3. What does it take to get an hour-long show on-air?
We don’t have a show meeting in the traditional sense. It’s more an ongoing conversation through the day, where the whole team can drop in ideas, thrash out the questions our audience wants us to answer, and build from there. The beauty of that approach is that it allows us to constantly adjust and make the running order as lively, current, and relevant as possible.
I don’t find it particularly beneficial to have a meeting hours before the show airs, only to commit to angles and guests that lose relevance by the time we get to air. News conversations move on quickly, and we want to be on the front end of them, not going back over thoughts the viewers have already resolved. The formats and ideas we’ll be playing around with on What We Know will accentuate that ethos and give the audience a real sense of immediacy.
4. What should we know about your reporting on the Conclave as well as the India/Pakistan conflict?
While completely different, they are both incredibly important stories that our global viewers want explained in the clearest way possible in order to better understand them. There is deep history and intricate context to take into account, as well as facts to lay out clearly in order to help them better understand their significance. And getting back to that notion of immediacy, there are up-to-the-minute developments that need to be tackled in real time.
5. What’s one thing we should know about Max Foster?
I like to put myself in the place of the viewer and ask the questions they want answered. I think it’s important to approach a story with curiosity and a willingness to confront aspects of it that don’t make sense. The story always comes first, and I want to understand it as much as you do. Isa Soares also tells me I have quite outlandish taste in footwear—you might catch a glimpse of that on my TikTok. Oh, and I was born in the same month as Eminem. True story!
Read Previous Editions of 5 Questions For…
Ari Melber
Lawrence Jones
Kaitlan Collins
Will Cain
Elizabeth Vargas
Blayne Alexander