Evolving all the time. I just wanted to start off with olivia. Im just going to go down, if you want to say your names, wt you do and where youre from as far as your organizations. Great. Hello. Thanks so much for having us. Im olivia smith and im a producer with Good Morning America. My team is in new york and ive been with abc news or about four and half years. My name is fernando hurtado, producer at attn as you recognize the logo from your facebook or twitter feed. Im a producer based in los angeles on our digital team headquarters. My name is breanna sacks sad im a reporter with Buzzfeed News and im on the breaking news team. I headquartered in los angeles but buzzfeed is based out of new york. Great. Thank you guys. I just want to start off by this question is kind of for all of you. As a as a journalist what do you think makes a good story . When im looking for a good story i think what i read this . Would that interest me . Just like buying a gift for somebody. Would you buy for yourself . Thats how i find my stories. Also just talking to people. The best stories ive had have been talking to people. On an airplane. Im someone who doesnt enjoy talking to people on airplanes but hes a really good stories. I think just seeing what other people are interested in as well. But its actually just following trends. I think you get that just from experience. I second all of that, especially with trains. Its exciting to be on the beginning so side entrance. The face that with everyone posting pictures of now they look old. I think probably all of us have developed spotting that before gets the bible. But on another note i really, really do enjoy talking to nonprofits and different boards throughout l. A. And throughout the the usni think those people are really, really in tune with constituents and whats going on ever do in the, arthur worried about my payments or insurance premiums or this new clothing trend they saw in their neighborhood. I think thats where you get really awesome and impactful stories. Also i guess like the pull factor, like for me, its kind of the Emotional Experience of people and like what theyre going through. Being in breaking news like we kind of helicopter in a lot of time and swarm thinks an account like to make sure i follow up on stories. Select six months later with National Disasters or things like that, kind of check back in with people and see whats been going on and you find a lot of stories that are undercovered. I think thats where a lot of the need of Good Journalism comes from is circling back when everyone has kind of moved on. Suggest going down, olivia, i dont know, i did know Good Morning America had a whole other lifestyle platform besides the tv show that on every morning. Can you tell me a little bit about that, and what your day today looks like . We Just LaunchedGood Morning America. Com in 2018, so that probably its relatively new. We had a platform before but we relaunched it to be a completely digital brand. I joined, id been at abc news privacy working as a digital reporter for them, and then gma reached out to me as to me to join the team and help launch it. Such a the digital video for them, and without my daytoday really differed. I think traditional outlets a lot of time at one reporter was great and one person should hit but i do everything. I go out, find the story, pitch it, write it, shoot it, edit , post it. Everything. Oftentimes unstinted by myself asking people to shoot for me. Weve all been there. So my daytoday work differs and thats one of the cool things about my job. I want to have different job where every day is different and now the skills that i use also different. Specifically what Good Morning America. Com does is it gives you reporting on the show, we cut show clips and use a lot of our shows, but expand around that and continue telling story for digital platform. We create original media content for the instagram youtube. Thats for facebook, twitter. And you also [inaudible] how did that kind of impact your career . Congratulations, by the way. So that was the first win for abc news digital. It was very exciting. I used to joke i was so certain we were not going to win just because no one i wore my prom dress. Because i didnt have time to find an address, whatever. It was very cool. And i think that a few things came from that. One, any person who is recognized in their career, which is want to keep striving doing better. It made me very happy but i was in the digital area. Privacy ident broadcast and i didnt print and what to digital because i dont watch tv anymore and i dont read newspapers. I get all my content online. That just may maybe to recogni. Also i think a company, abc news when i joined, was investing in digital. So the fact that it paid off and abc news was doing the right thing by investing in it, and it was recognized with very cool. I think thats a big changing point for everyone in the organization. Youre also an adjunct at usc, correct . What are you seeing as far as, assuming youre a student like gen z, so what kind of trains are you saying at stores like their work is concerned . There was a lot of criticism by englander is that they are not engage, theyre not involved in politics. What do you see as the future journalists of our trade, like is that true . I dont think its true. I think that young people, history has gotten critique by older generations. I think thats something that happens, but i think fortune i can say that. I think my students are very smart. I think that they really grasp journalism and a really interested in it. So then its emerging constantly. Constantly. For us i remember new platforms like facebook and twitter. But for now, tick tock and all these other things a calming and there could investing on top of it. Sometimes we style out and turn your phone off. But there are other times i think staying on top of the trend makes me even better journalists. Some of the stories are telling our stories i told them you see being all the time, being report on politics, they are reporting on economics. Theyre out there and really doing good work. Fernando, so attention is a company that is described as media brand that