♪ yamiche: as 2022 comes to a close we reflect on the historic headlines from this year and the bigtories coming up next year. ♪ announcer: this is "washington week." corporate funding is provided b. additional funding is provided by koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation, committed to bridging curl really a differences in our communities. sandra and carl delay-magnuson. rose hirschel and andy shreeves. susan rosenbaum. the corn persuasion for public broadcasting and by

contributions from viewers like you. thank you. once again from washington, moderator yamiche alcindor. yamiche: good evening and welcome to "washington week." this year was filled with remarkable changes and historic moments. there were the surprising midterm election results, the supreme court decision overturning roe v. wade. historic gas prices and russian's invasion of ukraine and we know in 2023 there will be much to cover in a year of divided government. we have four newsroom reports from the nation's top outlets. 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 pbs news. terence samuel is at npr and

vanessa williams, editor at the "washington post." let's start with the balance of power in washington in 2023. the mid terms left the democrats with a slim majority in the senate and in the hou republicans have their own slim majority and the speaker's gavel. here's republican minority leader kevin mccarthy, who is expected to become speaker after the november elections. >> 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: and here's senate majority leader chuck schumer speaking after democrat rafael warnock's win in the senate race but that was before sinema announced she was becoming an independent. >> it's the first time since 1994 that every incumbent of the

party in power won. it's big, it's significant. we can breathe a sigh of relief. yamiche: that's what the gratis are saying, have in netsa. what are -- vanessa. what are your big takeaways from 2022 and what challenges are there in 2023? of course from the "washington post." vanessa: glad to be here with you. one of the big stories for me was the race in georgia that gave the democrats the 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 howe we almost blew it in that we started -- we -- 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: you talked to our producers about this idea that we have to focus on voting blocs and making sure we're paying attention to people including african-americans and latinos and women. talk about that. vanessa: i think that was very important. one of the races 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 towards the end about how black voters felt about this historic race that featured two black candidates. e 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 otheroters bring other perspectives and can make -- yamiche: make a lot of people basically think about how we're covering all of these races. you have the "washington post" on saying that "the new york times"s doing a good job. i was working at "the new york times" at one point so i'm going to take that as a personal sort of way to be proud of the fact that "new york times" is doing all this great work. >> thanthank you, we appreciate that.

the "washington post" and "new york times" are the most competitive ever and it's been going on for decades and decade. yamiche: what was your north star at "the new york times," especially since you were covering not only the politics and all of the skyrocketing issues but also you had people who are outright lying we election deniers. some of them echoing the language of former president trump. >> the biggest challenge for us at "the new york times" has been covering baseballly two -- basically two presidents simultaneously. president trump kind of was quiet the first year but came roaring back this year because of the trump investigations. the january 6 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

i.r.s. investigation. 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 investigation and because he's now running for re-election, he's become a force we have to reckon with, at the same time we're covering the current president. when he was president, 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 call him on it? and it continues now basically but we don't ignore the investigations, obviously. yamiche: and fin, we covered former president trump together when you were a lowly white house producer. now you're a big boss. but i wonder when you think about tv and the way you have to cover breaking news coverage, you're making real-time

decisions in a way maybe print reporters have a little bit of time to balance and think back. what's the approach at cbs? what was guiding your coverage? fin: i think it's always about truth and we were talking about former president donald trump. for us, by the way, terence, when he was tweeting, that did cause 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 and i 100% agree with you but he also has this really significant hold still on the republican party and for that alone, you have to cover that narrative. but looking into 2023 it's still going to be a significant one. yes, he's weakened, politically vulnerable. we've heard him a long time and i would go back to 2015 where we've seen this weaked state for

the former president but he still has about 30% of the hold on the republican party and for that alone, it's significant. and to vanessa's point also, with this seismic, historic midterm election where it shifted from 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 turned out 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 was an issue. it continues to be big leaning into next year as well. yamiche: when i come to national public radio, it's also like when i need to know the in-depth coverage, take a break and

listen to calm voices. does npr think of itself as we're here for this-depth coverage? how does that factor? terence: 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 stand it a little bit better. clearly we tried to diplomat when i worked at the post but there's something about the voice and reputation of npr that tells people that, ok, you come to us and we'll try to figure it out as best we can and let you know. the answer to your initial question about what 2022 was like versus 2023 is it felt like a hangover. [laughter] 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 hang over 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: another big story is the fact that in june the supreme court overturned roe v. wade. since then a number of states have moved to restrict or outright ban abortion. the ruling reversed nearly 50 years of precedent and it was met with delight from conservatives but also triggered a backlash among many critics

and it was in some ways a top thing on voters' minds when you think about the election results and the exit polls we saw. you talked about it's not only thinking about pundits and political consultants but abortion was something i heard over and over as an editor. tell me what you wereelling your reporters to try to capture what this abortion ruling was going to mean politically. vanessa: again, there was no one size fits all and sometimes when you're doing national political coverage, it's hard to see that different states, different regions approached it differently. one of the more interesting stories we did was howe people who did still very much believe in -- believe what the supreme court did was fair bolstered some candidates and while people

