29. Sarah Morgan on the Power of Personal Story

Brock Briggs  0:01  

Hello and welcome to the Scuttlebutt podcast. Today, my guest is Sarah Morgan. Sarah is a multimedia journalist and a second lieutenant in the Army Reserve. Her background is in news and reporting having formerly worked at local news stations and the Associated Press. This interview was an effort to make her the focal point of the story. We talked about what it takes to make it as a journalist. 

Behind the scenes of every news story you read or watch, there's hours and hours of prep work that all comes together to build a fluid story, inputs from text to photos, videos, and the verbal spoken story. Sarah really emphasizes that people are the true drivers of stories, asking the question why do I care is part of her process when piecing a story together. A question that takes on new meaning when she got to embed with troops out of South Carolina that ultimately led to her decision to join the army. 

We discussed the state of news and reporting today. It was intriguing to speak with somebody in such an important industry, but one that is actively being disrupted by different forms of media on top of generational differences in how we consume stories and content. This conversation is what I would probably call punchy. In true reporting fashion, Sarah thinks and responds quickly. And she really kept me on my toes. At a few points, I thought that I may have been the one being interviewed, not the other way around, likely the sign of a great reporter. Please enjoy this conversation with Sarah Morgan.

Brock Briggs  2:00  

Sarah, I would love for you to start off this conversation with telling me and the listeners, what is maybe the most memorable event, good or bad, that you've ever covered or been a part of?

Sarah Morgan  2:15  

Absolutely. Over a decade in the business, it's almost impossible to pinpoint just one. I mean, there are countless, countless stories that I've been privileged to cover in the US and even around the world. Most recently, though, probably the most memorable for me was coming home right after basic training. The Associated Press sent me to the southern border. And we all remember that viral photo that came out in the fall of the incident between Border Patrol and a Haitian migrant. And I was waist deep in the Rio Grande about 20 feet from that when it happened. 

And when it occurred, it was so quick that it almost didn't register. And it wasn't until going through that footage afterward that you realized, you know what you just witnessed. But that was kind of one of those moments where I was on the shore on the Mexican side of the border. And there was one photographer, two photographers that started jumping in the water. And I was like, “Heck, I'm getting into.” So you put your camera over your head, you pull up your pants a little bit and you just wait on in. 

Brock Briggs  3:27  

Part of the job. I've always like been interested or like to talk to not really your neck of the woods, but people who like Storm Chase. They're like deep in like these weird rivers.

Sarah Morgan  3:39  

I love doing that. Yes. 

Brock Briggs

Really?

Sarah Morgan 

When I started out, I was working in Texas at the end of Tornado Alley, and I love doing that. I mean, it kind of makes sense when you know my path. But I'm a little bit of an adrenaline junkie.

Brock Briggs  3:54  

That seems to be consistent with your story that I know of so far.

Sarah Morgan

A little bit

Brock Briggs

What is going through your head when you're trying to put together and put on a story? Like you said you kind of didn't really maybe know what was happening in that particular moment. Is that consistent with a lot of stories? Is your mind just focused on like, okay, what is the watcher experiencing? And are you so hyper focused on what they are rather than actually experiencing it yourself?

Sarah Morgan  4:27  

Yeah, I would say that in my head. I'm always trying to piece the story together as I'm out there, and especially when I'm doing the video and the reporting. So I have to think about, you know, the shots and you know which one is going to flow to the next. But for me as a journalist, the most important thing is finding a person and a character to tell that story through their eyes because a story is not going to be compelling and a person isn't gonna wanna watch it or read it if there's not someone that they can connect with. So to me when I'm out in the field gathering information, I'm always searching for that, why do I care? And that always comes through a person. It doesn't come through me. It doesn't come through officials, it's that person.

Brock Briggs  5:20  

No doubt, like long history and study of the art of journalism, are there stories that maybe stand out to you where there aren't people involved? 

Sarah Morgan

Absolutely

Brock Briggs

Or like the impact isn't like the impact is still there without the personal element. 

Sarah Morgan  5:38  

Yeah and sometimes it's just through the images. And that is, that's where you have to step aside and let the images tell the story. And also your writing, kind of describe what you saw, what's going on. Because sometimes you're at a scene or a situation where people don't wanna talk to you. That happens more times than it doesn't. And for me, I've never been the type to be super invasive. 

If someone says no, they say, no, I don't keep pushing. Because a lot of times, as cliche as it sounds, I'm gonna talk to somebody on the worst day of their lives. And I'm not gonna be intrusive. I'm gonna give you the opportunity to tell your story. If you say no, you say no. And then I have to figure out other ways to convey the emotion of that scene. And that can either be through the images or through your writing.

Brock Briggs  6:34  

Can you talk to us a little bit about what it takes to get into journalism? I know that that's a degree that's available in school. And in this modern internet age, there are so many different ways that we consume content, we're reading, we're watching, we're, you know, just being stimulated in all these ways. And you handle multiple of those fronts, like simultaneously. What type of training and like preparation is going into put all of those in like different balls, and you're kind of juggling them all simultaneously to put together one cohesive story.

