Fighting for Truth in a Rage-Driven Algorithmic Age with Jessica Yellin

On with Kara Swisher

New York Magazine

Society & Culture

4.2 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In the mid-2010s, television journalist and former chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin left her job at CNN to go independent. A few years later, she founded News Not Noise, a multi-platform news outlet that publishes all across the internet (mainly on Substack, Instagram and YouTube). It made Yellin one of the first journalists to ditch mainstream media for social media, and it’s given her a unique perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing independent journalists, newsfluencers, and content creators in a crowded media environment. In a live interview hosted by the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, earlier this fall, Kara and Jessica talk about what it takes to be a successful online news creator, the effects President Trump’s attacks on fact-based journalism have had on the news business as a whole, and how news creators can adapt to changing social media algorithms and AI. They also talk about solutions that could help the entire news industry in an era of waning public trust. Please note: This conversation was recorded before X rolled out a new transparency location feature, revealing some prominent pro-MAGA accounts are not based in the U.S. despite claims on their profiles. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, everyone from New York Magazine in the Vox Media Podcast Network.
0:16.0	This is On with Kara Swisher and I'm Kara Swisher.
0:19.0	Happy Thanksgiving.
0:20.0	We've got a special holiday episode for you
0:22.3	today. My guest is independent journalist Jessica Yellen, the founder of News, not Noise.
0:28.2	It's a multi-platform news outlaw that publishes all across the internet, mostly on substack,
0:32.9	Instagram, and YouTube. Jessica is a former television reporter. She was CNN's chief White House correspondent
0:38.5	during the Obama administration, and she was one of the first journalists to ditch mainstream media
0:43.3	for social media. She started News Not Noise in 2018, and she's got deep insights into the challenges
0:49.0	and opportunities facing independent journalists, news fluencers, and content creators during this time of waning
0:55.3	trust in legacy news institutions. I spoke with Yellen earlier this year in front of a live
1:00.5	audience and an event hosted by the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
1:06.9	We need institutions that actually defend the principles and practices of good journalism with real accountability, transparency, and ethics, and the Center for Journalism Ethics has been doing exactly that for 17 years.
1:18.5	But they also need help to tackle some of the next set of challenges, so support journalism that does that work.
1:24.6	Donate at go.
1:25.7	W-I-S-C-D-U-E-U-E-U-E-E-E-E-E-E-edu slash ethics. That's go. WISC.org
1:34.4	EdU slash ethics. All right, let's get to my conversation with Jessica Yellen. Our expert question comes from
1:41.3	Ben Smith, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Semaphore.
1:44.8	Try not to eat too much turducken and stick around.
1:54.3	It's time for Black Friday at Dell Technologies.
1:57.0	Save big on PCs like the Dell 16 Plus featuring Intelcore Ultra Processors.
2:01.7	Shop now at Dell.com.com.
	...

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