YAMICHE ALCINDOR: As 2022 comes to a close, we reflect on the historic headlines from this year and the big stories coming up next year.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Good evening and welcome to WASHINGTON WEEK.
This year 2022 was filled with remarkable changes and historic moments.
There were the surprising midterm election results, the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, historic inflation and gas prices, tragic mass shootings and Russian's invasion of Ukraine.
And we know in 2023 here in Washington, there will be much to cover as we enter a year of divided government.
So, tonight, we have a special edition of the show.
We have four newsroom leaders from the nation's top media outlets here to talk about reporting in 2022 and in 2023.
With me here at the table, Elisabeth Bumiller, she is the assistant managing editor and the Washington bureau chief at The New York Times, Fin Gomez is the political director for CBS News, Terence Samuel is the vice president and executive editor at NPR, and Vanessa Williams, she is the deputy national politics editor at The Washington Post.
So, we should, of course, just jump right in.
Let's start with the balance of power in Washington in 2023.
The midterms left the Democrats with a slim majority in the Senate and in the House, Republicans have their own slim majority and the speaker's gavel.
Here's Republican Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is expected, though he doesn't have the votes just yet, to become speaker after the November elections.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): I'm proud to announce the era of one-party Democrat rule in Washington is over.
Washington now has a check and balance.
And this new Republican leadership team is ready to goat America back on the right track.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And here's Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer speaking after Democrat Raphael Warnock's win in the Georgia Senate race but that was before Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona announced she was leaving the Democratic Party to become an independent.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (R-NY): It's the first time since 1934 that every incumbent of the party in power won.
The practical effects of the 51-seat majority, it's big, it's significant.
We can breathe a sigh of relief.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: We can breathe a sigh of relief, that's what the Democrats are saying, Vanessa.
What are your big takeaways from covering politics this year as a newsroom leader and what challenges as well as what lessons do you think are taken in 2023, of course, at The Washington Post?
VANESSA WILLIAMS, Deputy National Politics Editor, The Washington Post: Thanks, Yamiche, glad to be here with you.
Well, of course, one of the big stories for me was the race in Georgia that gave the Democrats that 51st seat, only to see that victory squashed a little bit by Senator Sinema's decision.
But I think that was an important story as well as just in general, I think, it was one of the takeaways for me was how we almost blew it in that we started -- we, journalism, political journalists, in general, started out thinking that Democrats had the edge then there was this radical wild switch to, no, they're going to lose.
And I think we kind of lost our way in that we stopped listening to voters and started paying too much attention to pundits.
So, I think that was one of the lessons we took away is we have to really continue to work hard at striking that balance.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And you talked to our producers, Vanessa, about this idea that we have to focus on voting blocs and making sure that we're paying attention to people, including African-Americans and Latinos and women.
Talk a little bit about that.
VANESSA WILLIAMS: Well, I think that was very important and I think you could see it in different places.
Again, one of the races that I focused on with my team was Georgia.
And I do think that black voters were very intentional, very focused in a way that I think people didn't expect.
Elisabeth, your team did a really good story that I liked towards the end about how black voters felt about this historic race that featured two black candidates, one of which, though, they were concerned about his viability, his credibility.
We did a version of that earlier in the cycle.
But I do think that that was, again, a wake-up call that we don't -- we shouldn't always listen to the same voters that other voters bring other perspectives and can make -- YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Make a lot of people basically think about sort of how we're covering all of these races.
So, it's really important.
I'm also -- I should say, I'm loving this because you have The Washington Post on saying that The New York Times is doing a good job.
We have to pause for a minute there because I was working at The New York Times at one point, so I'm going to take that, Vanessa, and take that as a personal sort of way to really be proud of the fact that The New York Times is doing all this great work.
ELISABETH BUMILLER, Washington Bureau Chief, The New York Times: Thank you, we appreciate that.
The Washington Post and New York Times, as you know, were the most intense competitive ever and it continues, it's been going on for decades and decades and decades, and continues until this minute.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Yes.
And when you're thinking about that, what was your north star at The New York Times, especially when you think about the fact that you were covering not only, of course, the politics and all of the sort of voting issues that Vanessa was talking about, but also you had people who are outright lying with election deniers, some of them echoing the language of former President Trump.
What's the north star at The New York Times?
ELISABETH BUMILLER: The biggest challenge for us in the past year has been covering basically two presidents simultaneously.
We thought that after 2022, after President Trump was gone from the landscape, and, of course, we were wrong.
He kind of was quiet for the first year but he came roaring back in this past year because of the Trump investigations.
The January 6th investigation, the January 6th committee morphed into the Justice Department investigation.
We now have the documents investigation.
The Washington Post gave us a run for our money on that investigation.