Sarah Morgan  7:10  

I will say that the nation's most prestigious journalism enclaves probably will disagree with my answer, but I am not a product of one of them.

Brock Briggs  7:21  

Just so we know, who is the most prestigious enclave?

Sarah Morgan  7:25  

Well, you've got your Northwesterns. You've got your Mazouz, Arizona, Syracuse. Those are your powerhouses, I would say in the journalism world. I went to a very small private school that no one's ever heard of. So that didn't really have much of a journalism program. So I had to rely on internships, which you know, everyone has internships. But for me, they were critical because that's all I had. And it was very much on the job training. 

Even after my internships, the first six months of my first job in television, I was clueless. And then one day, it kind of flips and you find mentors that can give you feedback. Because in small market television, unless you're messing up, you're not always getting feedback. And that's kind of how you get better. 

But I would say this business is less about where you go to school and more about your work ethic and your desire for the job. I mean, when I graduated in 2011, I would have done anything to, I would have worked, I probably, I mean maybe not. But it's safe to say I would have worked for freaking free. Because that's how badly I wanted it. But I hustled and I moved to a place I had never heard of and it paid off.

Brock Briggs  8:53  

You said that you wanted it so badly, you would have worked for free? Talk to me about that drive. What is it that says I want to rush towards danger and like be in the center of all of these like potentially threatening to life or whatever circumstances to basically provide people entertainment at home. It's more than that. But I'm oversimplifying and it's a very necessary field. What's fueling that drive to want to fill that role?

Sarah Morgan  9:30  

I think that's a great question and I can't pinpoint it to one thing. A lot of it was me not wanting to have a job that was the same every single day. But another part of it was just wanting to be that conduit, that voice. It sounds so cliche because journalists use it all the time. But when I started out and still it's true, like I wanted to be the voice for the people who nobody listens to, and especially in local news. And I have specific examples even last week, that is the case. 

I mean, you put a story on local news, a problem that nobody cares about. I did a story last week on a man who has become a good friend of mine who’s sleeping in a crawlspace for three months, because of some huge, affordable housing issues in the city of Charlotte, and now he's getting an apartment. So that doesn't always happen. But it's so the little things were like, “Okay, I can make a difference.” Or if it's not gonna be me, maybe I can get it to the right person that can make a difference.

Brock Briggs  10:44  

As the reporter or the person who's bringing the stories, how much selection do you have in power/authority over what is covered? 

Sarah Morgan  

That’s a good question. 

Brock Briggs 

You’re saying things like, I want to be reporting on stories that like nobody cares about implies that you have some kind of discretion over what is seen and watched.

Sarah Morgan  11:06  

Absolutely, that hasn't always been the case, though. So I've been in this business for 10 years. I did more than half of it in local news, either in Lubbock, Texas, or Charlotte, then I went to an international news organization AAP, and I'm back in Charlotte for the time being. So because I'm back, I have a little bit more say. 

I've proven myself a little bit more so that they trust when I say, “Hey, this is gonna make a good story.” They trust me. But that takes time in a newsroom. You have to prove yourself with that. And starting out and even not starting out when you're on the daily grind. When you're turning a story every single day, it's often you know what's going on? Okay, there's a homicide, okay, you know, there's something at city council. 

Those are the days that like it, I didn't really have a say. I would come in with ideas. But that's not always what you're gonna be doing for the day. And what makes a good journalist is okay, I'm gonna go to the city council meeting. But let me figure out a way to make people care about this thing that seemingly seems boring.

Brock Briggs  12:18  

What does a day in the life of a journalist look like? I mean, we're watching TV kind of, there's always something news going on. There's always something big to happen and find out. What is like a typical day look like for you, maybe when you first started versus now? What kind of hours I'm imagining you just kind of furiously typing and like writing and getting ready, like kind of weird hours of the night. Is that really all it's cracked up to be?

Sarah Morgan  12:48  

What most people believe they see as a journalist, especially as a TV journalist, it's the complete opposite. Like, I can't tell you how many times even just recently at my CrossFit gym, my coach asked, “Oh, so what about your makeup person?” And I was like, “Makeup person, are you kidding me? Like, it's me in the rearview mirror, like doing my mascara 30 seconds before I jumped in front of the camera.” And as television station ownership groups have gotten inevitably cheaper, staffs decrease. 

And that was the creation of what we call a multimedia journalist, someone who shoots, writes, edits their own stuff. So that's what I started, what I still do some of and I'm schlepping around the camera. I'm doing all of that. There was no photographer, it's just me. I do my interview, I come in, get the story, go out, do my interviews, log it all, write the story, voice it, edit it, and then it's on TV. And you probably do two to three versions of that. And that's within an eight hour period. So it’s a grind, it's tough. 

