Alex Hogan: Around The World And Back
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It's time to take the quiz. Five questions, five minutes a day, five days a week. Take the quiz every weekday at thequiz.fox and then listen to the quiz podcast to find out how you did. Play, share, and of course, listen to the quiz at thequiz.fox. Welcome to the Jason and the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz. Thanks for joining us today. This is going to be a good one. You're going to love it because, uh,

You've seen her on the Fox News Network. She is an amazing reporter. Alex Hogan, she's been out there really, I mean, wearing that hard hat helmet in war zones. She's been reporting all over the place, does an amazing job, smooth as silk in terms of her reporting in depth and just impressive.

impressing everybody here. I've never talked to her other than on air. I've never had a discussion with her, but I look forward to having a discussion with her. She's part of the future at Fox News. I think she's one of the rising stars of Fox News and just thrilled to be able to chat with her. So that'll be good. And we're going to learn about her and how she ended up in a war zone.

reporting to the world on what's going on. So I'm looking forward to that. But I want to talk a little bit about a couple of things in the news and then the stupid, because, you know, there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. There's no doubt about it. And I've got a good one that I read about today that I want to share with you. But let's start first with a little bit about what's going on in the news, because immigration just does not stop. Now,

In the last few days, we've heard a lot of reporting from Griff Jenkins, Bill Malusian down there on the border. Now, over in California, there seems to be a big opening that a lot of these illegal immigrants are taking advantage of. Mass amounts of Chinese, by the way, they're coming in by the tens of thousands. It used to be hundreds. Now it's tens of thousands.

And some reports hundreds per day. These are Chinese nationals making their way. We don't know who these people are. There's also Syrians coming across the border who are highly suspicious. Syria being a state sponsor of terror.

and saying in one interview, hey, we just want to come get a job and make life better. That does not qualify for asylum, folks. That's not how you achieve it. And it may be the true answer, but that's not how you get from here to there. But people from all over the world, people coming in from Afghanistan and others, it really begs the question, how did they make that journey to get to Hakumba, Afghanistan,

California to their then cross the border. I want to relate a quick story. One time I went down with the border patrol and this was in Arizona and there was a report that there were some Romanians that had come across the border. Now,

Uh, we got in the car with the border patrol and I thought we were going to go like lights and sirens to try to go find these people that were there in the desert and chase them down or something like that. Oh no, no, no, no. That is not what happened at all. Um,

We kind of sauntered over and took our time. And I asked them, I said, why aren't we like hustling over there? And they said, well, they want to get caught. And it really was a mystery to me. What do you mean want to get caught? Oh, they don't need to run. If they can get caught, then what they do is they get processed. But then they're here legally. And then they can have some paperwork and they can get a job and get benefits and go to where they want to go and whatever.

I was really shocked and taken aback by this. And this is back in the Obama administration.

So this has been going on for some time. They know how to game it. They know what to do with it. And the prevalence of this is just untenable and nothing has changed. And I saw Secretary Mayorkas go out in an interview about a week ago and he said he's going to continue to press on and do his job. Well, that's sort of the definition of insanity, isn't it? You just keep doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results, right?

That would be the definition of insanity if they admit that it's not working. But remember, the administration for three years said it was working, that the border was secure, that there was nothing to worry about, that they had operational control. But no, they really didn't ever. But now they say it's a crisis that Congress may attack again.

And until Congress appropriates more money, until Congress does this, that, and the other. But let's also remember for two years, two years, there was nothing that the Democrats did. And they had the House, the Senate, and the presidency for two years, and they did nothing. So this is the ongoing concern. The other thing is that Hillary Clinton is running around the world telling people that, hey, guess what?

President Trump, if he's elected, he's going to get us out of NATO. Nobody's ever. No, that's the scare tactics that are coming from the Democrats about how the world would be scorched earth, that Donald Trump would do this, that and the other. That's these things are just not true.

And they want to scare people. They want to vilify anybody who's wearing a MAGA hat or wearing the American flag, waving the American flag to try to scare people. When you don't have issues, when you don't have policies, when you can't run on your record...

then what you do is you go after your opponent and just try to vilify him to every extent possible. That's the deep concern. And you got to watch out for it because it's going to happen and happen again and again. All right, time for the stupid because you know what? There's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. And this one actually surprised me. I'm going to the Australian Olympic Equestrian Club.

