From physical sports to the sport of the mind, Michele Tafoya has taken her reporting integrity to higher levels since leaving Sunday Night Football.
“[Politics] it’s a blood sport. It’s a tougher sport. It’s a more vicious sport than anything I’ve ever seen,” the Veteran Journalist told Barrett News Media over a Zoom call.
Growing up in Southern California, Tafoya’s whole family was into sports. “We all played. I didn’t play very well. I was better talking about it than I was actually doing it, but we were just addicts.” Naturally, she went for it. “I got my master’s in business first because I wanted a fallback plan. I wanted a safety net. Then I left Southern California and went all the way to Charlotte, North Carolina to take my first job in radio and just immersed myself and worked relentlessly.”
30 years and a few stations later, she left the number one television show to give her take on contentious issues. “I agreed [at the time] I’m not going to speak out on these issues that might draw negative attention to the show. I agreed to that until I couldn’t do it anymore. It just was too tough to keep it all bottled up and not be able to act in a way that I felt. Even if I don’t make a difference, I need to try and that’s why I left.”
The first stop for Michele Tafoya was Fox News where she spoke out against Critical Race Theory being taught in K through 12 schools.
“I was lambasted. I was called awful names. People called me racist. They said, ‘You just made your entire living off the backs of African-American athletes.’ And I’m thinking, well, first of all, no, I didn’t. They all make way more money than I ever made. And by the way, I made my living off my own back. I did the work. I covered them.”
Even more frustrating for Tafoya was, “People making that jump. Just because I don’t like dividing people into oppressed versus oppressor classes, that somehow made me racist, that’s been the one thing that’s really bothered me.”
The former sideline reporter believes this train of thought needs to be benched. “I happen to think quite the opposite. That when you divide people by color, or you divide them and slice them and dice them into these identity groups and pit them against one another, that is the most divisive thing we can be doing in this country.” She later added, “I really yearn for a time where we can get back to just less name-calling and more coming together on behalf of something that’s bigger than all of us.”
Since 2022, The Michele Tafoya Podcast has offered a sense of sanity in today’s unprecedented and unpredictable news cycle. “I can speak about it on a podcast or on national television, but I can also try to help — behind the scenes — get people elected who I think are sane, common sense people who want to see the country go in a similar direction that I do.”
Today, some have labeled Tafoya as an activist, but this is not how she sees her new role. “I feel like someone who’s trying to do the right thing.”
While she is doing the right thing, Michele Tafoya believes there are many journalists (and politicians) who aren’t. “There’s a lot of lying in politics and there’s a lot of lying in journalism. I took my job very, very seriously, making sure that I quoted people accurately, making sure that I sourced my reports, making sure that I was very clear, and that I protected my sources. So when I see journalists not doing that or making themselves the story rather than [actually covering] the story. I’m not comfortable with that.”
For Tafoya, her ideal news needs to be objective.
“Facts matter. And yes, you can, if you’re going to have a guest on to inform you about those facts, you should have two points of view, not just one guest. And I realize that this is hard to do all the time.”
She pointed to Hunter Biden’s laptop, which is now being used as evidence against the first son in court, as a major example of outlets simply not doing their jobs.“There’s a viral video out there right now. Of all of these talking heads on television telling you it’s Russian disinformation, and there should be accountability for that.”
Viral videos like this are part of why Tafoya believes social media is an “overall benefit” for news. “You have citizen journalists now because they have phones. But I think social media, net-net, there is a positive to it. You can spread messages. You can galvanize people. But I do think there are certainly negative sides.”
Internet trolls, keyboard warriors, or just outright haters are the downside to it all.
“I’ve experienced it. Where people write really vicious things about me, and I will find a way to confront them directly, whether on the phone, believe it or not, or in person sometimes and boy does the story change. So I think that is the downside of all this is people feel safe behind their devices and safe enough to say really damaging things about people. And if we really knew each other, you wouldn’t be doing that.”
Tafoya however, doesn’t pay them any mind. “It’s not what they say. It’s how you react to what they say. And I know myself well enough to know exactly who I am. So I did this little trick. I decided unless I knew who the person was — who was calling me names — I decided, ‘You know what? That’s probably some sort of Russian bot account on Twitter. I’m just going to laugh. Delete. Swipe away.’”
What’s most important, Michele Tafoya believes, is knowing who you are. “It’s a confidence in that and it’s knowing that it’s really how you react that is going to define your character. So I’ve just decided to be in control of that. That’s in my mind, and that’s what I have control over. I don’t have control over all those people writing and saying the things they’re going to write and say. That’s their issue.”
For those who have a thick skin, who love being accurate in the pursuit of truth, and want to follow in Tafoya’s footsteps her advice is simple. “If you want [to be in journalism] because you love it, then work your tail off. Don’t make it about you. Be really easy and good to work with. Be a professional. Don’t model yourself after anyone. Don’t say I want to be the next whomever. Say that you want to be the first you and say that in a way with humility.”
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.