And that's why especially recently there's been a mass exodus from this business, especially with this younger generation coming up because you're doing a lot of work for a very small paycheck. I mean, I was making 23,000 my first market and if I wouldn't have had my mom to help me, there's no way I could have survived. And that's largely detrimental to a lot of newsrooms nowadays, because that, you know, instantly takes out a group who, you know, maybe they aren't able to have their parents’ support. 

So within, I can go off on a tangent all day. But within the TV news industry right now, there's definitely some issues that need to be resolved about pay and work because I think this younger generation is like, “Eh, I'm not gonna do it. I'm gonna go work in PR and make more money.”

Brock Briggs  14:55  

Right. I have a couple questions about like just the industry generally and where news is headed as a whole. But from, like, early beginning starting out you what is like? What is making it in journalism? Is it making it to, you know, like Good Morning America, like you're covering the news in Time Square or whatever? Like, is that what the pinnacle of reporting is? Or I'm sure that it's different for everybody, but I'm sure that there's some kind of prize up at the top that's lusted after.

Sarah Morgan 15:30  

Yeah, I mean, I think everyone, when they go in, they have this idea that they wanna be a network correspondent or a network anchor. And then as you see what it takes to get there, fewer and fewer and fewer people want to do that. I would say that usually around from what I've seen, it's around the four to six year mark, where you either see people that are gonna stay or they're out and they're gonna go work in PR, because you get to the point where you're like, I want holidays with my family. I want normal hours. I don't wanna work weekend mornings. So my pinnacle would be you know, to be a war correspondent, foreign correspondent overseas, that's not common, but I would say you know, a network anchor, every college student has aspirations of that.

Brock Briggs  16:28  

Yeah. Is PR, is that kind of like an adjacent field to this? And like, how, what are the differences there? And what are like the parallels or similarities?

Sarah Morgan 16:40  

Yeah, it's just a natural segue. Because you know how to write, you know how to present a message. I'll be it, you know, the truth or something that is handed out from a company or in a different agency. But I would say, 8, 9 times out of 10, any friend, and there have been dozens and dozens that I can name right now off the top of my head that's gotten out of the business in the last five years. They just, you either go work for a hospital system or for a police department. Yeah, and because you know how to tell a story. So it makes sense. But it's just some of them are, they're tough to lose because you're like, dang, you're really good. And we needed you on our side.

Brock Briggs  17:26  

Right. Does it feel like losing them kind of to the enemy? Or is it something that you can kind of cheer them on for?

Sarah Morgan 17:33  

I can’t say the enemy, no but

Brock Briggs  17:35  

I'm putting words in your mouth here.

Sarah Morgan  17:38  

There are a lot of really good PR people, public affairs officers, public information officers, but it's our job. What we do is we ask questions of them and hold them accountable, especially when it comes to, you know, police departments, local agencies. So yeah, sometimes it does sting a little bit when you see a really great journalist, go be a PIO for you know, the city, and you gotta throw some hard questions at him.

Brock Briggs  18:06  

Yeah, you were talking about declining viewers, or like this newer generation of people maybe being less concerned about news. What's that about? Is it people just don't care? Is it really a generational thing? Is it differences and consumption patterns or where we wanna view news?

Sarah Morgan  18:27  

I think it's all of those. It's funny, like, people my age and younger, when I, you know, go out and about, meet new people, like, I don't ever, especially when I wasn't local before now, like, I don't ever assume that they saw me on television. So I'm like, you're not watching me. Like, unless you're over 45, you're probably not watching local news. That's almost guaranteed. I can think of very few of my friends that consume it. And, you know, if it comes across their phone, I share a lot of my stories on Instagram stories or on Twitter. That's different, but you're not waiting for the six o'clock news to turn on. 

But it's also with young journalists coming up that generation I think, is kind of put their foot down. And as me, I would have done anything, I probably would have taken even less than 23,000 which is so sad, and just shows that I was very lucky and not everybody could have done that. And I'm fully aware of that. This younger group is like, “No way! Like you're gonna pay me what I'm worth or I'm gonna go somewhere else,” and get on them for doing that.

Brock Briggs  19:43  

Well be sure to make sure that your boss doesn't hear this, just in case they wanna give you a paid Ted after that. 

Sarah Morgan  19:49  

Well, you know, I will say that now I'm in a local newsroom again, but things are very different and I'm very grateful.

Brock Briggs  20:00  

It's funny that you bring that up. And I guess I don't really pay much attention to like local news, like you said, I might fall into that demographic. But I do pay much closer attention to writing, like on the writing end. And it's interesting even just to see how we have like these famous New York Times writers that are going to like write independently on like Substack. Or, you know, they have a newsletter somewhere else on Twitter review or any of these other platforms. And it's such a different take on the news and just anything when it's like this is solely this person. How do you view that? Is that am I kind of like, following along the lines of what you're thinking?

