NewsBreak: Behind the Byline

Alex Konrad spent 12 years at Forbes covering the startup ecosystem before walking away to build Upstarts Media, a publication on his own terms. He shares what it takes to strike out alone, the counterintuitive advice from an 80-year-old billionaire CEO that shapes the rhythm of his days, and why independent media is part of the answer – but not all of it.

https://www.newsbreak.com/podcast

What happens when a poet follows her curiosity instead of a plan? Julie Wernau—formerly of the WSJ and Chicago Tribune and now health reporter and producer at Tradeoffs—shares how that instinct took her across beats and around the world, and why compassion and curiosity still define great journalism in the AI era.

What does it take to fill the local news gap when two U.S. papers close every week? Tracey Taylor, co-founder of Berkeleyside and chief content officer of Cityside, has spent 17 years building a nonprofit alternative – three Bay Area newsrooms, 30 staff, every story free.

In this episode of Behind the Byline, we sit down with Camila DeChalus, national political reporter at CNN, to talk about what journalism really looks like behind the scenes. From covering Capitol Hill and government shutdowns to explaining complex political news on social media, Camila shares how she’s adapting to a rapidly changing media landscape.

We discuss building trust with audiences, balancing TV reporting with digital storytelling, navigating motherhood in a demanding newsroom, and why meeting people where they are is the future of journalism.

Follow Camila for more:

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In Episode 3 of NewsBreak’s Behind the Byline podcast, Morgan shares how watching legendary news broadcasters Peter Jennings and Dan Rather with his grandparents sparked a dream that seemed too big to say out loud in small-town Texas. Now an NBC national correspondent based in LA, Morgan has covered everything from solar eclipses at 30,000 feet to the Uvalde school shooting. 

In this conversation: 

• Learning on the job – and relearning with every move to a new station and market
• Leaning into social media – by reusing the skills he acquired as a one-man-band video journalist
• Giving yourself grace – both when building your skills over time and when recovering from stories that hit too close to home

You’ll also hear about Morgan’s most challenging assignment. When catastrophic floods struck his hometown of Kerrville in July 2025, he was forced to navigate the impossible balance between professional duty and personal grief. That meant doing right by the community through fair and accurate coverage, but also taking time afterwards to heal with family. 

If you’re interested in the new media landscape or what it takes to build a platform that connects with audiences over time, listen to Behind the Byline.

In a fast-changing media landscape, Emily Chang, best-selling author of Brotopia and now host and executive producer of Bloomberg’s The Circuit. Emily has carved her own path and emerged as one of tech journalism’s leading voices – the reporter that industry heavyweights and celebrities trust to tell their stories.

In this conversation:

• How to ask powerful people tough questions (without alienating them)
• What finding your niche and working backwards from what you want looks like
• What happened after a top VC’s on-air claim that qualified women investors simply didn’t exist went viral.

Emily reveals her unique approach to getting beyond the typical interview – creating moments where people show who they really are in a way that goes deeper than any friendly podcast ever could, whether that's wakesurfing with Mark Zuckerberg or exploring what drives Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex.

Vicky Nguyen joins us to talk about her path from refugee to Emmy-winning NBC News correspondent, the stories that changed her, and how her memoir Boat Baby celebrates resilience, family, and the power of storytelling

Boat Baby: https://www.simonandschuster.com/book... Follow Vicky: Website: https://www.vickynguyen.com/ Social handles: https://www.instagram.com/vickynguyen...   / vickynguyentv     / vickydnguyen   https://x.com/VickyNguyenTV