CBS correspondent Robert Costa to headline a festival of local news in September at Point Park

Pennsylvania native and CBS News chief election & campaign correspondent Robert Costa is returning to his home state to talk journalism, in a pivotal election year and at a time when many outlets are stretched thin to deliver high-velocity local news required to report on the campaign.  

"It's an honor to be a part of Newsapalooza and I'm looking forward to engaging with voters in the Pittsburgh community about civics, democracy, and journalism at this crucial time," Costa said. "I've spent so much time over the past decade in western Pennsylvania, listening and reporting on the evolution of the region's politics and on the issues that matter there, from the economy to trade to education. We'll have an in-depth discussion about matters past, present, and future as we look at this election."

Costa added, "Journalism is facing a reckoning across the country and the more we can come together and support the mission, the better our civic fabric will hold together. That means supporting local and regional journalists as much as possible."

Costa, who has chronicled national politics and American democracy, will open Newsapalooza on September 27 at Point Park University’s Playhouse in Downtown Pittsburgh.  

After Costa’s opening talk, discussions from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. will focus on events in the news and the impact of less local reporting. The day ends with a story pitch competition and party at 5 p.m.

Newsapalooza is a celebration of local news - a nod to the vital civic function a free press serves in a democracy – with a dash of fun and whimsy. With the support of KDKA and other local news outlets, Newsapalooza will bring together students, the public, and professionals to highlight the vital role of an independent, free press.

Costa recently secured the first interview with President Biden since he announced he would not seek his party’s nomination. The interview aired August 11 on CBS Sunday Morning.  

Biden opened up in the wide-ranging conversation as Costa asked about the highly personal decision to step back. The president told Costa “We have to win Pennsylvania,” which is Biden’s home state, and said he was putting together a plan with Gov. Josh Shapiro to campaign here.

With 20 electoral votes, Pennsylvania is key to winning the White House. In 2020 Biden and Trump made nearly 40 stops in the state, some on the same day.  

Costa has interviewed other high-profile leaders including Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Donald Trump, and the speaker of the House of Representatives.

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Before joining CBS, he co-wrote the book “Peril” with legendary journalist Bob Woodward, published in 2021.  

The book dug into the fraught transition between the Trump and Biden presidencies. They interviewed more than 200 people and examined the period that led up to the Jan. 6 attempted coup at the U.S. Capitol.  

Costa was a national political reporter for The Washington Post from 2014-21. He grew up in Bucks County and attended the University of Notre Dame, where he is a former trustee. He earned his master’s degree in politics from the University of Cambridge.  

But before he became a fixture on national news programs and interviewed heads of state, Costa was a teenage reporter at Pennsbury High School who worked part-time for the Bucks County Courier Times.  

There, Costa showed his aptitude for connecting with sources: While covering music, he got to know top recording artists and successfully hosted Maroon 5 and John Mayer for performances at his public-high school.

“I used to think there was a line between people in the world who are doing interesting things and those of us who are just regular,” Costa said, in an interview with The Washingtonian last year. “When I was in high school, I realized we have the ability, all of us, to kind of make things happen. That inspired how I approached journalism, which is you can interview anybody, you can talk to anybody, if you just approach it in a way that has some integrity and some ingenuity.”

Hear more from Costa at Newsapalooza. A limited number of seats are available. Tickets are available for purchase through the Pittsburgh Playhouse.