? After I said that, I'm like, wait a minute, no,
Speaker 1: not so much. Well, I am covering well, we're covering
Speaker 1: it all. We're gonna go it all. We're gonna cover DNC,
Speaker 1: We're gonna cover them on the campaign trail. We're covering
Speaker 1: walls as he does his stops as well. We're covering
Speaker 1: I'm covering j d Vance and Trump too.
Speaker 3: So it's just a matter of gathering all the information
Speaker 3: to make sure that the listener is well informed.
Speaker 1: Right now, do you guys have to camp out in
Speaker 1: that room and just wait for somebody to show up?
Speaker 2: More or less?
Speaker 3: Yes, that press room, that press briefing room is definitely
Speaker 3: a home base, and it's kind of small in there,
Speaker 3: but you know, it's like you said, it's intimate, it's cozy,
Speaker 3: and we get to know each other. Yeah.
Speaker 2: You know, have you ever asked a question and you
Speaker 2: were like, oh my god, that was the best question
Speaker 2: and best.
Speaker 1: Answer I've ever gotten. Have you ever looked back on
Speaker 1: something that you're like, nailed it?
Speaker 3: Hmmm? I think any question is a good question, honestly.
Speaker 3: I mean, jeez, anything that provides information to the listener
Speaker 3: is a good question.
Speaker 1: I would say, do you feel like, do you get
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of a way to ask this
Speaker 1: And this is not necessarily about a democratic administration. This
Speaker 1: is just years of watching spokespeople. Is it frustrating when
Speaker 1: you're asking a direct question and not getting a direct answer?
Speaker 2: That's a lot of politics. Absolutely.
Speaker 3: You know, we know that people are trained media trains
Speaker 3: who answer questions certain ways, and if they're not getting
Speaker 3: or giving you the answer, then yeah, you might want
Speaker 3: to ask it a different way and see what happens.
Speaker 3: But the yeah, you just got to roll with the punches.
Speaker 3: It is a bunch of hurry up and wait. It
Speaker 3: is a bunch of uh, you know, maybe I'll get
Speaker 3: that later. Maybe we can send that in an email and
Speaker 3: they can send a quote back or something to that effect.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it's it's pretty dynamic. It's never one way
Speaker 3: and it's just gonna stay that way.
Speaker 2: It's very dynamic.
Speaker 3: To be a White House correspondent got to be flexible.
Speaker 1: When you started your career in journalism, Was this on
Speaker 1: your radar?
Speaker 2: What?
Speaker 3: I'm born and raised in the DC area and absolutely
Speaker 3: not politics, but no, But I will tell you this.
Speaker 3: I feel like this is a divine task. And I
Speaker 3: do think we are in a pivotal time and if
Speaker 3: not me, then who why not?
Speaker 2: I totally agree with that.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's hard when you don't necessarily see yourself
Speaker 1: in that role. When you do have that role to go,
Speaker 1: wait a minute now, somebody else is looking at me
Speaker 1: as an inspirational and aspirational thing to do.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And as I've been covering the White House and
Speaker 3: continuing to cover the White House, I have noticed that, you.
Speaker 2: Know, actually this is really important. I like this.
Speaker 3: I enjoy the different aspects because everybody wants to come
Speaker 3: to the White House, athletes, musicians, other politicians, and everybody
Speaker 3: loves being there. So and I was gonna say, it
Speaker 3: probably doesn't matter what the administration is I don't know,
Speaker 3: but the bottom line is it's one of those staple
Speaker 3: locations that you never forget your visit there.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of people wonder how much do you.
Speaker 2: Do the reporters, like what kind of base knowledge do
Speaker 2: you have about a topic?
Speaker 1: And this is something that I've seen in action where
Speaker 1: you can tell immediately that this is the reporter's subject.
Speaker 2: Do you know what I mean? Like, you have subjects
Speaker 2: that you're really.
Speaker 1: Passionate about, how much time or how much effort and
Speaker 1: energy do you put into making sure you have a
Speaker 1: basic understanding of a subject before you go in.
Speaker 2: And ask questions about it.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, definitely doing my research and making sure, but also
Speaker 3: keeping it a little surface because the average person is
Speaker 3: not doing a deep dive, you know, So the average
Speaker 3: person wants to get at least surface information and then
Speaker 3: if I'm able to provide them with that, maybe they
Speaker 3: will be inspired to deep dive themselves. And that's what
Speaker 3: it's about.
Speaker 1: That's what I tell people all the time. I'm not
Speaker 1: here to tell you what to think. I'm here to
Speaker 1: inspire you to find out more. Yes, reasons for sure
Speaker 1: you go. Are there any topics that you gravitate towards personally.
Speaker 3: Yes, of course we're working for the black information that worked,
Speaker 3: anything that impacts the black community.
Speaker 2: And I absolutely love sports. So oh so did you
Speaker 2: come from a sports background?