Sarah Morgan  20:49  

Absolutely! Yeah, I mean, this, the white book behind me is, right there. My husband wrote that book off of one of the stories. He's an investigative reporter off of one of the stories that he reported extensively, and it ended up being a book. So yeah, there are different outlets. And it is interesting, especially on the national level. You see these writers, who usually it was just the TV people, but now it is print journalists that really have this sense of celebrity. It happened largely through the Trump White House, where you saw these standout reporters. But hey, if they're doing good work, I think it's great. I mean, if they're uncovering truth, asking the hard questions, however, you can reach the masses, go for it.

Brock Briggs  21:40  

We don't have to get too political here or whatever. But and this kind of falls into something that you alluded to a few minutes ago. You said something about people reporting on the I could hear like the quotes, the truth being handed out. Do you think that changes in how, when, what news stations, both local, national, whatever, want to present things is stimulating the rise of independent writers, independent journalists, everybody else in that space? 

Sarah Morgan  22:16  

Yeh I think it's easy to, as someone that there's a lot of people that are outside the media space, that can look at the industry as a whole and criticize. It's easy to, again, I'll go back to the Trump White House, there was a lot of that. And some of that was deserved, of course, for our industry. But I can say for myself, like I have never worked for a newsroom, for a news agency that has never not challenged me to ask questions. 

But you have to remember that it's easy to become, you know, sometimes you get to know a PIO. You trust what they say. Okay, well, this is we're gonna trust that as fact, but then you always have to check yourself. Because it is our job to just because they say this happened. I mean, Uvalde is a perfect example of that. What was said last week by Texas DPS has a week later been proven untrue. And at that point, we would have never thought that they would come out and not say the truth. 

And of course, we don't know if you know, the details were sketchy at that point, even to them. But still, that's a perfect example of why it is so important for us to continue to ask those questions, no matter who the agency, whether it's your local small town police or all the way up to the White House.

Brock Briggs  23:50  

I'd imagine being like especially like a new reporter in some setting. It could be like a major personal conflict of interest when you're being asked to report or maybe say something that you don't align with, maybe personally. Have you ever found yourself in that position?

Sarah Morgan  24:12  

Well, I would say so for you to say that made me saying something that I don't align with would maybe imply that I wasn't saying the facts, that I would be more of like an opinion piece. And that's it. There's the problem. If I'm ever reporting opinion as fact, I shouldn't be doing that, anyways. But yeah, are there groups that I've had to report on and share their stories that I don't agree with? Of course, all the time. 

But it is my job to go in there and to be as unbiased and middle of the road, not as I can be, but just period full stop. My husband always says, it's the best compliment he can get when he's criticized by Republicans and criticized by Democrats. And they, you know, one accuses him of being a Republican hack. The other accuses him of being a democratic hack. Great. I'm pissing everybody off, that means I'm doing my job.

Brock Briggs  25:17  

That means you're falling right in the middle where you wanna be.

Sarah Morgan  25:19  

Exactly!

Brock Briggs  25:21  

I'm glad that you said that. Because that kind of just made me realize why that was such a bad question to ask, because it was like, oh, well, you know, ideally, you're hoping to present what the facts are not something that's like, an opinion of yourself, nor whomever you're reporting for.

Sarah Morgan  25:40  

Agreed. But I will say there have been countless times where I've sat, you know, in a living room with a person who I could not disagree more with. But I just have to shake my head, and okay, and I put what they say on TV, and then I put the other side, because for the most part, there are always two sides to every story. And it's my job to present both of them. Unfortunately, both sides don't always wanna talk to you. And that makes it difficult sometimes, but I at least have to try.

Brock Briggs  26:12  

How has becoming a multimedia journalist changed the way that you interpret information personally, not like completely outside of a news story or anything? You're in your just day to day life. Do you look at things differently? And do you find yourself obsessed with maybe getting to the bottom of something? Like chasing those facts? Like we were just talking about, rather than getting down to an opinion. I can't even imagine what it must be like to literally spend your entire like, basically life and career like getting down to, it's about finding out what's true, right?

Sarah Morgan  26:53  

Yeah, I will say that the longer you're in this business, the more I certainly don't have. I still don't have a work life balance, like that's not existing

Brock Briggs 

Doesn't exist 

Sarah Morgan

For this line of work. But I used to, I would consume nothing on television, but CNN and then I would record every single local news show. And see, because, you know, some of the stories I would be doing, every other station would cover that day. Okay, and then I would watch them and see who did it better. Oh, he got that interview. I didn't get it. Well, you know, like, things like that. I would obsess over it. But now I think as I've gotten older and especially as I've made this, you know, sharp left turn in my career trajectory, there's a little less of that. Like, I am always thinking like a journalist, but I'm not as obsessed in my off time as I used to be.

Brock Briggs  27:58  

This is probably a question that would have been more fitting towards the beginning of our conversation, but it was something that I wrote down and like had to ask. What is an exciting time for you like, personally? Is it, let's say that not news related. You're not working or anything. I am guessing that an exciting night might be just like sitting home on the couch like doing nothing like this is just silence maybe. 

