media
The Story
from Martha MacCallum’s basement
FOX News Channel anchor adds her home to
long list of worldwide broadcast locations
WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICHHANDLER
PHOTOS COURTESY OF FOX NEWS CHANNEL
It’s arelatable moment, if
you’ve worked from home
much: You’re speaking to
colleagues through amicro-
phone when your dog starts
barking. Since mid-to-late
March, Millburn area resident Martha
MacCallum says, this has happened
to her every night. Unlike other
remote workers, though, she is
addressing three million people.
The FOX News Channel anchor
and executive editor of The Story
with Martha MacCallum has been
broadcasting her 7p.m. show live
from her basement ever since the
coronavirus started spreading, and
company executives asked some of
their on-air talent to work —and
appear —from their homes.
Hitting the brakes on business as
usual has brought tremendous
changes to everyone’s lives, but the
pace of MacCallum’s current routine
You studied political science
at St. Lawrence University, but
were also involved in the NYC
theater world. Does having
expertise in both areas prepare
you for anchoring?
Ididn't plan it that way, but they
definitely did combine to give me a
good basis for communicating with
people. Theater gave me a good
foundation for telling stories, and
there's agood amount of drama in
politics. Also, when you're producing
an hour of television every night,
(you know there needs to be) a sense
of a beginning, middle and end.
is a complete reversal of the way she
lived before the pandemic. “[Early
2020] was the busiest time in my
life,” she says. As FOX’s 2020
election co-anchor (along with Bret
Baier), she traveled to cover town
halls, political primaries and Donald
Trump’s impeachment, all while
appearing in a different town every
day or two to promote her new book,
Unknown Valor: A Story of Family,
Courage, and Sacrifice from Pearl
Harbor to Iwo Jima.
MacCallum’s commute may now
be measured in yards instead of
miles, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t
challenged daily. We spoke to the veteran
journalist —from a safe social
distance —about what has stayed
constant in her work, and how she
markets a bestseller, produces a halfdozen
TV segments per night and
prepares for presidential election coverage
inthe age of COVID-19.
Before you came to FOX in 2004,
you worked at the Wall Street
Journal Report,CNBC and NBC.
How does working at FOX News
Channel compare?
Ithink people would be surprised
to see how much autonomy weall
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MILLBURN &SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE MAY 2020
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