brings entertainment that also informs, which i think is really great. Can you talk about that and watchable in that is . So attention is a fairly new company. Weve been around for i think four and half years now, and it kind of started very much as a Digital Media startup, very much in the news game. Over the years its been really careful and intentional about rebranding itself as a Media Company and not affiliate Media Company. The reason for that is what want to be very respectful of people are doing straight down the line journalism, like abc, cbs news and all the other legacy outlets. I think attention is very transparent about having a point of view. But given that, that gives us even wider breadth to do stories with more social contact lens. What were really proud of is there are certain topics that dont have both sites for us, like Climate Change does not two sites. Climate change is Climate Change and its thing. Equal rights is a thing. Theres no side where a person doesnt deserve equal treatment. I think from a very much news middle of the road background, its been an interesting experience for me to kind of be in that space where you can breathe a little more and hold certain truths to be a little more i mean able, if you will. I mean able im on the digital side of the platform. With a Branded Content Team that works with brands to tell powerful narratives and stories, and among them what we call the original, so we work very much like a like a news operation reaching out to people, looking to people for stories, interviewing people, writing. Like you said we do everything, writing, shooting, editing, color, sound, everything. Even down to distribution. It seems like millennials and gen z is more interest in watching content than reading it now. I was when if you think the future news consumption, broken down to like minutes youd rather than like articles read . I think the video is seen a growth comes huge growth in the past few years but i think they can definitely coexisting. I think on attention we kind of meat the audience who wants to watch them but also some who wants to read be at the end ofe night. Sometimes i want to read come sometimes want to watch video. Sometimes im down for 30 minute documentary. Sometimes i want to read an article over lunch. Something they can coexist. I think they will coexist. Think the near times the scene some of its biggest subscription numbers, which is really good. Ironically enough, you will die produced. I think most of the content, theyre there such a huge opportunity to turn into video. So buzzfeed is i think he became famous from the infamous cat videos. Right. But now in recent years theyve been tackling our news. Why did you want to be a part of that . I didnt have a lot of reporting experience and they said you should apply, do it. I did and they gave me the jobment and one of my first big assignments is, if you can get yourself to the u. S. Virgin islands in the first 24 hours, you can cover the hurricane aftermath. Youve been doing a great job. So, okay. And i just wow. Found myself on a military flight and just went by myself and so they just give you these opportunities. Wow. Because they trust you and i learned as a young reporter, thats very rare, very collaborative environment, and they just give you a lot of autonomy and free rein. And i think one of the cool. Like one of the coolest things theres the pulse of the internet. And the organizations who unfortuna unfortunately drop fake news, that term. Well get into that later. And, but, yeah, weve kind of been watching a lot of these trends as what gets shared. A lot of people are sharing, where is it coming from. And the ramifications of what people are posting and talking about on facebook has on real people in small communities, like across the u. S. And internationally. I think to answer your question why i wanted to work there, it was because of that understanding and collaborative environment. And a great example is the shooting, we like every other news outlet were devastated and that story, and me and another editor there late, we were single and stayed and like if theres anything kind of happening and i saw some stuff on twitter like in mississippi had posted about that the fbi, he had reported the shooter like six months ago. And i was like what . I found this guys Youtube Channel and lo and behold the shooter commented on a video, like im going to be a professional shooter. So i found the guys Facebook Page and like called him up and it was tuesday and he happened to be available and awake and was like, hey, i saw your thing. And the voice mail and the name of the fbi agent who just left his house that day. And the voice mail was like 30 minutes after the shooting ended that they called this guy and he said, like so then i reached out to the fbi. And im talking to a youtuber who said that the shooter reported it to you guys. The next day i woke up two, three hours everywhere and the fbi held a press conference, like, yeah, we missed a tip. So, it was a great example of how like we just need to Pay Attention to whats talked about. And i think, i think whats cool about buzz feed you have a diehard millennial audience. Yes. And youll see like youll see a picture or a meme of donald trump in the oval office and juxtapose a picture of rihanna rolling her eyes. And do you think like that kind of tongue and cheek i mean, like the tone is like different than i would say that we definitely leaned into it, too, recently. Like weve become a bit more of an operation and recalibrating and leaning into that voice, especially politics. Its our Politics Team is very interestingly very nichy and i dont know the stories we publish. Who is this . And recently weve been another democrat dropped out of the race so weve been leaning into kind of the tone of things and it is kind of working, i think, to our favor. I think it brings accessible to news, too. The headlines that are like our jobs do something that is very conversational that you would say to your friend. And theres 23 of them and hes out and thats what were capitalizing on. I mean, part of being a journalist is anyone can answer the question. You cant have a