On Reporting and Politics

For this, our season 3 finale, we’re turning the virtual interview chair around on Notre Dame alum Robert Costa, national political reporter for The Washington Post and the moderator and managing editor of Washington Week on PBS.

While Robert’s work is the news, he and host Ted Fox talked more about the craft of journalism generally—and political journalism specifically—than everything going on in our country and our world in 2020. We figure you have much better outlets for content like that, such as Robert’s own reporting and that of the journalists from diverse organizations and backgrounds he talks to on Washington Week.

That said, the health disparities magnified by the coronavirus and the recent examples of police brutality are just the latest reminders of how much we need the work and perspectives of African-American journalists in particular. So while it’s not directly related to this episode, we wanted to use this spot to recommend you follow Richard Jones and Victoria St. Martin, formerly of The New York Times and The Washington Post, respectively, and currently shaping the next generation of journalists through their work with students at Notre Dame. We’ve put links to both of their Twitters in the episode notes in the embedded player at the top of the page.

And speaking of episode notes, there’s also a video of the late Tim Russert there that you’re going to hear Robert talk about. It’s one of many great stories he shared on pursuing a career as a reporter in the nation’s capital during a time of rapid change in the news industry, a journey that for him has included succeeding the legendary Gwen Ifill at PBS. He also used the provost office at Notre Dame to illustrate how anonymous sourcing works. You know, in case we ever really need to get anything off our chests.

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About the Podcast:

“With a Side of Knowledge” is a podcast produced at the University of Notre Dame. It features interviews with fascinating people from both Notre Dame and elsewhere that take place over brunch—or if we’re really in a pinch, coffee.

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