Journalista iHeartPodcasts
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- Society & Culture
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The untold tale of the woman who broke one of the biggest scandals in U.S. history.
The true story of Courtney “Cookie” Hood, former model and ex-wife of a Colombian drug cartel kingpin, hired to manage the CBS/60 Minutes field office in Managua, Nicaragua during the civil war in the ‘80s. What starts as another big party for her, ends up being the history making adventure of a lifetime, blowing the lid off the Iran-Contra scandal and almost taking down the Reagan presidency.
Award winning filmmaker, Steven Esteb, takes us into the dangerous and improbable lives of Cookie and her team of courageous wartime journalists covering the civil wars, revolutions, and US missteps in Central America.
JOURNALISTA is dangerous, irreverent, insatiable, and hilarious. An inside look at the insane world of combat journalism. They worked hard, and they partied harder.
Stephen Kinzer (former bureau chief of the New York Times) writes: “During the 1980s and 1990s, Cookie Hood was the driving force behind the most successful television coverage of Central America that appeared anywhere in the United States.”
Cookie uses her unique mix of charm, balls, and passion for social justice, to get through checkpoints, into jungle military camps, and the highest levels of government. She's also a clear and present danger to the shadow U.S. government that is using Central America as a right-wing terror experiment in their fight against communism.
Cookie and her cohorts are brilliant trainwrecks speeding down a path to self- destruction. At the same time, they might just change the world.
Hosted and Created by Steven Esteb
Produced by Sean J. Donnelly
Executive Producers: Jason Waggenspack, Ellen K & Roy Laughlin
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This is a Firing Squad
We meet Cookie for the first time as she faces a firing squad. The murder of a respected journalist lights the fuse of revolution.
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Partying with Pablo
Cookie’s early life as Mrs. Scarface. She parties her way into a job with CBS News bureau in Nicaragua.
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The Ever Elusive War
Cookie heads into the jungle looking for the war. Unfortunately…she finds it.
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Chicho and the Mermaid
Cookie’s son talks about growing up in a war zone, then his mom faces her own death.
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Down and Dirty
Cookie leads a news team into the most remote parts of Nicaragua, in search of terror.
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The Comfortable Scam
Cookie saves the world from a nuclear holocaust, then saves her boys from their own personal disasters.
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Customer Reviews
Cookie!!!
This is the best podcast I have heard in a long time. Such an easy listen. They give you great background on the contra-Iran affair and her life during that time. Can’t wait for the movie! 😉
Very good
Very good an easy listen is there a season 2?
A little gross
This podcast was interesting from a historical perspective. However, the way the host and Cookie glorify “partying” was disturbing. You don’t find out until the end that she sought treatment for substance abuse and you wouldn’t know she had any regrets. Even when she talked about doing drugs all through her pregnancy, there was no talk about remorse. Both Cookie and the host laughed at all the cocaine bought, used, and sold throughout the podcast. Cookie spoke so highly about herself as good-looking, brilliant, and being able to get out of any situation. There was no humility whatsoever and the host was practically panting over her. As another reviewer mentioned, the host’s use of f-bombs makes you feel like you’re sitting at a high school lunch table. And finally, can you really be concerned about Social Justice when you’re part of the cocaine drug trade? No, because the drug trade preys on disadvantaged, vulnerable people and destroys lives. It’s the opposite of Justice. Hence, my use of the word gross.