CNN's Alisyn Camerota Tackles Integrity of News Industry in Debut Novel

At 15 years old Alisyn Camerota decided she wanted to see herself on the small screen as a television reporter. Alisyn has dedicated over 25 years of her life to the news industry. All this experience is what influenced her to write a novel based on her own life about the ins and outs of being a successful woman in a male dominated career.

Alisyn has worked with many different news programs including NBC, ABC and most notably FOX where she worked for 16 years. After leaving them in 2014 she began her career at CNN where she is flourishing as a co-anchor on New Day. She has covered some of the most talked about stories in the media including the Pulse nightclub shooting and the attacks in Brussels and Paris.

Camerota’s first book is a fictional story inspired by the events of her lively career. The protagonist, Amanda, deals with similar things that Alisyn herself has dealt with in this line of work including a presidential campaign with a TV celebrity and waking up before the sun goes up everyday. Below is our inside scoop on Alisyn’s new book.

Amanda Wakes Up

I've always been struck by the funny, juicy, and important things that happen behind the scenes at every TV network, off the air – all the crazy characters and decision-making and relationships that the viewer never sees. Ever since sitting in my first story pitch meeting years ago, I've thought: if only the audience could see this. So those are the things I've tried to capture in the book.

I love the front-row-seat-on-history I get as a journalist. I love having access to powerful people and asking them questions and getting them to explain themselves. I love having a fresh opportunity every day to try to move toward solutions.

Alisyn Camerota

It's very rewarding when viewers come up and thank me for the work I do, which happens a lot. Still, the questions I get most often are: Where do you get your clothes? Do people do your hair and makeup every day? And what time do you wake up?

My trajectory was more unconventional and circuitous than Amanda's. My first job was working for Ted Koppel's production company, helping to produce his primetime documentaries on ABC called The Koppel Reports. From there I became a reporter on the national crime show America's Most Wanted. I was the person who, after the fugitive was caught, would go into the jail cell and ask why they did it. Sitting across from murderers and rapists was baptism by fire for how to challenge intimidating people. From there, I became a correspondent on NBC's morning magazine show called REALlife. When that was cancelled, I did a short stint for about a year in local news in Boston and Providence. From there, I became the New England correspondent for the FOX News Channel, and ultimately a host on the morning show. I joined CNN in 2014, where I became the co-anchor of the morning news program, New Day, which you can watch from six to nine a.m. every day. Set your alarms!

My alarm goes off at 3:15am and every morning it still surprises me. I'm still like, "what is that?" The time between 3:30 to 4:30 a.m. is one of my most intense hours. That's when I cram for the exam, catching up on all the developments that have happened overnight while I was sleeping (and nowadays there are a lot). God bless my producer, who comes in even earlier than I do to start prepping all the research I need for the show.

She and I begin exchanging emails at 3:30am and I send her requests for graphics, soundbites, facts and statistics — all the evidence I'll use to challenge officials who may not be interested in telling the truth. At 4:30am, I arrive, get changed into my on-air outfit, get into hair and make-up, stuff some food in my mouth and run to the set in time for the 6:00 a.m. start.

The relationship between Rob and Amanda was fun to write because the chemistry of co-hosts is always a "thing": a tangible commodity that viewers pick up on. Spending hours next to someone first thing in the morning every day is a pretty intimate experience, even though it's in front of millions of people. You learn their mannerisms, speech patterns and moods. Plus, I was single during my first ten years in TV news, so, let's just say, I'd acquired some material to draw from in terms of the thrill (and the downsides) of office romances. Rob is a composite of several guys I've worked with at various stations — all of whom think he's based solely on them.

If being a newscaster doesn't work out, I'm going to become a boardwalk psychic because I'm that good. It was frankly bizarre how many of the scenarios I'd written years ago in Amanda Wakes Up became reality during the most recent presidential election. Rarely a week went by that my editor, agent and I didn't exchange emails about one of these prescient situations with the heading "Whoa! Did you see what just happened?" But the truth is that I've realized, when you cover presidential elections, some issues and events come around again and again, and I think I fastened on them.

Journalism feels more important now than ever, and I think this is a good time to have a conversation about how and why we do what we do. There's a lot of confusion out there about what constitutes news and which outlets can be trusted. Having worked at four different networks, I've seen the difference in approaches and missions, particularly when it comes to ratings versus information and I wanted to tell that story. And what exactly does it mean to be an "objective" journalist? Amanda has to figure all that out.

If you're willing to work around the clock, get very little sleep, stand outside for hours in hurricanes and snowstorms, drop all your plans for breaking news, and for the first few years (at least) make poverty line wages, then broadcast journalism is the field for you. Oh, and a love of finding facts and searching for justice helps too. If those things appeal to you, being in broadcast news is the best job in the world.