Emma Vigeland
Journalist and political correspondent Emma Vigeland was born on 18th April 1994, in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, USA. According to sources, she’s 5ft 6ins (168cm) tall, was raised in a two-parent household, and has one older sister.
The Lafayette College alum, who wrote her honors thesis on campaign finance reform, and majored in Government and Law, began working for “The Young Turks” as an intern almost as soon as she graduated. Her job scope included interviewing candidates, reporting on political corruption, and covering grassroots progressive movements across the states. As it happens, Emma began following “TYT” way back in 2008, and was a huge fan of journalist and correspondent Cenk Uygur.
Career/Personal Life
Eventually, Emma carved out a permanent position for herself within the company, becoming known for her thorough research and straight-to-the-point interviewing style. However, in October 2020, it was announced that she would be leaving “TYT” to join the team at “The Majority Report with Sam Seder”, a center-left internet radio talk program and podcast, which Sam has been hosting since 2006.
‘Anyone who is familiar with progressive media knows that the Majority Report team does incredible work. I couldn’t be more excited,’ Emma Tweeted to her thousands of followers.
The brunette has ruffled more than a few feathers since breaking into the political journalism scene, so it’s no surprise that she’s continued to divide opinions since joining “TMR”. During a heated debate with YouTuber and journalist Tim Pool in mid-2023, Emma accused him of catering to ‘neo-Nazi’ audiences. Despite being heavily criticized by some netizens who disagreed with her views, Emma’s fanbase praised her for how she carried herself during the debate.
In September 2022, Emma embarked on yet another exciting professional venture with the launch of her own podcast, “The Emma Sports Vigeland Network”. The weekly sports podcast, which is hosted by Emma and produced by Bradley Alsop, also has its own YouTube channel with popular videos such as “Russell Wilson In SHAMBLES After Peter Carroll Calls Him Out”, and “Emma Passionately Backs Lamar Jackson For MVP” being viewed tens of thousands of times.
Although Emma avoids discussing her love life, and prefers to maintain a professional image, she is said to have dated University of Tampa graduate and investigative reporter Jordan Chariton, who just happens to be her ex-colleague from her “TYT” days.
Jordan, who was born in September 1986 and raised in Long Island, New York, majored in Communications and Writing, and landed his first job working for Fox News at just 22 years old. In 2011, he left Fox and became a guest booker for a variety of daytime programs at MSNBC, later working as a digital producer for non-profit 92nd Street Y, and being nominated for a 2013 Webby Award.
Since then, Jordan has worked as a freelance writer for Mediaite, a media reporter for The Wrap, and an on-the-ground reporter for “The Young Turks”. The Podesta emails, the protests at Standing Rock, and the Flint water crisis are just some of the events he’s covered which helped bolster his reputation and standing as a serious journalist.
With that said, in November 2017 Jordan was accused of sexually assaulting activist and reporter Carly Hammond when the pair worked together at former news organization Truth Against the Machine. The explosive claims were made by HuffPost contributor Christian Chiakulas and led to Jordan being placed on leave from “TYT”.
Jordan didn’t stay silent in the face of the claims; instead, he came forward with two eyewitnesses who corroborated his version of events. HuffPost took the blog post down less than 24 hours after publication, and Christian later said: ‘The reasons I wrote the story are hard to explain… I rushed out that article and was thrust into the middle of this. In hindsight, it was a bad way to go about it.’
Vote vote vote! And by that I mean vote Democrat. WFP if you’re in New York. 😈 pic.twitter.com/0O4sTrhT4j
— Emma Vigeland (@EmmaVigeland) November 8, 2022
“The Majority Report”
“TMR” discusses political affairs and current events from a democratic socialist and progressive standpoint, occasionally using satire and comedy skits to get points across to its audience. The show, which originally aired on Air America, was hosted by Janeane Garofalo from March 2004 until July 2006, with Janeane herself suggesting Sam Seder as co-host.
In April 2006, Janeane came under fire for supporting the “New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project”, which had been linked to the Church of Scientology. Following months of speculation regarding her possible departure, in July 2006 the radio host announced that she would be leaving “TMR”, citing her reason as several on-air arguments with Sam.
Although some listeners believed that Janeane was leaving the podcast due to conflicting work responsibilities, it’s true that the tension between the two hosts had reached a point of no return, especially after Janeane endorsed the controversial treatment program. During one memorable argument, Janeane even claimed that Sam – who is Jewish – would have supported the treatment program if it were linked to Jews.
The original radio show came to end in September 2006. Shortly afterwards, Sam launched “The Sam Seder Show”, which retained many elements of “TMR” and lasted until April 2007. Three and a half years later, Sam relaunched “TMR with Sam Seder” as an independent and self-produced online podcast.
Over the years, the staff turnover rate has been moderately low: producer Matt Binder left in October 2015 and was replaced by Kelly Carey and Matt Lech, and Kelly was replaced by Jamie Peck and Brendan Finn upon departing in September 2017.
In July 2020, co-host Michael Brooks passed away at the untimely age of 36, due to an undetected thrombosis in his neck. An extended “Majority Report” episode was broadcast after his death, in which previous guests, contributors, and callers mourned and remembered Michael. Sam also took the show off air for one week following Michael’s death.
Michael was replaced by Emma in October 2020, with her first official ‘appearance’ in the show taking place on 3rd November 2020, the date of the 2020 presidential election. Although Jamie Peck and Brendan Finn have also left “TMR” since then to pursue other opportunities, the show’s lineup has remained largely unchanged.
