Grateful and determined at 26 years old, Madison Scarpino has accomplished what takes some journalists their entire career to achieve: becoming a national reporter.
“I would love watching things like the Today Show or Good Morning America or Fox and Friends and just thought, you know, that would be a really cool career,” Scarpino told Barrett News Media over Zoom.
She began her new role at Fox News on December 4th and said she now has the opportunity to work with reporters who’ve inspired her, “Aishah Hasnie is someone that I’ve really enjoyed watching her work and would love to be the type of journalist that she is today.”
The oldest of three, Madison Scarpino says her family were not big news watchers and often moved. “I actually don’t really have a hometown. My dad’s in the Navy, so I moved around every two to three years my whole life, which is kind of crazy.” She added, “Everyone always says like, ‘Oh my gosh, it must be so hard.’ But it’s really all I ever knew and I think it definitely set me up for the stuff that I do now.”
Moving across the country, Scarpino’s experienced so many parts of the United States but to keep things simple she often says, “I’m from Florida because I lived in Jacksonville twice. And then I graduated high school in Tampa.”
Tampa — also known as “The Big Guava” — is where Scarpino feels the most connected because she said, “I loved my high school experience,” adding, “I went to school, called Tampa Catholic and made some really good friends there and, you know, I think it’s a pretty diverse place.”
One unexpected love of Scarpino’s from her Tampa days? Cuban culture.
“There’s a big Cuban population there and a lot of my friends are Cuban. I fell in love with that culture and just everything,” she later added, “I’m Italian and we take family very seriously. And just that having that tight-knit circle, I think it’s very similar to the Cuban culture. I also love the food that they make. One of my best friend’s mom makes like the best Mojo pork.”
She attended The University of Mississippi and graduated in 2020. Of her time at Ole Miss she said, “I did go to a lot of games in the Grove, which is just, you go to any city school and they have these big blowout tailgates and celebrations like pre-game, during the game, post-game.”
However, her favorite memory from college is not Rebel football but, “The school news station, though, that is just where I fell in love with what now is my absolute passion.” Scarpino continued to say. “Once I started at Newswatch [at] Ole Miss and majored in broadcast journalism, I figured, let’s try this out.”
Starting out as a weather reporter, she told herself, “If I don’t like being in front of the camera, I feel uncomfortable. I don’t have to do this. I could do radio, I could do print.” She said of herself then. “I was very nervous at first. But being a weather reporter was a lot of ad-libbing at Ole Miss versus following an actual script and I just became more and more comfortable at it.”
Becoming more comfortable on air, she later found her journalistic passion. “I started kind of doing more hard news stories and, you know, just more local news type stuff and that’s when I kind of realized this is more what I think I’m good at,” she added, “Being able to tell people’s stories, especially when it comes to big breaking news, things that a lot of people care about being able to do that just meant a lot to me.”
From the Ole Miss Newsroom, she became an MMJ in Huntsville, Alabama. She worked out of the bureau for the rural counties in the Tennessee Valley on NBC affiliate WFAA 48. Madison Scarpino then moved on to Fox’s MMR program.
Created in 2011, the rigorous program sends reporters across the country to shoot, produce, edit, and report content for Fox News Media platforms. In a press release, the network said after two years the hope is to help reporters become stronger journalists in the field. Many new faces within the Fox conglomerate began in the MMR program including correspondents Garrett Tenney, Hillary Vaughn, Maddy Rivera, and Madison Scarpino.
Of her time in the program Scarpino said, “I think that being in MMR has really set me up for success in this position. Again, I have to earn that and I’m looking forward to working as hard as I can and being the best journalist that I can at this level.”
She added, “Being able to really only focus on national news and know how network news works and just travel around the country, I get to see many different parts of it and cultures. I think without that I would not be ready for the position that I am in today.”
During Scarpino’s tenure in the MMR program, she was sent across the country to cover several mass shootings including the ones in Highland Park, Dallas, and the Covenant School in Nashville. “I’ll never forget the people in that area were more than willing to talk to me and just wanted to say like, how amazing of a community it was and just like how the people want to come together [after a tragedy like] this,” Scarpino said. “When you get to actually talk to people in the community and see how they’re feeling. That’s what sticks with me the most.”
For those looking to follow in Scarpino’s footsteps her advice is simple. “There are going to be days that you have to come in early and stay late or go the extra mile to make it far in this industry. And that’s not always the most fun thing to do. But if you really love this career, it will pay off.”
Madison Scarpino recognizes the timing of her accomplishments is rare but said, “I feel very lucky to be in the position that I’m in.” She said her goal right now is simple, “I want to focus on just being the best journalist that I can [and] become someone who people trust and want to watch.”
Krystina Alarcon Carroll is a news media columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. She has experience in almost every facet of the industry including: digital and print news; live, streamed, and syndicated TV; documentary and film productions. Her prior employers have included NY1 and Fox News Digital and the Law & Crime Network. You can find Krystina on X (formerly twitter) @KrystinaAlaCarr.