Speaker 3: Uh? Yeah, Actually, well if you if you consider cheerleading
Speaker 3: a sport, which I.
Speaker 2: Do as a former cheerleader myself. Oh I do consider
Speaker 2: cheerleading a sport, so just hand right, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3: I have enjoyed covering various things like the Kansas City
Speaker 3: Chief's White House visits. Oh I bet they've had a
Speaker 3: few of them.
Speaker 1: So don't even really cool cost fans over here, so
Speaker 1: do not. Well, the Ravens fan over here is okay too,
Speaker 1: So you know you have your Super Bowl from when
Speaker 1: Trent Dilfer was president or a quarterback there. What are
Speaker 1: some of the things that you would like to see
Speaker 1: come out of this convention? What are some of the
Speaker 1: topics or conversations that you are looking for to either
Speaker 1: do a story about or.
Speaker 2: Bring back to your listeners.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, gun reform has been a huge one. I've seen
Speaker 3: a lot of people talking about gun reform. Of course,
Speaker 3: women's reproductive rights has been a top ticket issue. Sheesh,
Speaker 3: the list can go on and on. Voting rates of course.
Speaker 1: And I'm wondering, like how much space there is, if any,
Speaker 1: because you're looking at your audience saying, I want to
Speaker 1: bring them stuff that's.
Speaker 2: Important to them.
Speaker 1: But I wonder how much daylight there is between white people,
Speaker 1: Hispanic people, black people.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, Like it seems like all
Speaker 2: of these.
Speaker 3: Issues, Oh, it impacts us all. To be honest, absolutely,
Speaker 3: it does impact us all. But for example, you know,
Speaker 3: going back to my first, very first visit the Juneteenth Proclamation,
Speaker 3: obviously that was one.
Speaker 2: That impacted the black community.
Speaker 3: Of black community was ecstatic to see that that became
Speaker 3: a federal holiday. And so, you know, it's nice to
Speaker 3: see those type of things after so long of you know,
Speaker 3: nothing right that there is actual progress being made. And
Speaker 3: then the following year there was an amazing June Seemed
Speaker 3: concert that was put on on the White House South Lawn,
Speaker 3: and so just to see that that celebration is scaling, right.
Speaker 1: You know, we've had conversations about June tenth on the show,
Speaker 1: and you know, we have some listeners who are like,
Speaker 1: we need another federal holiday because not everybody gets off
Speaker 1: a federal holiday. But for me, that is a celebration
Speaker 1: of that everyone in this company country should share because
Speaker 1: we're celebrating a horrible thing that ended, right, I mean,
Speaker 1: how that should for me, should be a celebration for everyone.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, the end of slavery and the actual end of
Speaker 3: slavery should certainly be celebrated and celebrated amongst everyone.
Speaker 2: It's okay, Morgan, what I mean? Do you did you?
Speaker 1: We asked you if you wanted to do this, but
Speaker 1: what did you aspire to do when you got into journalism?
Speaker 2: Initially, oh man.
Speaker 3: Sports sideline reporting or something to that effect.
Speaker 2: But I definitely think i'd.
Speaker 1: Lied reporting for the biggest game in the.
Speaker 2: World, Like this is quite the sideline.
Speaker 3: I'm not mad at it. It's Trump versus Harris. So yeah,
Speaker 3: let's see, you know, who wins matchup.
Speaker 1: Exactly, see who's got more jerseys out there? And what
Speaker 1: comes next?
Speaker 2: Absolutely?
Speaker 1: Have you had a chance to interview anyone that you
Speaker 1: find particularly interesting in this this.
Speaker 3: So just before I came on with you, I just
Speaker 3: spoke with Martin Luther King Junior the third and that
Speaker 3: was so cool. And of course he talked about voting rights,
Speaker 3: He talked about gun reform and gun violence, which of
Speaker 3: course impacted his family you know, his father, Martin Luther King,
Speaker 3: was shot, and he also explained that his grandmother was
Speaker 3: also shot, So who knew that, you know, gun violence
Speaker 3: had impacted the family on such a vast level. But yeah,
Speaker 3: I think he is a very dynamic person. His wife
Speaker 3: was amazing, and she spoke to me about women's reproductive rights.
Speaker 3: So yeah, again, anybody can get behind these issues. And yeah,
Speaker 3: well it's gonna be.
Speaker 1: An interesting conversation to have throughout the election cycle. Morgan Wood,
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you making time for us, so.
Speaker 3: I am so happy that you called me in.
Speaker 2: Thanks.
Speaker 1: Oh no, thank you, and keep you know, bringing the
Speaker 1: stuff to your your listeners, and if you get any
Speaker 1: good interviews, send them my way.
Speaker 3: Oh a little back and forth, right, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2: Morgan, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: That's Morgan Which she's the White House correspondent from the
Speaker 1: Black Information Network.