<em>The Ticket: </em>The Unlearned Lessons of 2016, With Katy Tur

As Democrats slugged it out in Las Vegas this week, the president undermined the Justice Department in Washington.

News anchor Katy Tur—and everyone else covering politics—has had to constantly switch gears between two stories: a crowded primary of challengers working to overtake one another, and a post-impeachment White House emboldened to break yet more democratic norms. But when the general election arrives, and the two stories merge, will the fourth estate be up to the task?

“I don’t think we in the news media have figured out how to cover Donald Trump,” Tur told Isaac Dovere on the latest episode of The Ticket: Politics From The Atlantic. Listen to the full episode here:

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Tur covered the Trump campaign in 2016. She also grew up in a family that changed television news (or rather, “broke” it, as she describes).

Now an anchor on MSNBC, she sat down with Dovere to discuss 2020 coverage. They taped on NBC’s set in Las Vegas, where the network hosted this week’s Democratic debate ahead of the Nevada caucuses.

Listen for:

• How the adrenaline of reality TV changed news coverage—from Tur’s parents capturing the infamous white-Bronco chase in their helicopter, to cable news  broadcasting live Trump rallies in 2016;
• why Tur hasn’t been able to turn on her personal phone in four years;
• and why she thinks we should take reporting out of Twitter.

Voices:

Kevin Townsend is a producer at The Atlantic.