Oh my gosh, I never thought that they would be controversial, but evidently this Shane Rose, who has meddled three times in the game's

He's obviously very talented at riding a horse, evidently, but he found himself in some hot water over his attire. Now, I haven't seen it. I'm reading this on FoxNews.com, but it was widely reported in The Telegraph, which is a pretty big newspaper involved and engaged in this stuff.

And the allegation is that he wore a mankini, a gorilla costume, and a Simpson-inspired outfit during a show, Jumping Meat, near Sydney. And a video evidently is out there. He was wearing an outfit inspired by Borat. You ever see Borat? That's a pretty funny movie. Pretty rude movie, but a Borat-inspired outfit, which raised some eyebrows.

And if that's the controversy that we've got coming out of Down Under, it sounds pretty stupid to me. So that's the stupid. All right, let's bring in Alex Hogan. Alex is, I'm really excited. So let's dial her up. She's overseas. So let's connect with Alex.

Hi, Jason. Hey, Alex Hogan. I am so glad to talk to you. I know you're overseas and it sounds like you're, you know, way off on the moon or something. But thanks for joining us on this Jason and Alice podcast. I appreciate it. Yeah, thanks for having me. It's good to talk to you. No, look, we have been seeing you from afar reporting in some of the most dangerous and volatile places on the planet. And you're good. You're really good.

Well, I appreciate that. Thank you. There's a whole team of people working with us that are always behind the scenes on all of those stories. And it's just, it's amazing to be with the company that provides us the resources to go around the world and cover these big stories and have great people to do it with. No, but you do it with smoothness. It's amazing because sometimes...

They'll say, all right, we need you for two minutes or, hey, you got a minute and a half. And then the ease in which you just launch into what you're seeing, hearing on the ground. And you're right. I mean, you got producer, you got a cameraman, you got all the technical side of the equation. You got the safety and security part of the equation you have to deal with. So but you quite smooth. I don't know where that comes from, but it's it's smooth as silk and well done.

Well, I appreciate that. Thank you. It's yeah, I'm very passionate about what we do, being able to tell these stories, going to places and talking to people and getting to highlight what they're living through, the hardships, the joys and everything in between. And, and I'm very grateful to be doing this job. Well, let's go back here. I want to start with, I was born in and kind of walk through and yeah,

Because what we try to do is just better understand how you became you. Where did this all come from? Because I think a lot of people want to do what you do, but maybe they haven't had the experience and the life and growing up. And so start with, hey, I was born in, and let's just kind of walk through how you got to this point where here we are in this podcast talking to each other. Yeah.

Well, how much time do we have? Oh, we have like three hours. It's like three hours. Yeah. So don't worry about it. That's a loaded question for me because, yeah, I moved a lot growing up. So I was born in Mosh, Switzerland.

And then because of my father's job in the medical field, we moved quite a bit throughout my childhood. And I think that translated into me figuring out at an early age that I really enjoyed talking and meeting new people.

Firstly, because of the fact that I needed to. I was constantly the new kid. So we lived in Switzerland for the majority of my childhood, briefly in Israel, but also in...

A handful of states across the U.S., Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Utah, which I know you have a base. You were in Utah? Where in Utah were you? Florida. So my parents actually retired out there. And what a beautiful part of the world. I'm so biased now. So whenever someone asks me, where are you from in the U.S., Utah is always my considered home state because it's where I grew up.

Honestly, it's my favorite state. I think it's just the most beautiful place in the U.S. It's a very, very different landscape depending on where you are. So I love it. We're not supposed to tell everybody how great it is out there. We're glad to have you. We will claim you as one of our own. We're honored that you got Utah as your home state. But

Try not to brag about it too much because we don't need so many people moving there. It's actually not pretty. It's a not very pretty place. There's not many national parks. No, we only have five. I mean, we only got five. No, it's a great place. It is a great place. And it's a great place to raise a family, retire, all of the above. It's just like...

From the mountains to the deserts to warm weather to the ski areas, it's kind of got everything. So, yeah, the cat's out of the bag on that one. Okay, so now, did you have brothers, sisters growing up? Yeah, two brothers. I'm the middle child, and everybody is perfect.

Park City or Salt Lake City, and I'm the one who's across the globe. But the one thing that I think is at least a comfort for my family, which is really nice, is that they get to turn on the TV and see me even if I'm somewhere else. So even though I do feel bad that I don't get to be there for the family dinners that I see through selfies that they send me, I know that they can turn on the TV and see me there.

They're in the living room. It's not the same, but it is a little bit of a comfort when I feel homesick or I see them all together. But doesn't it, like your mom, dad, brothers, like watching this and you're wearing a hard helmet and there's like gunfire in the background. Don't they worry that, oh, our poor Alex is out there?