bias, youre reporting the facts. So have you guys ever had to report on a story that youve maybe disagreed with or you know, how do you kind of keep that when youre reporting on something . Well, i was just in alabama for abortion coverage and he think its just understanding, like for me, its that like you dont really know the whole story. You dont know people how people grow up. What they believe in and why. And so, yes, it could have a bias like you have to remind yourself like people are there for a reason and its a lot more complicated than that, so, you know, interviewing these 18yearolds who are protesting outside of an Abortion Clinic in montgomery, i think, and i was asking them like why they were there and what they believed in and they just it was very hard to hear that they like, you know, what their belief is very like conservative and that they believe like, you know, a man they were there because a man told them to be there and if the guy they would stay with him. And as a woman and to hear that, not to have bias, but understand, like, okay, thats what you believe in. Yeah, i think that everyone has a back story. And as far as, were talking a lot about social media. How do you guys separate like having a personal social Media Presence and more of a professional voice . Is there a separation . Are they intermingled . Especially when you produce a piece of content and you want to share it. You know, where is that line . I had an experience that was kind of a wakeup call for me. I had just graduated from college and i was applying for a job, it was a job with nbc, the last call or something, and it was going great and youre great at it, but we noticed, i was going on your twitter and you tweeted something about whitepeople can you explain that . Thinking back, i was tweeting about the white people documentary on mtv and whitepeople and it was like i was tweeting about whitepeople. And i was like oops. And other people are reading my tweets and not just my friends. And i think especially with attention, i think we have may more leeway. Were a very young audience and very conversational, but i think you always have to walk a fine line of making sure that whatever youre tweeting with a story, every, what i tweet, is not revealing, its more on the funny side. I think thats usually the safe way to go, i think as long as youre adding a Little Something to the story in terms of sharing work and then with other stuff im very careful not tweeting i think my first tweet in 2008 i was eating enchiladas, and no one cares about that. I was going to say, i think you guys throughout the social media not as much as gen z, but facebook in high school, and going into that, youre on social media for a large part half of our lives at this point. And i knew i wanted to be a journalist when i was 15. But when youre young and tweting about it, dont think so much before it before getting a job. I think theres a fine line between whats appropriate. I make all of my social media public, and go by the rule am i okay with my mom seeing it and with my boss seeing it and i think that thats important for a journalist, and i think going back to your question before, i think its really important that journalists do not have a bias or opinion in their reporting. I think thats extremely important, we definitely believe it the reporting telling all sides of the story and i think that that also goes into social media, too. What you put out there to the world as well. And how about with the what kind do you face, youre super excited to share a story thats breaking or take on what you have, and its not being seen because it gets buried by the algorithm . How do you think that that is affecting journalism as a whole because all journalism lets get someone from instagram to answer that question. Thats i mean, we suffered greatly from them. But we have a great team, the team i was on, the social media team. They have tons of like when to share things and like key words, tags, so i should be better at like knowing the why behind that because im really lucky to be in a company where we have a whole team like kind of focused on that. And its funny because like a lot of times you dont know why things go viral. We spend so much time trying to figure it out and like one story well have a story about like amazon review on something from 2014 that keeps going viral. Every year its going viral and who is sharing this . You can plan for it, but sometimes things resonate and you dont know why. Lets talk about fake news. Were definitely moving in the fake news era, right . What is it like working in an industry that prides itself on reporting the facts, but is constantly under criticized for doing yeah, i think it makes our job all that more important. We keep asking the questions and do what were hired to do and everyone, you know, everyone has their own opinions at home and we are certain ways. As journalists its our job to go out and report on all sides of the story and covering it. And the truth, and i dont think that thats really debatable. So i was going to say, do you think that people are finding the truth is more amorphous now because theyre just confused by whats happening . I spend a lot of time in basement groups and covered like a son of pep rallies and reporter, speeches and everything and what ive learned is that like people believe that the truth is what they believe and thats it. So facts like people have their own certain set of facts, which you know, they it doesnt you waste energy trying to challenge that. So how i post it is like i just want to know personally how do i change . You kind of take the personal angle in trying to make report on news, you know, can you give me some examples. You said that trump is doing this for your community. Can you give me some examples of how you do that, how has your life changed for the better . Are you making more money . And people buy more houses. When they cant answer those questions then youre kind of like, okay. Or if they did, and there are communities that have really grown and gotten better. Right. And as you know the average consumer content. How do you i think its keeping informed and i think spotting f