Going Deep with Aaron Watson 177 Isaac Saul, Positive Journalism, the 2016 Election, and Healthy Political Discourse
I am a 25-year-old journalist based in Harlem, NY. I was born in Trenton, NJ and got my start in journalism as the sports editor for The Pitt News. I have lived, studied, traveled or written all over United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Iceland, Israel, Egypt, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Alaska, and West Texas, which I've come to consider a country of its own.
Over the course of eight years, I've reported on racism that drives sports fandom, how Harlem is combating gang violence, what harsh rhetoric and 9/11 security has done to our borders and the most unique home in America. My re-telling of the infamous murder of William Vassar won me a first place award in Pittsburgh's Neighborhoods in Transition writing competition. My endorsement of Hillary Clinton received over four million views and altered the conversation around millennial support of the Democratic nominee. Yahoo subsequently named me one of the 16 people who shaped the 2016 election alongside Khizr Khan, Bo Copley and others.
In 2015, my investigative piece on predatory payday loans changed public policy when it was cited by Maxine Waters in a letter to congress urging Universities and retirement plans to divest from certain lending services. After losing several classmates to heroin overdoses, I took a deep dive into what caused our country's epidemic of opioid addiction. I have covered everything from gay rodeos to why G-d doesn't care about football.
When I left The Huffington Post, where I started my professional writing career, I worked alongside Ashton Kutcher and a talented team to build A Plus, one of the world's largest positive news outlets. We are home to the silver lining. My work has appeared on CNN, The Huffington Post, Medium, The Daily Mail, A Plus and more. A Plus was recently acquired by Chicken Soup for the Soul. You can check out my weekly column "A Grain of Saul" on A Plus every Tuesday morning. You can follow me on Twitter here, where I spend an inordinate amount of time tweeting angrily about America.
http://www.goingdeepwithaaron.com/podcast
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If you liked this interview, check out episode 17 for the first interview with Isaac.