Yeah, I know they do. They do. But I have wanted to do this since I was 12 years old. And what happened when you were 12? Well, I moved so much and I'm very grateful in that I was in a family where we were fortunate enough for my family to take us around and travel and being in other places and seeing just how differently other kids around the world were living. Yeah.

that inspired me a little once I was 12 and really figured out that can be a job. I can, I can travel and tell people stories and talk to people and meet new people and, and share these very different ways of living that people are living around the world. I was so amazed and inspired that that was a possibility for a career. Most of my, my family is in medical field and I,

And it was fascinating having conversations growing up around the dinner table about new medical technology, you know, changes and advancements that we're making, but to be able to

talk to people, learn about their ways of life, and then share those conversations. That was fascinating to me to be able to do that. So I decided I was 12. This is what I was going to do. And I've really never looked back. Okay. So come on. Most people at 12 years old are not thinking about their career decisions. And what shows were you watching thinking, all right, that's what I want to do? Like, was it 60 Minutes? That's fair. Yeah.

No, it was a combination. My family grew up watching a bunch of different channels, honestly, based on where we live, depending if we were overseas, there was really only international channels. So it was kind of a combination. And then in school, I went to a French and German speaking school growing up.

And the types of news that you're digesting there, it's very different. So I have this combination and mixture of different types of media and media

And now it's interesting being back overseas again and seeing how all of these different stories that we are covering are being covered in slightly different ways through slightly different angles. And I think that's one of the important parts of journalism. And I think a lot of our viewers do this as well. But the importance of getting your information and really looking into it and trying to put yourself in other people's shoes of how the story is coming across. So,

So that was a long-winded way to get back to your question, but what did we watch? We watched a little bit of everything, read a lot of different things, and...

And now I'm just, yeah, it's really fun to be able to do this and bring those stories, be the one bringing those stories back home for our viewers back in the U.S. Oh, there's no doubt that you enjoy it. I mean, that's part of what makes it such good television and such good reporting is that you're passionately supported, like you really want to understand and then have others. And that's the hard thing to do, right, is to synthesize all this down into 90 seconds, right?

And it's such a complex story. But I want to keep going back to a 12-year-old little Alex. Okay, so you're like, oh my gosh, I want to do this. But, you know, a lot of people want to do it, but they don't necessarily have the verbal skills. You know, they don't necessarily have the talent to string sentences together and make it a coherent, you know, I struggle with this, right? A coherent message that

Where did that come from? I mean, did you like, were you an extrovert? Were you like an introvert? Yeah, I'm an extrovert. And that makes it easier just walking up to someone. I think part of it, whether it was because I was forced to always being the new kid and always having to go up to people, or if I naturally would have been that way, nature versus nurture, I'm not quite sure. But I think at a young age, it was easy for me to

walk up to people, introduce myself. And then that made it really easy for down the line with the journalism man on the street is something that you're in, in journalism, you know what it is. You're walking up to a stranger on the street and asking them their opinion about something with a microphone and a camera in their face. That kind of thing can be very embarrassing, but it's just, you know, I've had a lot of practice as a little kid walking up to people and introducing myself and

Once I decided that I wanted to be a journalist, I basically threw myself in with anything I could do to get my foot in the door. So I started writing for a local newspaper about the perspective of different topics from a child's perspective. How old were you? I think I was...

I was maybe 14 at that time. And so you went to the newspaper and you said, hey, I got a perspective here and your readers are going to love it. Honestly,

Honestly, I'm trying to remember how I initially started that, but that was the gist of it, yes. And then I went to local TV stations and asked, can I just come and shadow your anchors and figure out what they do and figure out how I can do that? And then I joined everything from the debate team to –

Joining high school plays and there was a morning show. And I think that's really what finally clicked. There was a live TV morning show in my high school where we would broadcast a newscast into every classroom around the school about local school news. But it was my first experience learning to edit, learning how to write for TV, different skill sets that eventually in university and in later jobs changed.

You really get a fine tune, but I was already having those opportunities to practice a skill set. And I think that's really important for kids. If they can find something to hone in on and practice those skills and just give themselves a little bit more time, it does make a difference in the long end. So you're going out, you're doing that in high school. Was that grade school or was that also high school? Mainly, yeah, mainly high.

high school, I was doing a lot of journalism. And then by the time that I graduated, I was, well, I was only looking at schools that had great journalism programs. I ended up going to Penn State and had

so many opportunities because they have an amazing J school. And I got my first job as a reporter before I even graduated. I was working at the local TV station, WTHA, as an MMJ. So that is a reporter who shoots, edits, and is on camera all the time.

all in one. So I had that before I even graduated from university my senior year. And then when I did graduate, I already had one local channel on my resume and it was easier to jump off into the other markets from there. Okay. So if we were to talk to your parents and say, all right, tell us about young Alex, they would say, oh my gosh, since she was a little girl, she'd like totally understood that this is her career trajectory. Yeah.

