The Community Pathfinder series at USC gave students the opportunity to connect with POLITICO media reporter Hadas Gold on Tuesday.
Hadas spoke to several USC students on her role in the election process at the Leadership and Service Center on Tuesday afternoon following the first presidential debate on Monday night, which she attended.
Hadas described covering the general 2016 presidential election in one word: “wild.”
When students asked a series of questions about the candidates, Hadas told them that she has completed a phone interview with Donald Trump in recent regard to the election and, “he’s the same person one-on-one on the phone as he is in his rallies.”
Hadas also talked about how she has been in larger group interviews with Secretary Clinton.
Unlike big name news organizations such as The New York Times and CNN, Hadas said of POLITICO, “There’s a reason not everybody has heard of us. Obviously we want everybody to read us, but we’re writing for people who already know what’s going on in politics. They don’t need a primer or explanation.” She also described POLITICO as, “the ESPN for politics.”
Hadas defined success as a POLITICO reporter as simply, “breaking news.” She prides herself on being an objective reporter when “both candidates’ sides have something to argue.”
With an master's degree in media and public affairs from George Washington University, Hadas claimed she “always wanted to be a journalist,” but her passion for political journalism came later. Hadas urged students to choose a job that they love, “and that makes working really easy.”