Sarah Morgan  28:26  

I didn’t say yes. That or like I just wanna be on like a crazy trip to a wild place that is kind of off the grid like Wadi Rum, Jordan, you know, be in a Bedouin Camp, like that's my idea of amazing or doing something that's just a little different and that I can learn from. But yeah, I do have kind of like, I'm either like full scale balls to the walls, or I'm completely paralyzed in bed. There’s really no in between, for me.

Brock Briggs  29:00  

I have to imagine that there's just like a literal kind of content treadmill. It seems like it would be hard to get off in that line of work.

Sarah Morgan  29:13  

Yes, absolutely. And I think again, I go back to how my life has changed over the last year. That has kind of reset it a little bit. And my priorities have shifted, not extremely, but a bit to the point where I'm not just obsessed with news all the time. But I'm still pretty obsessed.

Brock Briggs  29:41  

Well, let's get in and unpack that. You mentioned earlier from early on that you wanted to be a foreign correspondent or a war correspondent, I think is the other term that you used. You got to do that, or embed with some troops this last year. Is that right?

Sarah Morgan  30:00  

Yeah, it was in 2020. It was January 2020. I was working for the AP. And it was amid all the rising tensions with Iran after Hussam Soleimani died. The AP called me one Friday night and it was like, hey, the 82nd there. QRF Quick Response Force or whatever they wanna call it nowadays is deploying overseas. Can you go cover it? At this point, like it had always been on my radar that I wanted to cover the military, but I hadn't had that shot yet. 

And so I was like, “Fuck, yeah, let's go.” I was so excited. I drove out to Bragg early that morning. And I had my backpack like, of course, they weren't gonna let me on the plane. Like, now I am fully aware of what the DoD is like. But I told the public affairs officer there, Lieutenant Colonel. I said, “Sir, I have my backpack, just in case you want, you know, you have some extra room.” And he was like, “Okay, who is this?” And then, so I covered it that day. 

And in the weeks to follow, I covered you know, the families of the soldiers that had left on the IRF. I did multiple stories with, you know, family members back at Bragg, because they're deploying within 8 to 20 hours. So that's traumatic on a family, no matter if you're ready for that or not. So I did that. And then about three weeks later, I got a call from said, Lieutenant Colonel, and he said, Hey,

Brock Briggs  31:52  

Are your bags still packed?

Sarah Morgan  31:54  

Basically, he was like, hey, it's not Qatar. But I'm sending some guys down to South America to Colombia in a couple of weeks for a training exercise with the Colombian forces down there. Do you wanna go? And like it was one of those moments where like, I took the phone away and like covered it, like in the movies, and I'm like, screaming. But I was like, “Oh, I'll talk to my boss. If it’s yes, I'll get back to you.” But to make a very long story short, I spent about 10 days, a little less than that, with the 82nd in about 100 of them down in South America, and the rest is history.

Brock Briggs  32:41  

Was it fun? Was it everything you thought it would be?

Sarah Morgan  32:45  

Well, obviously, it was everything I thought it would be because I came back and I went and saw a recruiter. So joining the army had literally never crossed my mind. I was raised in a household that had the utmost respect for our servicemembers. My grandfather was a battlefield commissioned during World War ll. I'm married to a gold star son who lost his Greenbrae father in Afghanistan in 05. So that was very much like ingrained in me the respect but me, no. A soldier, no way, never. But for some reason, the experience just clicked. And I instantly just fell head over heels with that, as cliche as it sounds, with that camaraderie. And I was very much in a state at that point in my life that I was looking for something more. And there it was.

Brock Briggs  33:45  

You, I wanna kind of quote an interview that you had, I think, with your agency there in Charlotte. You said, I'm gonna kind of roughly do this here. But you said, I'm at a point in my life where I have to do something drastic, it gives me greater purpose and greater meaning. Or I keep living in this state of mediocrity. That is like a really, really heavy sentence. Can you kind of unpack that and talk about where that was coming from?

Sarah Morgan  34:21  

Yeah, I mean, it was right in the midst of COVID. I was I think I had expected to, I left my local news job. I went to the AP. I went to the largest international news organization. One of the most respected and I thought, “Okay, this is it like, this is what I've been working toward.” And it didn't answer my questions. I was very much in a rut as a journalist. Your work, I can almost speak for, I'm not gonna speak for the entire profession, but if any of them were listening, I think a lot of them would agree. Your work is very much your identity. 

And I wasn't doing work that I thought was great. I mean, I was just 100% in a rut, and I was depressed. And I just felt like it was either I had to do something crazy drastic or like that was the turning point. Like, I had to do something crazy, or it was just gonna be just status quo for the rest of my life. And then looking back at it with regret, and that was what I think I was most scared of.

Brock Briggs  35:37  

That is such a scary feeling to kind of see yourself kind of waking up, you know, in 20, 30 years and asking a lot of what if questions. And there's a famous quote, and I'm not sure I'm gonna butcher it. And I don't even know who said it, but it said something about like, hell is waking up, like one day, like at the end of your life and meeting the person that you could have been. And it's literally, I don't know how you could like, say that to yourself out loud in the morning and not want to wake up and just like, give 100% every single day.