I mean... Yeah, I think I was probably a little obsessive. Were they like, let's just tone it down here? Or were they like, just all in? Hey, how can we help you? Did you practice? No, they never... We were like practicing like in the mirror and doing... I mean, I talked to...

Trey Yinks. And it was fascinating. That's what he talked about. He said, oh, I'd video. So I do it in the mirror. I would video, then I'd critique it. Then I'd do it again. And he just kept doing that time after time after time. And, and,

There seems to be a pattern here of how you do this. I had even asked my parents. It's a funny, cute story now. I remember being younger and thinking this is embarrassing. But when I was in fifth grade, I asked my parents for a teleprompter as a Christmas gift. Who does that? Fifth grade, a teleprompter.

Yeah, they said no, just, you know, write articles and then practice reading them. And but they know they never once tried to curb me from doing this. They were so supportive. And they to this day, my mom and dad are.

just the most amazing parents and they have been championing me from afar. And even though I know when I go into places like Gaza last month, how difficult that must be as parents to see that, but no, they are, they are so supportive and, and constantly checking in with how I'm doing and, and,

It's just nothing but love, support, and pushing me to continually challenge myself. And I think I could have been born into any family, but to have parents like that who have been so supportive since day one, I'm very, very grateful to them. Well, obviously, they created the atmosphere where you were able to chase your dreams and thrive and obviously have huge success. They did.

All right. So you're a Nittany Lion. You're there at Penn State. You get your first gig even before you're done. But how did you make the transition? Like where where do you go from there?

Yeah, so after I graduated, I went to Reading, Pennsylvania and was doing local news there. So there's two different ways that people typically go. You either start at networks and you might try to work your way up from being a PA to a producer or along those lines, depending on what track you're looking to get into. I opted with the local route. So I started in Reading, Pennsylvania, then moved to

After about a year, I moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania, another local, same local station, the sister company, or bureau, I should say. And there I was a morning reporter and fill-in anchor, and it was just such a fun experience. It was something completely different. And then after almost three years there, I...

jumped up to Fox and I had interviewed with them to be a foreign correspondent. And when I did get the job, then I was in New York just for a couple months to figure out the lay of the land, get to know the company. And that was in March of 2020 when I was supposed to move to London. And

To be a foreign correspondent, of course. That's like great when COVID was hitting. Yeah. Exactly. The universe had other plans. So I actually ended up staying in New York for about a year and nine months. Oh, of course. And...

worked in New York covering national news. And then once there was a reopening of bureaus here in terms of applying for visas and that sort of thing, I was able to move over. And I've been here for about two and a half years. Okay, so let's go back here for a second. You're not that

far out of college and you're saying, hey, I can go from Reading, Pennsylvania to London, Israel or wherever the world may take you. Why? How do you think you got that job? Because you weren't the only applicant for that job. No, of course. And they had a full, just like I had interviewed at other networks as well, but Fox,

Again, had full, you know, full interviews, questions and everything from politics to ethics to world perspective. And it was a really, really fun round of interviews, very brilliant, challenging conversations. And.

The question eventually led to, would you be interested in taking a job in London to be an international correspondent? And it's just a dream to be able to be here doing a job that I had hoped to one day do. Okay. Okay. Alex, fortunately, they didn't give me the ethics test when I interviewed for this job. And coming out of Congress, that probably should have been the heart of what we were talking about. Right.

