March is Women’s History Month and McMinnville had the privilege to host a powerful Tennessee woman last week, Holly McCall. The editor-in-chief of the Tennessee Lookout, she’s also a self-described writer, political analyst and avid coffee drinker. The Tennessee Lookout is one of the state’s few fully independent and non-profit sources of political and legislative journalism in the Volunteer State.
Addressing a packed house at the Warren County Administration Building’s Magnolia Room, McCall emphasized the need for fair and accurate, but tough, reporting now more than ever. She spoke of the necessity for open and honest conversations between all Tennesseans.
Making factual information easily available and understandable is just one of her missions. Whether it is health care, hospital closures, mental health, addiction treatment or a host of other timely issues, she’s dedicated to shining a light in often very dark rooms.
The Volunteer State and the nation face a bevy of legislative challenges this year in addition to some hotly contested election races coming up in August and November.
McCall’s non-profit news organization focuses on healthcare, education, and other policy and nonpartisan politics relevant to all Tennesseans.
She told guests that it’s a busy time of the year with much wheeling and dealing going on in Nashville’s governmental seat. “It’s important to have unbiased journalists there to tell the public what’s really going on,” she said. “We work hard to keep the public informed about what’s really happening, with no pre-set political agenda.”
A Franklin, Tenn. resident, McCall has covered the city hall for papers in Columbus, Ohio and Joplin, Miss. before returning to Tennessee with the Nashville Business Journal years ago. McCall majored in political science and minored in journalism at the University of Tennessee, with more than a little history thrown in.
She’s been doing this type of work for decades and has a real understanding of state media and politics and how they operate: good, bad, regardless of political party. McCall spoke with passion displaying her wealth of knowledge about Tennessee’s political processes and players. “I love nothing better than getting into the weeds of how political deals are made,” she said.
She took questions from the audience emphasizing how “Tennessee’s presidential primaries may be over, but the work certainly doesn’t stop here.“
“So far, we’ve dug into political fights to restrict voting, reported on the prosecution of voter fraud, analyzed election results across the state,” said McCall. “Election season and the spring time legislative coverage will keep us busy.”
“Our investigative reporters and journalists explain what’s happening, why it’s happening, and who it helps or hurts,” she elaborated. “We expose relationships between politics, people and policy and we hold the powerful accountable.”
She and her husband live in the house her great-grandfather bought in 1890 near downtown Franklin, Tenn. Some of her hobbies include running marathons, cooking, cycling, reading, “wrestling her three dogs, picking typos out of newspapers and assertively defending the Oxford comma.”
Tennessee Lookout is an affiliate of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization and is supported by grants and donations. Their content is free for sharing.
McCall was a guest speaker for the Warren County Democratic Party’s monthly March meeting. County Executive Terry Bell and McMinnville Mayor Ryle Chastain will share guest speaking duties at the April meeting of the WCDP. The meeting is scheduled for April 1 at 6 p.m. in the Magnolia Room at the Warren County Administrative Building at 201 Locust Street.