And now it looks like we're going to have an IRS investigation.
So, that has been the biggest challenge for us.
He is a former president.
I think we started out saying, we don't have to pay that much attention to him.
We don't normally pay that much attention to former presidents.
But because of the investigations and because he's now running for re-election, he's become a force we have to reckon with, at the same time that we're covering the current president.
So, that was the challenge for us.
When he was president, it was always -- especially towards the end of his term, we always had this question when he would tweet or lie, it was always, do we ignore him or do we call him on it?
And it continues now basically.
But we don't ignore the investigations, obviously.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And, Fin, we covered former President Trump together when you were a lowly White House producer.
Now, of course, you're a big boss.
You're on the newsroom leaders' team.
But I wonder when you think about sort of T.V.
and the way that you have to cover breaking news coverage, that means you're making real-time decisions in a way that maybe print reporters have a little bit of time to balance and to think back.
What's the approach at CBS when you think all that you had deal with in the midterms?
What was guiding your coverage, do you think?
FIN GOMEZ, Political Director, CBS News: I think it's always about, frankly, truth, like we were talking about former President Donald Trump.
For us, by the way, Terence, when he was tweeting, I think Yamiche and I can both confirm that that caused a lot of anxiety and that would change the headlines, especially right before evening news.
But I think, especially with the former president, I think now not only does he -- everything you mentioned, Elisabeth, was absolutely accurate, I 100 percent agree with you.
But he also has this really significant hold still on the Republican Party.
And from that alone, you have to cover that.
You have to cover that narrative.
But looking into 2023, it's still going to be a significant one.
Yes, he's weakened, yes, he's politically vulnerable.
We've heard him a long time, Yamiche, and I would go back to 2015 where we've seen this sort of weakened state for the former president, but he still has about 30 percent of that hold on the Republican Party.
And for that alone, it's significant.
But, of course, into Vanessa's point also, I think with this seismic, historic midterm election, where it shifted from it's going to be this one narrative to this red wave that became the red trickle, to the fact that we did have a model, by the way, CBS did, where we saw that if voters of color, if women and young voters came out and turned out, that it would be a very close result.
And I think we did see that.
But the fact of the matter it changed so much, and Donald Trump was involved in that, the candidate quality issue, of course, was significant, so all of that, it continues to be a big narrative this year leaning into the next one as well.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And, Terence, when I come to NPR, when I come to National Public Radio, it's often when I'm like I need to know the in-depth coverage, I need to take a break and listen to calm voices.
How does that sort of factor into your coverage?
There's a factor.
And does NPR think of itself as a place where it's like, we're here for in-depth coverage?
Obviously, you do breaking news.
But how does that sort of factor in?
TERENCE SAMUEL, Vice President and Executive Director, NPR: Look, I think we're trying to do what everybody else is trying to do in playing to our strengths.
People come to us because they hear something and they want to understand it a little bit better.
Clearly, we tried to try to do it when I worked at the Post but there's something about the voice and the reputation of NPR that tells people that, okay, you come to us and we will try to figure it out as best we can and let you know.
And, I mean, the answer to your initial question about what 2022 was like versus 2023 is, look, it felt like a hangover.
It felt like we had been doing this and we talked a lot about the politics.
But -- I mean, COVID, it just kept like -- it was a hangover from 2020.
It felt like the same story and it just kept going and kept going.
And in 2023, look, I think we're going to be talking about how we recover from the pandemic economically and are we going to go into a recession, did we survive that or not.
But the question of Trump and Trumpism and the kind of election denialism that kind of became the chief facet of that movement, I think, remains maybe the biggest story that we're going to be dealing with politically.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And another big story that you're going to be dealing politically is the fact that in June, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, taking away the federal right to have an abortion.
Since then, a number of states have moved to restrict or outright ban abortion.
We should remind people that the ruling reversed nearly 50 years of precedent.
And it was met with delight from conservatives but it also triggered a backlash among many critics.
And it really was in some ways, Vanessa, a top thing that was on voters' minds when you think about the election results and the exit polls that we saw.
You were talking about this idea that it's not about only thinking about pundits and political consultants but also if you're reporter out there, I know, I went to like 10, 15 states, abortion was something that I heard over and over.
As an editor, tell me a little bit about what you were telling your reporters to try to capture just what this abortion ruling was going to mean politically.
VANESSA WILLIAMS: Well, I think, again, there was no one-size-fits-all and sometimes when you're like doing the national political coverage, it's hard to see that different states, different regions approach it differently.
One of the more interesting stories we did was how people who did still very much strongly believe in -- believe what the Supreme Court did was fair bolstered some candidates, and while people who were opposed to a decision drove races in a different way.