But, okay, so they ask you a lot of questions. They obviously made a great and fantastic decision. But why do you personally believe, and take off a humble hat here, and there's a lot of people that supported you and a lot of people who made it possible, but what do you think is the difference? Like, what were they surprised about or impressed by? What did you do? Because you're pretty young in terms of experience, right?

even though you started at age 12, what do you think made the difference where they said, yeah, that's our person, that's who we want? I think there's probably several things that jumped out to them. One, having lived in so many places, speaking other languages, having connections, different places. Huge passion of mine is English.

is traveling and going to all these other places. And that came up a lot in these interviews because I'd done a lot of solo traveling. I think the year before I had just gone to India and, and having some of those conversations with in these interviews, we talked a lot about, you know, the desire to be in other places, being uncomfortable and being comfortable with being uncomfortable, being in positions where you weren't staying in, in great places. Maybe I'm, you know,

renting a car and going for a hike somewhere, but sleeping in the back of the of the car so that I can wake up early and see the sunrise and some amazing place and and having one the desire to do those things, spending my free time trying to educate myself by going to other places, trying to constantly learn about other places and that.

in and of itself is part of the job, this constant curiosity, wanting to go other places, wanting to be other places and learn and share those stories. So we did talk a lot about these personal moments and where I was spending my free time, what I was doing in my free time. And then on top of that,

I worked really hard. I really wanted it. I was very hungry and I wanted to be working for a company at that time. And I'm very grateful that I'm here, but I remember having those conversations at the time. I want to be working for a company where other people are hungry, where other people want to be having those conversations about what are we not talking about? What are we talking about? What can we learn? What can we, what can we share? And, and,

And I, in university, I did this story on human trafficking. And later that won an Emmy, which was a huge opportunity because I think that showed them the desire that I had, even in college classes, to try to pursue those stories that were big and meaningful and powerful. So to be able to show them, even at that age that I was young,

Trying to find and chase those stories with the limited resources that you inevitably have in those stages. I think that those were some of the things that stood out to them at that time. I can tell why you were thriving in these interviews.

By the way, tell me about India. You went there by yourself? You just said, hey, mom, dad, I'm going to be right back. I got to go to Mumbai. Well, it's funny. They actually were going to be in India, and I decided, well, I'll go. I'll meet up with you later. But then this is just another great chance for me to do a solo trip. And I had done solo trips before, solo hiking trips, road trips. This chance is for me to...

I'm an extrovert, but I also like my alone time. So I think I get that in solo trips, just getting to do exactly what I want to do, not necessarily needing to sleep a lot. I can just pack some granola bars and go do all of the things on my list of what I want to see on that trip. So India was absolutely incredible. That had always been on my bucket list of going there and seeing the Taj Mahal and going to some of the spice markets and just being a completely

completely different situation from yeah from what is normal day-to-day at the time I was in Utah so so very different day-to-day but it was just a beautiful experience it was great yeah that's a little different than Park City and Heber and some of those other places yeah that's a little different so well good for you what other solo trips did you go to where else have you been in the world

I remember I went to, I had never seen Niagara Falls, and that was a really fun one that I did by myself. It was funny because fireworks go off and everyone is there. It's a very romantic spot. A lot of people have got a leg washing the fireworks, and I'm there walking by myself. But it was just another fun weekend getaway. That was when I was living in Allentown, Pennsylvania. And just a good reminder for myself that I can...

take the time to do these. And now I have a fiance that has moved to London to be here with me on this next chapter, but we still both, he had actually done a solo trip to India as well. And now I find when I'm doing these, these long trips where I'm gone for maybe a month, six weeks at a time, I still get to, to have that a little bit. Of course, I'm with my team, but you're

You're away from loved ones. You're away from family for such long stretches of time. I still get to fill that desire to go have those individual trips and those individual experiences that are just...

really great moments for yourself. And sometimes you're lost somewhere with people who don't speak the same language as you. And I love that feeling. I think that makes some people uncomfortable, but I really like the feeling of getting lost in another place. You're listening to Jason in the house. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Alex Hogan right after this.

Hey, it's Clay Travis. Join me for Outkick the show as we dive deep into a mix of topics. New episodes available Monday to Friday on your favorite podcast platform and watch directly on outkick.com forward slash watch. That's fascinating. Congratulations on being engaged. That's exciting. Oh, thank you. And it's too bad that you both took solo trips to India but didn't meet there in India. Yeah.

Yeah, that would have been a very me-cute. Well, that is tough to be away. And, you know, you have somebody that you're in love with and, you know, be away is, you know, yeah, there's Zoom. Yeah, there's...

But it's FaceTime. There's still not, it's just different than actually being together. But congratulations. That's exciting for you. And congratulations. Thank you very much. Yeah, he's very supportive. And I think it's, as you know, as well, in these jobs, we can get sent anywhere. But it's, I think it's important to have a partner who's,

completely supportive and confident and just, you know, goes with it and is cheering you on from afar too. It's, um, it's great to have that. Yeah. I mean, he's going in eyes wide open, knows what he's doing. Sounds like he's also going out doing some solo trips along in, in his life too. So that, that's good. There's, it's going to be, that's going to make you all compatible. It'll be interesting if you go to a city together, if you all say, all right, I'll meet you back for dinner where I'm going my own direction. Yeah.