who were opposed to the decision drove it in a different way. getting down to listening to voters and paying attention to subtle diff differences that cae a difference. while it had an effect in pockets, it drove one way to voters and the other to others. >> the punditry and the apology over the next few months went back andorth 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. >> the polls kept 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 and that turned out completely wrong. especially 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 papture that and that was one of the mistakes that was made, 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 rely on people in washington orust some kind of the garden grade punditry, it

was not as helpful and not as insightful. yamiche: yeah, and i will say -- because there were so many things going on. we also have to have a conversation this year about the january 6 committee. they held public meetings, had a detailed report that was released and also for the first time in history, there was a congressional committee that referred criminal charges of a notre damar president, in this case, donald trump, to the justice department. here's what liz cheney said in the former president's role in the inner is recollection. >> no man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serven any position of authority in our nation again. he is unfit for any office. yamiche: so fin, you heard liz cheney say it clearly. we, of course, know he is also running for re-election. you told your producers you're

fastening your seat belt to think about the coverage. what are you expecting? fin: i am fastening my seat belt, getting ared for the 2024 republican presidential primary process. donald trump, as you mentioned, as entered and in an historic way because 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 charges within next year. that's something that could possibly happen so yes, i think that donald trump and, you know, and, again, his positionening 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, nicky hailey programs. you're going to see this process of something we haven't seen before so yeah, i think it's going to be pretty impactful. yamiche: 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 pridents over decades. he might run again so how is your newsroom talking about covering a possible rematch? vanessa: i think the way we covered it the first go-round. [laughter] i haven't been 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 -- 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 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: and elisabeth, i've been on your staff before. what are you telling your reporters? elisabeth: we work with the politics team in new york but if there's an incumbent president,

biden running, which we assume he will because he says he will. we'll be covering that. people were very skeptical of the january 6 committee at the beginning. a number of columnists wrote this was a total waste of time. yes, they made if criminal referral but ihink that over the 10 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 an attempt by the president of the united states to overthrow an election. i think they were successful in doing that. i don't think they convinced those die harold 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. the justice department has to act somewhat before the election really get underway by their own guidelines. yamiche: and another big story as we're thinking about this year, terence, is gun violence. there were over00 mass shootings. when you think about the challenge of covering the mass shootings, now -- how has npr approached this? in -- so many sort of tragic shootings but they also happen so often, it's hard as a reporter sometimes if you're parachuting right in and par excite -- parachuting back out. terence: uvalde, buffalo, chesapeake. virginia. it goes on and on. that story feels completely

beyond comprehension and we keep asking ourselves how do we do this better? we worry a lot about the people doing it. we had reporters go from one to the other to the other and it's exhausting. you know, i am not buckling my seat belt 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 bu- vanessa: and it's not just the mass shootings but increasingly seems like weekends in big cities, the shootings that have occurred in atlanta have 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 county. 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 mid terms 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: 10 years after handy hook and here we are. >> every time there's a mass shooting we get asked by the editors in new york, wha is congress going to do? and we always say nothing. we have the same conversation over and over again. it's hard to cover. >> it is. yamiche: it's very hard to cover and it's something i definitely think about as i think about

next year and fin, 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 when you think about being a newsroom leader, how has diversity impacted your newsroom and the value of it? not only covering racial issue but mass shootings, democracy. covering immigration. what are your thoughts? fin: i think it's an important component of coverage. uvalde, for example, we had bilingual reporters there speaking to the victims and their families in san franciscoish and in english, which i think is really important. to have thatbility but also that sort of perspective when you cover these type of stories. i think 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 it covers. yamiche: elisabeth, you have a diverse team in d.c., but talk about the importance of that in covering the news accurately. elisabeth: i'm very proud of the changing picture of the washington bureau. it's changed since you've been there. it's younger, way more diverse, more women. so i'm very proud of that. 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 themselveses. there's not a monolithic view here and it really helps our conversations, our coverage, especially out in the country politically and you get a lot of different kinds of stories from reporters who roots in different communities. you get stories we otherwise wouldn't cover. i think of erika gre, the stuff she's done. >> if you look at all the stories we do, we can't cover it

without diverse voices. yamiche: we need diversity. making sure our newsrooms are accurate to cover everything. we have to loaf it there. thank you so much for our panel for being here, always nice to meet the voices and a look back at the people, voices and headlines that made headlines in 2022. i want to wish all of you a happy new year. i hope you get to spend some time resting and with those you love most. good night fm washington. announcer: corporate funding has been provided by -- >> our u.s. customer service team can help find a play that -- plan that fits you. consumer cellular . tv. announcer: additional funding by koo and patricia yuen through the yuen foundation.

sandra and carl delay-magnuson. rose hirschel and andy shreeves. robert and susan rosenbaum. the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by thenat, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] ♪

announcer: major funding for "tell me more with kelly corrigan" is provided by the quad family foundation, susan and david tunnell donor advised fund through the san francisco foundation, and by the gordon and llura gund foundation. ♪ activating change is a way of life. people who do it professionally will tell you it's incremental, loaded with disappointments, and occasionally a real thrill. cecile richards is decidedly activated, and she has been since she refused to say the lord's prayer in grade school. since then, she's lobbied for janitors and garment workers, helped her mother get elected as the governor of texas, and took a turn as the deputy chief of staff for nancy pelosi. she's best known for her 12-year run