Cassie Semyon

News flash: Cassie Semyon

School/College: Klein College of Media and Communication
Degree/Year: BFA, media studies and production, 2018
Hometown: Moosic, Pennsylvania
Current Job Title: Washington correspondent
Current Employer: Spectrum News

During a one-on-one interview with former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Cassie Semyon, KLN ’18, drew out something few others have: tears. The rising talent in the world of political journalism had done her homework and knew McCarthy was about to turn 58, the same age as his father when he passed. But her resulting question about the occasion wasn’t a “gotcha” moment—Cassie has built her brand around appealing to people’s shared humanity.

Cassie Semyon smiles in front of the Capitol building.

Big lights, big city. Cassie wanted to go to Temple for access to media opportunities only available in a major metro area. She was sold when Amy Caples, a former CBS3 anchor and associate professor at Klein, personally gave her a tour of the college’s facilities. Later, Associate Professor Paul Gluck and former TUTV Assistant General Manager George Cummings gave Cassie her “first job in TV” when they hired her as a student worker for the station her first year.

Campaign stops. Cassie has never looked back, parlaying college internships with NBC and ABC News into jobs for local TV stations and now Spectrum News. Delivering news reports to tens of millions of Americans in major markets across the country, Cassie has interviewed political leaders like former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Kamala Harris, whose campaign she covered in 2024.

Cassie Semyon walking in front of the Capitol Building in Washington D.C.

Photography by Ryan S. Brandenberg

Sprinting to the front. Cassie’s breakout moment came when she was still a Temple undergraduate. During a summer internship with NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell Reports in Washington, D.C., Cassie was captured by national television cameras sprinting from a federal courthouse to help deliver the news of the criminal conviction of former Trump campaign Chair Paul Manafort. Clad in a blue dress, yet running with perfect form, her obvious pluck became a viral sensation.

Small-town girl. Cassie grew up near Scranton and was one of about 100 students in her graduating class from tiny Riverside Junior-Senior High School, an upbringing she says grounds her in the dizzying landscape of today’s national politics. But she was also boisterous from the start, a “theater kid” who read the morning announcements.

“At the end of the day, I realize that politicians are just people with real feelings. I think that’s why a lot of lawmakers that I’ve worked with here on the Hill trust me but also respect me, and that’s why I’ve been able to build relationships and cultivate sources.”

—Cassie Semyon
Washington correspondent