We've not done that. We know we enjoy traveling together and we'll happily stay together on the trip. Good. Good. All right. Okay. So tell us though about the life itself because it's quiet, quiet, quiet. And then all of a sudden it's not right. It's quiet until it's not. And how does that, how does that work? I mean, it sounds like you're the perfect personality to just kind of roll with the punches and dive right in. But yeah,

And it's nice to have the Fox News support and all of that and the brand name that's known around the world. But-

How does it work? Like what would most people be surprised about in terms of your ability to execute, go get the story and then get back in front of the camera to explain what's going on? Yeah, I think one element of what we're doing in these foreign bureau bases. So we have a kit room with all of our camera gear and whatnot, but we also have go bags. So that's exactly what it sounds like. It's a bag that is prepared with several changes of clothes,

you know, whatever we might need if we are at work and something happens overseas and we need to go straight from the office to an airport. So that will be enough to last us for several days. Some of us pack granola bars, things like that, that we can just have on the go, ready to go. And then when we do deploy, sometimes it could be as gone too

somewhere for a week and I've gone as long as seven weeks straight. So

When you do get on the ground, the challenge is always figuring out, you know, what are the language barriers here? Do we need to hire someone, a fixer, or they're also known as local field producers. And from there, they can help us navigate not only geographically the best areas to go and how to navigate the story and where the best place is, but also potentially helping with the language barrier, any cultural issues, and just kind of helping us navigate that way.

And as you know, and anyone else in TV knows within the, as soon as you are boots on the ground, you'll try to come up with the latest of whatever situation is evolving and then just continually be live with more and more stories as the details start to emerge. So looking back, um,

at these two years, two and a half years since I've been here, there are these lulls in between stories where, as you mentioned, we will be almost on standby. We'll be covering international news from the London Bureau, but we are also always prepared that we could be sent anywhere. But looking back in these two years,

It's just been back-to-back stories internationally. From when I moved here to a couple months later, the war in Ukraine broke out, and we spent months covering that. Then one of the trips, I was actually at the airport flying back to London, and the Queen died. So then within about four hours of landing in London, I was covering the Queen's

announcement, which then turned into her funeral. And then we had the king's coronation. And then the war in Israel broke out, or Israel's war in Gaza, I should say, broke out last year. So there have been these major stories. And it's amazing to think that all of that has happened just within the last two and a half years. Yeah, no, it's...

how volatile and how quick and how big these stories are. And you're right. They're not simple, quick conclusions. The seven weeks when you went out, was that in Ukraine? That was. That was. Well, there's been a couple trips where I think when the war first broke out, I was there for maybe six weeks. And then sometime along the summer, I think I had been there from July till September. And yeah,

Yeah, they're long stretches of time. But I will say the beauty as a journalist, when you're covering these stories for such a long, extended period of time, you're really not only developing relationships, but you're able to plan far out. OK, we have this politician who is going to visit the Capitol in two weeks. We can line that up with other this international agency will be here. You really get to dive in much deeper than you ever would be able to if you were only on the ground for a week or two weeks at a time. Right, right.

What's the biggest lesson you kind of learned in the two years of being overseas and on the ground wearing a hard hat and, you know, being in dangerous, volatile situations? Oh, that's a difficult question. I think the ability to try to work through what you're covering is a really challenging one. I think that's been a difficult part for

Because in the moment, you just don't have any time. You're live shot to live shot. You're working constantly every single day until you come home. So finding ways, and I have this conversation with other journalists, just kind of finding different ways to process what you're experiencing. Because you don't, the worst possible situation

scenario is you're covering one of these stories and if you're not feeling it, you're not giving, you're not doing justice to that story. So you want to fully be feeling everything that you're covering, but you also want to find a way to process it before you come home. So taking some time for me, I personally, I'll try to work out even if that's just

You know, holding my body armor and doing squats and lunges with it and pushups and that sort of thing. But getting out of my head a little bit, that personally helps me a lot. I know other people, I can journal. That helps a little bit. People have different ways of coping and processing. And I found, for example, I love hiking. And that has been something that I've been doing.

something that's helped me in training for, I trained for a hike that I did. And that was a really great way on one of my really extended trips to, to get out of my head for a little bit. And yeah,

and focus on something else that was for myself and be able to step away from the story a little bit emotionally in those moments. Yeah, I think that's got to be one of the most difficult things. I actually had this conversation this morning with Dana Perino. I said, I don't how she keeps and you too. I mean this to the both of you, but I had the conversation with her and it was like, how do you keep your composure when you're talking about life and death?

