- CNN's Jake Tapper is one of the most well-known television journalists in the United States.
- He didn't always want to be a journalist. He wanted to be a cartoonist. He tried public relations and
politics , but finally, he turned to reporting. - In 2017, he really started to get traction after several his interviews went viral, in particular with President Trump's advisors Kellyanne Conway and Stephen Miller.
- Here's his life so far.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Journalist and anchor Jake Tapper has gone from drawing cartoons to holding presidents to account.
Tapper is CNN's man. He hosts "The Lead" every weeknight, "State of the Union" on Sunday mornings, and he's the network's chief Washington correspondent.
Despite the success, he didn't take a traditional path to journalism. After university, in his years of "misery and woe," he tried public relations and politics, before writing as a freelancer. He finally became a full-time journalist five years after graduating. Since then he's steadily ascended, from print to television, to become one of the most recognizable journalists in the country.
Tapper values truth, transparency, honesty, and kindness, according to interviews. He's naturally skeptical and, to remain neutral, he doesn't vote. He's known for his dogged interviews and he's said it's not always the answer that matters, sometimes the questions are more important.
As Politico's media columnist Jack Shafer said, he could be the best current television interviewer in the US, and "he's probably the only genuine romantic in TV news."
Here's his life so far.