Sarah Morgan  36:16  

100% yeah, and I think that is what I was most scared of. Because once that idea crossed my mind of enlisting, that's what I had in the back of my head was okay, well, now, if I don't go through with this, well, I always wonder.

Brock Briggs  36:36  

What did your husband say, when you got back? I am sure that his job probably just like hit the floor, right?

Sarah Morgan  36:43  

Of course. So I was not an athlete. But still, I'm not an athlete, but I've had to improve those odds, obviously. But not so much, not an athlete, like I had no workout routine whatsoever. I was as far away except for, you know, liking to get myself in quite a few dangerous situations on the job. And being a bit of an adrenaline junkie, like I could not be further away of what we think of unfortunately, as a society when we think of a soldier, that was not me. Plenty of people out there now that are, you know, challenging that norm, which is amazing, but long before I ever did. 

But so I remember I told him. He grew up at Fort Bragg. He fully grasps the commitment. And I kind of have a tendency to come up with crazy ideas, and then just like, nah, I can move on with something else. So I think he thought it was gonna be that. But as I kept going through the process, at first one recruiter kind of blew me off. Because, you know, I walked in looking like me and not what he expected. And so I had to go find another recruiter who said, yeah, we'll get you noticed. Yes. 

But as I got through the process, and then really like when I started going through everything at MAPS, and like, I had to do the freakin’ duck walk, that's when he was like, “Oh, shit, she's serious. Okay.” You know, and he'll say today, like, the biggest thing he wanted to make sure is that I knew what I was getting myself into. And maybe at first, I didn't fully grasp that. But he's 100% supportive.

Brock Briggs  38:34  

And so you ended up enlisting this last year?

Sarah Morgan  38:37  

So I enlisted. The process started in January, February of 2020. For OCS, it takes a little bit longer, application process, but I raised my right hand in October 2020. And then I shipped off to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri last March.

Brock Briggs  38:58  

Well, as somebody who is out now, adjusted for long but quick years. I don't know if you ever actually fully grasp what you're getting yourself. I remember like getting out and leaving and kind of like driving off into the sunset to go home and was like, “What the hell just happened? Oh, this is such a weird feeling.” And it's interesting like first of all, like this is something that I say usually after we stop recording and everything but I would love to stay in touch and like continue to hear how your story develops and offer any kind of like assistance or just friendship, whatever that looks like. 

Sarah Morgan

Of course. 

Brock Briggs

But I'm interested to hear how you feel your time in the army like develops in terms of like personal identity? Because you said something before about like reporting that it had become your life and that was your identity. And that's something that you hear people in the military talk about a lot, especially like getting out and kind of struggling with that kind of crisis. And you're doing the Reserves, correct?

Sarah Morgan  40:15  

I am

Brock Briggs  40:17  

Okay. Was that a conscious thing? Is that what you wanted? Did you consider active for any minute of time?

Sarah Morgan  40:27  

Not initially. I think now, I wouldn't be surprised if maybe not in the near future. But before I'm done with my military career, I'm sure I will be active at some point.

Brock Briggs  40:43  

Your husband listening is like, you told me you weren't interested. 

Sarah Morgan  40:47  

He was the one that said it first. He was like, I bet you go active because I have loved this way more than I ever expected. I'll tell you the night before I shipped to Leonard Wood was the most panic-inducing, terrifying night of my life. Like I'm a 32 year old. We've just bought a new house, like, I am very blessed and had all the comforts that I could ever ask for. And just like that, it was gone. And I was treated like trash.

Brock Briggs  41:24  

So you wake up, and somebody's yelling in your face. 

Sarah Morgan 

Yeah. And I was like

Brock Briggs 

I gave it all up.

Sarah Morgan  41:28  

What the actual fuck have I done? Like, let me tell you the first two weeks of basic training. I would like go and here's the thing about me. I've gotten for the most part in the Mil Twitter world, like I have gotten 99% support overwhelming, like support encouragement, there is that 1% or when I'm really honest about my story and say like that, I've had to work extra hard to get my four mile runtime down to pass OCS. 

And when I, you know, talk about how the first two weeks of basic training were hell on earth and how I like went to the bathroom stall and like cried silently. Like, I'm not gonna lie about that. Like I could very well get on social media and act like it was easy. But for me, is it a lot easier for a lot of people, sure. But for me, it was the biggest wake up call left turn that you could ever ask for. And it completely up ended everything about my life. So yeah, are people tougher than me? Blah, blah, blah, whatever. I'm just, I am sharing my truth. 

And that this process, I'll be the basic training of nowadays is a lot easier than the basic training of that gross days, I know it. But like, it stretched me. And because of that, I'm 110% a different human being than I was a year ago in the best way. And I've said it too many times to count. But joining the army has been hands down the best decision I've ever made.