destruction and people's lives are shattered and some of it's downright, I mean, in your case, gruesome. Like how you maintain your composure because you're a human and you have a heart and it's hard to just focus on the reporting. And, you know, when I had the conversation with Dana, she had done this interview last week and

And my wife watched it and it's just like, wow, she was so good and so compassionate and had that right balance. It's hard to get through some of that. It has to be, right? It is. And one thing that I've found that I've done over the years, whether it's

I used to cover a lot of homicides when I was in local news and speaking to the family members the next day of the fact that their child had just been murdered or house fires and now covering wars where someone's home has just been destroyed. I find myself repeating the same thing in my head, and that is just...

do them justice. The right before I go on air, trying to remind myself of it might be difficult talking about it, but it is so much more important to me personally of trying to get their story across and, and do them justice in that story. Even if I only have 90 seconds trying to do something that if they were still alive to see it, that they would be proud of how that turned out and actual informative stories.

And emotional enough that there is a connection for someone across the world watching in their living room that they could have a connection to someone that they will never meet because that person has passed. So I find myself repeating that over the years, just do them justice. And that helps me get through that. No, that's sage advice. That's really good. I remember...

A long time ago, there was an outnumbered program and I was on outnumbered and there had been a hurricane and Griff Jenkins was out talking to a woman who essentially lost everything, like literally her home or just everything, all her valuables.

And they were kind of going around the couch and it was my turn to ask a question. And I kind of got a little choked up so much so that Kennedy, who was on the couch with me, had to kind of take over. And she saw I was getting a little too emotional about it. But I was just like, this is so real, so raw. And I felt so bad for this woman. I do. I'd never met her, you know, but all of a sudden I'm there and I'm talking to her and I just...

Couldn't help it. I just got emotional about it. And so you're better at that than I am because you're right. You want to do somebody justice. I don't think that that's necessarily a bad thing. I think that that's the point at the end of the day, right, is building these bridges, these connections. So, yeah.

Yeah, you got to still speak from your heart. Yeah, yeah. But it's, look, I'm a huge fan, big admirer of what you do and how you do it. And you get the brightest of futures, certainly at Fox and in television in general. But I do, Alex, I do have a few questions I need to ask you. And I don't care how many bombs have gone off around you. You're not prepared for these questions.

Okay, hit me. You ready? All right. I'm ready. First concert you attended? Black Eyed Peas. Great. A lot of fun. Black Eyed Peas. That's good.

So what was, what was your first job? I think you covered it because we know how focused you were since like before birth. So a first job where you got a check from somebody else. My, my first with the check. Okay. So I was, I did babysitting, but no checks. I worked at the mall. I had so many jobs in high school. I worked at the mall. I was a server all throughout college. I was a waitress. And I also in college,

In college, I worked in the University of Communications Administration Office to help book interviews and guidance counselor sessions with students. So anyway, a lot of sidebar jobs. But my first was at the mall. Oh, there we go. Mine was at the mall, too. The General Cinema Corporation, ripping tickets, popping popcorn and everything.

Cleaning up that theater. Actually, I was working for a gardener in Arizona in the summer. And I quickly realized that, you know what? I was a white-collar guy. I needed something indoors. Picking cactus and weeding. That's a difficult job. Oh, my God.

And I remember I got excited because the ad said it would be done by noon. And I thought, cool. So I said, the guy was going to come pick me up. And I said, okay, well, what time? And he said, I'll pick you up at four. And I thought, four? Four in the morning? I go to bed at one. This is going to be hard for me to get through this. But yeah, that was my... But don't you think that now it's easier to wake up at four in the morning because you did that? Yeah.

No, it's still hard. It's still hard because I still go to bed at one or two in the morning. Yes. Okay. Well, that's fair. I, because I did local news and I started every morning at three 30 and when I was in on the morning show, I find that now it's not as difficult to wake up that early, especially if I have an early flight, you just, you sleep later. So it doesn't bother me as much anymore, but

If you're going to bed at 1 a.m., that makes sense. I have mastered the falling asleep on airplanes. I'm like really good at it. Like I can't help but fall asleep on every plane right now. But yeah, I take a 6 a.m. flight. That means I got to wake up about 345 in Utah to get on the 6 a.m. flight. And but that's.

