Dana Perino is marking Fox News’s 30th anniversary by turning away from the camera and toward the people she says make the channel work. In a new essay titled “The Untold Story of the Remarkable People Who Make Fox News Possible,” she writes about the security guards, producers, assistants, and tech teams she says keep the network running smoothly.
Perino, a longtime anchor, opens with a small ritual. Every morning, a security guard announces, “Talent is in the building!” — a phrase she says makes her cringe. She blushes, walks faster, and they laugh about it together. Then she greets one of the custodial staff, who joins her in saying “Morning morning!” every day. She says the two never miss.
The essay moves through the day of a typical anchor. Producers arrive hours before anyone else, she writes, thinking about what will make a good show, not just what they will say but what the audience will experience. They gather video, write scripts, and build graphics — she specifically says she loves charts. Then breaking news hits, and the whole plan falls apart.
“Suddenly, the carefully planned show is gone, and the team is shifting to something happening across the country or around the world,” she writes. “They have to gather information, verify it, find the right pictures, reach the right correspondents and guests, and help us understand what matters — fast.”
She recalls one interview with an Afghan man who witnessed the Abbey Gate airport bombing in August 2021, when President Joe Biden pulled U.S. troops out of Afghanistan. The man picked up an injured child, carried her to safety, and came on air with Perino. She says she was about to cry. Her tears dried up after a line producer whispered, “You’re OK. You’re OK.”
Assistants and the Little Things
Perino describes assistants as a lifeline, saying they produce her life. They do the research, keep the schedule, and solve problems. “The scope and scale of their talents are immense, and without them, we’d be lost,” she writes.
Then she turns to the small touches that keep things running. The wardrobe department pins clothes and fixes tape. The hair and makeup team is “by far the best in the business,” she says. She adds: “Name another? You can’t.”
On the road, crews turn barns, convention halls, and parking lots into television sets, she writes. Amid the logistical chaos of covering an election or a breaking-news event, someone remembers the little things. She lists a few:
- Warm water in her cup
- A yoga mat in her room if the stay is long
- A footstool she says she always needs
“These things may sound small,” she writes, “but they make all the difference. They say: We know you. We’ve got you. Go do your job.”
Beyond the Studio
The support extends far beyond the studio, she says. The media relations team promotes the work, tells the stories, and defends them vigorously. She calls them “in the arena with us,” and says knowing they are there matters.
The radio, podcast, and digital teams have evolved alongside technology, she writes, opening up more and more ways to reach people. What once lived mostly on a television screen now lives in earbuds, phones, websites, and across platforms that did not exist when Fox News began.
The mission stays the same, she says: find the audience.
A Sister-Friend Team
Perino has worked with the same hair and makeup team for almost 15 years, she writes. They are her sister-friends, she says. They make sure she is camera-ready at an hour when most reasonable people are still in pajamas. They also know when she has had a tough night, could use some encouragement, needs to laugh, or when it is better just to let her sit quietly for a few minutes.
She ends by thanking everyone she mentioned and everyone she did not. “So many others to mention,” she writes, naming directors, cameramen, lighting technicians, and a stage manager who communicates an entire paragraph with one glance.
The essay is a straightforward tribute to the people behind the scenes, told with warmth rather than grandiosity. Perino’s point is simple: Fox News looks effortless because the people doing the work are exceptionally good at it.
Source material: “DANA PERINO: The untold story of the remarkable people who make Fox News possible,” Fox News.
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