Brock Briggs  43:11  

It's such like a personally inspiring feeling to yourself. And I think that probably the close people to you could probably attest to that same change. But like when you like feel yourself actively changing, sometimes there's like weird periods of times where you'd like, look back and you're like, oh, you know, I'm like a little bit different. But certainly like that first six months, and even like, as your time progresses, like it is a drastic change physically, mentally, in all the ways that you can think of.

Sarah Morgan  43:47  

And it's uncomfortable. Like, let me tell you, it probably would have been a lot easier for me to have stayed the course and I would have just, you know, continued to progress in journalism, whatever. But I would have been bored as hell. Now, did the army answer all of life's questions for me? Absolutely not. In fact, now I'm like even more confused about what I wanna do and where I wanna go, but in the best way possible. And that would have never, that wouldn't have happened without me having to you know, giving up everything that was comfortable and having this experience. 

And you know, the cool thing about the military is it's the great equalizer like I was, I wasn't you know a journalist. I was just another well, I was a specialist. That doesn't matter to drill sergeant. I was just another private and I made some incredible friends with people I would have never gotten to know and heard stories a million times more inspirational than mine is. You know, people's “why” of why they choose to serve is really incredible. You know, like the single moms and dads for that matter that I met, that we're doing this for like far deeper reasons than Hey, I was in a rut and I needed, you know, a reset. Every time I wanna like felt bad for myself that basic. I was like, oh, you have a three month old at home. Okay, I shouldn't be complaining.

Brock Briggs  45:26  

There is always somebody who has it worse. That is an absolute fact. 

Sarah Morgan 45:31  

I know, but it puts things into perspective.

Brock Briggs  45:33  

It does. I think that what you just highlighted there really points to the power of the personal story, which you've been talking about, because everything needs context. Everything needs a backstory. There is such a large cohort of people and probably one of the most toxic things that the military has to offer is this embedded idea that there's something that you haven't done, and that, you know. You even mentioned it already is like, boot camps used to be so much harder, or like, there will always always always be that deployment that you didn't go on, that one thing that didn't happen. And I think that one thing that just a couple two cents of like personal advice or whatever, like don't listen to that shit because it really has nothing to do with nor has any bearing on your personal story.

Sarah Morgan  46:32  

I appreciate that. Yeah, and that, you know, that is something that's a constant in OCS especially. You know, there's the people like me who are fresh in. And then there's the NCOs that have chosen the officer route. But the wealth that I learned from them is incredible, but it does, it's, you know, a constant reminder of, okay, I gotta do this. I gotta do this. I gotta do this. I don't really have like a crazy army to do list. Number one, I have to get my fucking jump wings or I will never be worth anything to all the 82nd airborne paratroopers that inspired me to be here. 

Also, my husband is a son of a paratrooper, and he frequently calls me a lag. So until I get those damn jump wings, I'm gonna be worthless. But yeah, that's pretty much like top of the list. Of course, a deployment, you will, I'm gonna feel worthless until that. But it's funny a lot of people say to me, they're like, God, like, I've got some, you know, salty NCO friends that are like, I can't wait till you like lose that excitement. Like until the army wears you down. 

It's gonna happen. Okay, I'm sure it's gonna happen eventually. Like, it's not all sunshine and roses. I am fully aware of it. Everyone's army experience is not like this. And there are a lot of faults to the military more than we can ever talk about. But so far, it has been great. I'm sure there will be valleys but right now, just let me do my thing.

Brock Briggs  48:11  

That's super inspiring to hear and the military is not short on people like that, that are looking to steal the happiness and just like we used to call it the light in somebody's eye, like you can tell the day that they lose what you're talking about. And there's just kind of this little glimmer that kind of

Sarah Morgan  48:34  

I will say that my current commander, he calls me a golden retriever. And he says, I don't think you are ever gonna lose that and you shouldn't. So I'm hoping I will keep on being that annoying, excited Golden Retriever butter bar.

Brock Briggs  48:48  

I hope so too. We were talking before we started recording about the differences and or similarities between journalism and the military. What has stood out to you so far?

Sarah Morgan  49:05  

I would say one of the biggest similarities is just accuracy. You know, that's what you learn day one in both careers, like you do it right the first time. If you don't, you stay until you do it right. It's I've seen these, you know, these conversations with that's that get out and are amazed in the civilian world that at five o'clock when your shift is over, people just go home even when the job isn’t done because that's not how it works in the military. 

But it's very similar in journalism, like you don't go home until the job is done. So I think that work ethic is very similar. Although I will say like, I thought journalists work insane hours like the concept of a 24 hours CQ shift would just blow most people's minds, even journalists. But you know, always, I can't pin it down to why so many veterans, soldiers, sailors, Marines, whatever, are so like in tune with their curiosity or current events, they're kept up on. They’re readers. They're always looking for, you know what's going on. 

But that's what why I think so many veterans make great journalists because it's an easy segue. And I don't know why that is. But there are a lot of great examples of that. And one of my good friends, AP reporter Jim Laporta, former Marine. Excuse me, you don't say former Marine. Marine Jim Laporta. He is a perfect example of that.

Brock Briggs  50:52  

Once a Marine, always a Marine.