I can do that. But how they do Fox and Friends day after day, that is a hard... Anyway, what was your... A lot of coffee. I don't know where you ultimately graduated high school, but what was your high school mascot? So, yeah, I graduated high school in South Florida, and it would be Patriot. That's patriotic to say...

Yes. What's the Alex Hogan superpower? Okay. You can do a lot of things, but there are certain things people, I believe everybody has a superpower. Like I can do this better than just about anybody else. What's that for you? I pride myself on how I can connect with people. Well, I think I care. I care a lot. And I really try to

to see how people are whether it's at a dinner party for example and making sure that everyone feels seen and heard um yeah those types of human connections and just no i think that radiates yeah comes across on air i don't think you can thrive in that type of position where you're right you have to constantly interact with people and gain their trust quickly to

get the information that you need. I totally buy that. All right. So if you and your fiance were together and you said, hey, guess what? Good news. I got somebody coming over for dinner tonight. If you could pick anybody in history, set aside the religious figures for a second, anybody in history to come break bread with you, dead or alive, to come sit down with you and your fiance and have dinner, who would that be for you?

Oh, I've thought of this question before, but I feel like every time I think about it, it changes. So maybe because of where I am right now with work, I would say Martha Gellhorn. She she's American journalist, lived in London, and she was one of the first pioneering female war correspondents.

Man, you are focused on your career, aren't you? That is impressive. More so just a fascinating person. I mean, she was at a time where women were not journalists, let alone war correspondents. She basically stowed herself away on a hospital ship,

so that she could be there on the beaches on D-Day and went in with ambulance team. So incredible woman. That would be a really fun dinner conversation to talk to her about that. That would be, you know, it's interesting because I asked this question of everybody I've done like close to 200 podcasts now.

everybody's giving me a different answer every time. It's, it's fascinating. Yeah. It's really interesting. So, uh, big one for me, Alex, I've been highly impressed this whole time. I mean, we're getting near the end. I promise. Uh, but this is a really important one. So don't get this one wrong. Okay. Pineapple on pizza. Yes or no. Oh, I'm going to say yes. Oh,

Judges really don't like this answer. That was really bad. You're going to have to look yourself in the mirror afterwards and really reconsider your life on that one.

Well, it's not my favorite, but I'd still eat it. Yeah, I think that would be good. Wet fruit, no. I understand tomatoes. I understand a lot of things. But it shouldn't be wet. It should be grilled, right? You want the pineapple to be almost crispy because it's almost charred. Yeah. Grilled pineapple, great. You're not going to talk me into this. That is the wrong answer, and everybody knows it's the wrong answer, but you can't be perfect. You were perfect, but, you know, there's only that...

Yeah. That's okay. I'll take one for the pineapple team. All right. Last question. Best advice you ever got. So I love, I love advice. I love quotes. I always, I actually have a book of quotes that I keep that I've written just over the years of interesting things that people have told me noteworthy things to think on. One that I really like the most, I love the saying,

believe the universe is conspiring in your favor. And just the idea of, of always being a yes person and just trying things and just hoping that it's going to turn out that comes from, I believe the actual quote was an Emerson quote, and it's a little different than that. But I love, I love the idea of just, just trusting work, working your hardest, but then trusting that things are going to happen. If you're

and you're good and you care, then just believing the universe is conspiring in your favor and that's all you can do. Yeah, that's great advice because you're right. You won't find out unless you try and you're going to fail along the way, but there's also probably a reason that that happened and that eternal optimism just bodes well in life, period. So more power to you. Look,

highly impressed really great work and uh keep it up stay safe everybody wants you to stay safe but boy we we enjoy your report i will i will uh enjoy your reporting and thanks for taking all the time that you did today to join us on this jason and i was podcast truly appreciate it thank you jason this was fun good to talk to you as always

Alex Hogan. She amazing. She is such a talent and she's going to be a big part of the future. She's a rising star at Fox. I really appreciate her taking the time to do this and, uh, glad we connect and, uh, just excited for her in the future and what she's doing. And, uh,

I hope you have a chance to rate this podcast. I really appreciate it. Subscribe to it and make sure you get one every week. We'll have another exciting guest. I also want to remind people you can listen ad-free with a Fox News Podcast Plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. And Amazon Prime members can listen to the show ad-free on the Amazon Music app.

Again, thanks for listening. Go over to foxnewspodcast.com. You can see other or hear other podcasts that are out there, some really good ones. Will Kane does one every day. But rate it, subscribe to ours, and we'll be back next week with a very exciting guest. I'm Jason Chaffetz. This has been Jason in the House.

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