So, again, I think it gets down to what I was trying to say before, we get down to listening to voters and to paying attention to subtle difference that can make a difference.
Because while, I think, overall, it had an effect in pockets, we could see that it was still an issue that drove voters who were opposed to abortion in one way and the other, yes.
TERENCE SAMUEL: The thing that was interesting about the Dobbs ruling is that it happened and everybody said, this is going to help Democrats.
And then the punditry and the polling over the next few months kind of went back and forth.
But if you were a reporter on the ground, it was clear that something had happened to those voters.
It was hard to measure and we were very careful but it was clear that that was going to be a big deal and it turned out to be I think exactly where it -- ELISABETH BUMILLER: The punditry kept -- the polls kept on showing that the number one concern of voters was the economy and a potential recession.
And so, yes, in the weeks before the election, we had decided that abortion had faded as an issue, it was not a concern, and it turned out completely wrong, and certainly also especially in the states where abortion was heavily restricted.
And, again, you were referring to it.
The election was very localized and people voted in different ways in different states and the national polls just can't capture that.
And that was one of the mistakes that was made, I think.
TERENCE SAMUEL: And I think one of the things I think we're really proud of -- I am particularly proud of -- when we had reporters on the ground doing the reporting, not trying to answer the big national questions, the coverage was excellent.
And then, for whatever reason, we had to like rely on people in Washington or just some kind of the garden grade punditry, it was not as helpful and not as insightful.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Yes.
And I will say -- because there were so many things going on.
I want to also, because we sort of have to have a conversation this year about the January 6th committee.
They held public meetings.
They had a detailed report that was released.
And then also for the first time in history, there was a congressional committee that referred criminal charges against a former president, in this case, Donald Trump, of course, to the Justice Department.
So, here's how Liz Cheney, the vice chair of the committee, a Republican, said the former president's role, what she said about the former president's role in the insurrection.
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): No man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again.
He is unfit for any office.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: So, fin, you heard Liz Cheney say it so clearly.
She is saying he's unfit.
We, of course, know that he is also running for re-election now.
You told your producers you're fastening your seatbelt to think about this coverage.
So, tell us how are you fastening your seatbelt, what are you expecting?
FIN GOMEZ: No.
I am fastening my seatbelt, I'm getting ready for this roller coaster ride, which will be the 2024 Republican presidential primary process.
Donald Trump, as you mentioned, has entered and in a historic way, because now he is looking not only with the referrals, there are multiple investigations.
This former president who is also again getting a sizable support within the party is looking at possible indictments and charges in early next year.
And if you're looking at something that could possibly happen, and I think that -- so, yes, I think that Donald Trump and, you know, and, again, his positioning within the party and when the other potential rivals jump into the race, including potentially Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, his former vice president, Mike Pence, maybe a couple of governors here and there, Nikki Hailey perhaps, Mike Pompeo, and you're going to see really this process of something we haven't seen before.
So, yes, I think it's going to be pretty impactful.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And, Vanessa, The Washington Post along with all of us, you might be covering a rematch, right?
We might have an 80-year-old-plus president, President Biden, who Democrats will say accomplished a lot.
He got these midterm results that were better than a lot of presidents over decades.
He might run again.
So, how is your newsroom talking about covering a possible rematch?
VANESSA WILLIAMS: I think the way we covered it the first go-round.
So, I haven't been like totally plugged into those conversations.
Again, I focus more on sort of voter voices.
But I do think it will be interesting to listen to voters.
We are hearing some -- more and more people saying, you know, I like him and I think he's a great guy but we're not sure he should run again.
I think, again, it will be fascinating to hear what people on the ground are saying about both.
I think Democrats probably or Democratic voters are a little more, you know -- I think they're concerned about something that would tear the party apart and -- because, of course, a lot of them are motivated by stopping Trump.
So, I think there's some concern there but I also think, again, folks are just not sure on the Democratic side.
On the Republican side, like I said, we've started having very fascinating conversations with people and you're starting to see some cracks, some people thinking well, that was fun, that was nice, but it's time for us to move on as a party, and I hope somebody else runs.
So, I think it will be interesting to continue to have those conversations.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And, Elisabeth, I've been on your staff before.
So, tell me.
Tell me what you are telling your reporters?
ELISABETH BUMILLER: Well, as you know, we work with the politics team in New York.
But if there's an incumbent president, Biden, running, and we assume he is going to be running, because he says he will, we'll be and with the politics team covering that.
I think what's interesting though about the January 6th committee is people were very skeptical of the committee in the beginning.
A number of columnists wrote that this was a total waste of time.
And I think what happened that was, yes, they made if criminal referral but I think that over the ten hearings, they used television against Donald Trump in a way that led to some of his diminishment.
