How Should Reporters Cover Donald Trump?
The Political Scene | The New Yorker
The New Yorker
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2024
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The New Yorker staff writers Jelani Cobb and Steve Coll joined Tyler Foggatt last May to discuss the ways in which Donald Trump maneuvers around facts and controls narratives when confronted by journalists. At last year’s CNN town hall, for example, Trump answered questions in front of a live and sympathetic audience—a setup that played to his strengths as a performer. For Cobb and Coll, who are Columbia Journalism School faculty members, the town hall raised some questions: Where is the line between coverage and promotion? And what is the role of news organizations in the age of political polarization? Cobb and Coll spoke about the dilemmas that journalists face when reporting on the former President and his 2024 campaign, and some potential solutions.
This episode originally aired on May 25, 2023.
To discover more podcasts from The New Yorker, visit newyorker.com/podcasts. To send feedback on this episode, write to themail@newyorker.com.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi there, I'm Lale Arikoglu, and this podcast is brought to you by Wilderness, a conservation-driven |
| 0:06.4 | hospitality company that offers intimate world life encounters in extraordinary remote landscapes. |
| 0:12.5 | Last year, I embarked on two separate solo adventures with Wilderness, one to Botswana and the other |
| 0:18.2 | to Namibia, where the expert guides delivered a truly once-in-a-lifetime |
| 0:23.6 | experience. I promise you, whatever you watch and see before you go won't prepare you for the thrill |
| 0:29.4 | of a wilderness adventure. eBay, it's a place to fall in love with new pre-loved vintage and rare |
| 0:36.6 | fashion over and over again. |
| 0:39.0 | Your favorite designers, expertly authenticated. |
| 0:42.5 | Yeah, eBay. |
| 0:44.0 | Things people love. |
| 0:47.3 | The first criminal trial against former president Donald Trump is scheduled to begin in a couple of weeks. |
| 0:53.8 | This is the case concerning |
| 0:55.0 | hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels during Trump's initial run for president in 2016. |
| 1:01.4 | The trial is both a historic moment for the country and a test for reporters. As we've seen in |
| 1:07.1 | recent weeks, news outlets are struggling with how to fairly report on Trump |
| 1:11.0 | and on his supporters who tried to overturn the 2020 election |
| 1:14.5 | without falling into the trap of both sidesism. |
| 1:17.5 | NBC News has ousted former RNC chair, Ronna McDaniel, |
| 1:21.6 | just days after hiring her as a paid political analyst. |
| 1:26.0 | I spoke about this struggle last May with my colleagues Jalani Cobb and Steve Call, staff writers at the New Yorker who also teach at the Columbia Journalism School. At the time, CNN had just aired a live town hall. Can you mind? I would like for you to answer the question. Okay, it's very simple to answer. That's why I asked it. It's very simple to, you're a nasty person, I'll tell you. |
| 1:46.5 | The event demonstrated how the usual methods that reporters used to hold power to account just don't work with Trump. |
| 1:58.3 | This idea that CNN defends itself by reference to fairness is a defense based on something |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The New Yorker, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The New Yorker and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.