Rippling With One Of The Best Interviewers On The Planet: Carol Costello

Carol Costello is one the most authentic and trusted journalists in the modern era. Watching her conduct an interview is like a masterclass in how it should be done. Her warm and inviting presence always made her guests comfortable and willing, to tell the truth - no matter how difficult or sensitive the topic happens to be.

I swear, she is either Wonder Woman in disguise or was gifted her very own "Lasso of Truth" by her. She's that good at getting real, truthful answers from whomever she might be interviewing.

I've been a huge fan of Carol's for as long as I remember, and I still can't believe she said yes to come onto the show. She tells it like it is, and honestly, in a way we all need to hear it. Gosh, how I miss seeing her on television every day. 

But she's creating even bigger RIpples today. Helping the next generation of journalists learn to think for themselves, question everything and pursue the facts, not simply strive for the likes, the views, or the notoriety. Why? Because journalists should never be part of the story. The good ones know how to tell it so that we understand and, hopefully, learn from it.

To that end, I am grateful to know people like Carol are out there shaping the hearts and minds of our future journalists.

Carol's Bio:

 

Carol Costello is an award-winning journalist and former anchor and correspondent at CNN and HLN. Her distinguished career as a local, regional, and national broadcaster spans three decades, covering a broad range of world leaders, events, and politics.

Carol serves as Special Advisor and Ambassador at LMU and teaches a broadcast journalism course in LMU’s journalism program. She also hosts “Carol Costello Presents: Blind Rage,” a true-crime serial podcast and “I Hate Your Generation,” a podcast series exploring the generational divide.

In 2019, Carol created Project Citizen, a special program at LMU that provides resources and mentorship for student journalists. Project Citizen’s core mission is to discover ways to ease the partisan divide in our country.

Carol also serves on the journalism professional advisory board at Kent State University in Ohio and is a mentor to its journalism students.

In 2001, Carol joined CNN as an anchor on “Headline News.” From 2002 to 2009, she anchored “Daybreak,” the network’s former early morning news program. And from 2012 to 2018 she anchored “Newsroom.” She also sub- anchored and was a political reporter for “The Situation Room.” Carol contributed to CNN.com Opinion from 2015-2017. In 2018, she hosted HLN's Across America with Carol Costello.

At CNN, Carol was at the forefront of some of the world’s most significant stories. She was part of CNN's Peabody Award-winning coverage of the Gulf Oil Spill, Hurricane Katrina, and the 2008 presidential election. She also reported on Pope Francis’ visit to the United States, the Boston Marathon bombing, the last space shuttle launch, the Ohio midterm elections, the shooting at Virginia Tech, the tsunami disaster in South Asia, the Russian school hostage crisis, and Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne. Carol interviewed four former U.S. presidents: President Jimmy Carter, President Ronald Reagan, President George H.W. Bush, and President Bill Clinton; and she covered five presidential inaugurations as well as the 1992, 2008, 2012 and 2016 presidential elections.

Before joining CNN, Carol worked at WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., where she was an anchor and investigative reporter for five years. Prior to that, she spent three years at WBAL-TV in Baltimore. She began her career as a weekend anchor and reporter for WAKR-TV in Akron, Ohio, then moved to WBNS-TV in Columbus, Ohio, to serve as the station's principal weeknight anchor. Costello earned a degree in journalism from Kent State University in Ohio.

Carol's reporting has been honored numerous times, including a 1991 Emmy Award for a special on crack and cocaine, a UPI award, and several Associated Press awards. She received an Emmy nomination in 1993, then again in 2008 for outstanding coverage of a breaking news story after Benazir Bhutto’s assassination. In 2009, she received an individual Emmy nomination for Outstanding Morning Program.

Carol has been interviewed by the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Associated Press, Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Magazine, Columbus Monthly, Akron Beacon Journal, and the Canton Repository.