To be sure, he's very strong among Republicans still but they paint a picture through their excellent use of television of an out of control president throwing cheeseburgers against the wall of the White House, having temper tantrums.
And they carefully documented what had actually happened, which was an attempt by the president of the United States to overthrow an election.
So, I think that they were successful in doing that.
I don't think they convinced those diehard Republicans so -- die hard Republicans.
So, going forward, we're going to be covering the race as well and we are perhaps expecting some kind of action from the Justice Department in the spring.
And the Justice Department has to act somewhat before the election really gets underway by their own guidelines.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Yes.
And another big story as we're thinking about this year, Terence, is gun violence.
There were over 600 mass shootings.
When you think about the challenge of covering these mass shootings, how does NPR approached this?
Because in some ways, you had Uvalde and Club Q and so many sort of tragic shootings, but they also happen so often that it's hard as a reporter sometimes if you're parachuting right in and then parachuting right back out.
TERENCE SAMUEL: Uvalde, Club Q, Buffalo, Chesapeake, Virginia, I mean, it goes on and on.
I mean, that story feels completely beyond comprehension.
And we just keep going and asking ourselves, how do we do this better?
We worry a lot about the people doing it because, in some cases, we had reporters go from one to the other to the other, and it's exhausting.
You know, I am not buckling my seatbelt because I'm just ready for surprising things to happen on the political front but it would be really great if somehow I was surprised by fewer gun violence incidents next year but -- VANESSA WILLIAMS: And it's not just the mass shootings but increasingly seems like weekends in big cities, the shootings that have occurred in Atlanta have just been horrifying, teenagers gunned down at entertainment venues or just sort of hanging out as teenagers do, shootings in D.C. even have been up.
A club, a nice club closed down, fled its neighborhood because of violence, street violence.
So, that's also, I think, a concern.
It will be interesting to see how it plays into the political campaigns, because I think there was some frustration on the part of voters in the midterms that it's used just sort of as a wedge issue and that neither side is really doing a good job with trying to help -- FIN GOMEZ: And ten years after Sandy Hook and here we are.
ELISABETH BUMILLER: And every time there's a horrible mass shooting, we get asked in Washington by the editors in New York, what is Congress going to do?
And we always say, nothing.
And we have the same conversation over and over again and it's hard to cover.
VANESSA VILLIAMS: It is.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: It's very hard to cover.
And it's something that I definitely think about as I think about next year.
And, Fin, I want to go to you for, really, our last topic.
I was struck by the fact that, as we were building this and thinking about this show, that we had so many diverse people to choose from.
So I wonder when you think about being a newsroom leader, how has diversity impacted your newsroom and the value of it when we think about not only covering sort of racial issues but also when you think about covering mass shootings or covering democracy, having diverse voices, covering immigration.
What are your thoughts?
FIN GOMEZ: I think it's an important component of coverage in terms of Uvalde, for example.
We had bilingual reporters who were there and were speaking to the victims and the victims' families in Spanish and in English, which I think is really important to have that type ability but also that sort of perspective when you cover these type of stories.
I think just, overall, it's a very important.
Representation is very important, especially in political coverage.
I think, political, as a whole, the press corps has to look like the country that it covers.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: And I'll give the 30 seconds to you, Elisabeth.
You have a diverse team in D.C., but I wonder if you can just talk a little bit about the importance of that, especially just in covering the news accurately.
ELISABETH BUMILLER: I'm very proud of the changing picture of the Washington bureau.
You were there, and it's changed since you've been there.
It's younger, it's way more diverse, more women.
So, I'm very proud of that.
And I just think I agree with you.
You need a team that looks like America to bring different voices to the table.
And by the way, diverse voices are very diverse themselves.
There's not a monolithic view here.
And it really helps our conversations, it helps our coverage, especially out in the country politically.
And you get a lot of different kinds of stories from reporters who have roots in different communities.
You get stories we otherwise we wouldn't cover.
I can think of Erika Green, the kind of stuff she's done.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: You got five seconds, but go ahead.
TERENCE SAMUEL: I think if you look at all the stories we talked about, we can't cover it without diverse voices.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Such a good ending point to have, that we need diversity.
It's not sort of doing someone a favor to hire them.
It is making sure that our newsrooms are accurate to cover all the things that we just talked about.
Well, we'll have to leave it there for now.
Thank you so much for our panel for joining us, for sharing your insights, always nice to meet the bosses.
And be sure to tune in to PBS News Weekend for a look back at the people, issues and places that made headlines in 2022.
And, finally, I want to wish all of our viewers a Happy New Year.
I hope you get to spend some time resting and with those you love most.
Good night from Washington.