Sarah Morgan 50:54  

Hey, I did. I made that mistake in a news story. Like, in my first job, I said, former Marine and I got 57 emails, so I'll never make that mistake again. 

Brock Briggs  51:03  

Are you still a Marine? That's so funny. Is there anything that you have learned in this year, so that you've been in that you think has made you a better reporter?

Sarah Morgan  51:25  

I think that's a great question. 100%, well, on the surface, like nothing stresses me out anymore. Like, I just think that, again I go back to shipping off to basic training at 32. And I'm like, “Okay, I did that my job is not gonna stress me out.” But also just like the connections, the deep, deep relationships and connections that I formed at Basic and OCS. And listen, I don't want people to listen to this and be like, “Oh, she's only been to Basic and OCS.” You know, I am well aware. I know what I don't know. And I know, I have plenty to learn. 

But so far what I've learned, those connections have just made me like, I think, listen deeper. And want much more than what's on the surface of somebody. And I think that's something that, you know, the military has taught me as, obviously, we talk about really shitty situations, build these unbreakable bonds. And I've tried to translate that in even just like conversations with people I'm interviewing, you know. You know certain questions to ask and you know, like, okay, there's maybe something more there. And I definitely think those are skills that I've learned in my just a year in the army.

Brock Briggs  52:59  

Since I've started this podcast, I've had the pleasure of having several great writers on and we're just talking about why veterans maybe make great writers or journalists, a particular interview stands out. And one of the guys, he said that in the military, you make the perfect writer because ultimately, at the end of the day, you become a people person. You're thrust into abnormal environments, surrounded by people you don't know that have different values and different ideas about the way that the world works. 

And they give you this problem, and you need to figure it out. And there's no option to not figure it out. And that forces this type of cohesion with other people that is very difficult to replicate in any other circumstance. And that is that, you know, those weird trying circumstances that you're just talking about, it's very, very difficult to replicate outside of the service. 

Sarah Morgan  53:58  

Absolutely. And, you know, in saying that, like, coming home from training was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. You know, I thought that I would just bounce back into normal life, but it wasn't like that at all. In fact, like, there were some, you know, some rough days when I got home because you build these just unbreakable friendships to the point, you know, I still talk to these people every single day. One day, you're there and one day they're not. So that was a tough adjustment and also like the people around you just expecting you to be the same person. And you can't be the same person after going through something like that. So yeah.

Brock Briggs  54:45  

What advice would you give to an aspiring reporter, journalist, anybody in that space?

Sarah Morgan  54:57  

My best advice is just go for it. I'm mean, find somebody that you want to emulate, and just consume their work nonstop. I mean, that's what I did. And then be shameless about reaching out to them. One of my, if not my greatest mentor in this business is Gary Tuchman at CNN. And he is my mentor, because we were covering the Charleston church shooting. And we were at a memorial event. His live shot was right next to mine. I walked up and I was like, hi, really sorry to bother you. I'm a huge fan of your work. And I would love feedback, good, bad, whatever. 

And I started reaching out to him. He started watching my stuff. And the rest is history. And he even wrote me a basic training. I mean, this is a CNN correspondent, who for years has been a constant because I reached out, you know. Starting out in college, whether you're in your first newsroom, you're not gonna get that feedback. And because of that, you're not gonna get any better and you're gonna get stuck. 

So the only way to prevent getting stuck is to find people you want to be or at least want to emulate. And just reach out. Be shameless. I mean, my husband always says that, like, he's like, I wish I could be more shameless because he doesn't really have any, like, crazy mentors, like I do, because I don't care. I'll just ask them. Whatever. What if they're gonna say no, who cares?

Brock Briggs  56:30  

You gotta do something drastic. 

Sarah Morgan

Hey and I'm big on that, right? 

Brock Briggs 

You are, as we found out, and I'm happy to attest to the fact that you practice what you preach because you accepted this as a cold message on Twitter. So thank you so much.

Sarah Morgan  56:46  

Gotta do better than that but it wasn't, so. Hopefully, as I always say, after I do anything like this, I hope I didn't say anything that would get me in trouble. So God, speak to myself. 

Brock Briggs  56:56  

Hopefully. You can't get in trouble on this podcast. Nobody's really pushed that boundary yet, so. Sarah, this has been absolutely fantastic. I would love to point people to find you on whatever platform that you'd like to be found on. Where can people go to find you if they wanna reach out?

Sarah Morgan  57:17  

My, you know, biggest outlet definitely the Twitterverse, StorytellerSBM. And then on Instagram, I don't really have a following there but I don't really care. It's just opposite coz I couldn't get it. So it's SBMStoryteller, but I love sharing like my video work on Instagram. Last night, I shared a story with a Gold Star family that I shot yesterday for Memorial Day. So if it's another outlet that you know, you can get people's stories out there, I'm all about it.

Brock Briggs  57:51  

Awesome. Thank you so much for your time, Sarah. I really appreciate it.

Sarah Morgan  57:54  

Thank you for having me.