How to really listen in today's America

Summary

Podcast Summary: "How to Really Listen in Today's America"

Podcast: Consider This from NPR
Date: September 20, 2025
Host: Scott Detrow
Guest: Don Gonyea, NPR National Political Correspondent

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the art and necessity of deep listening in modern American journalism, especially in a polarized landscape where trust in the media continues to wane. Scott Detrow speaks with Don Gonyea—celebrated for his skill in connecting with voters of all stripes—about building trust, getting beyond talking points, and using genuine conversation to shed light on America's complexities.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Erosion of Trust in Journalism

• The episode opens by addressing declining trust in journalism and the importance for reporters to be transparent about their work and priorities.
  • "We know just how much trust in journalism and journalists has eroded in recent years." (Scott Detrow, 00:18)
• The “Reporter’s Notebook” segment has aimed to expose these behind-the-scenes choices to the audience.

Human Connection & Building Rapport

• Don Gonyea discusses practical ways he initiates conversations without making sources feel like interview subjects:
  • He starts with casual, context-based questions—about the venue, local food, or the town.
  • "If you can't do something with that, like, you gotta turn in your microphone." (Don Gonyea, 01:25, on finding human stories like a man reminiscing about seeing Elvis in Monroe, Louisiana)
• Emphasizes being approachable and non-threatening, allowing for organic transitions from small talk to meaningful exchanges.
  • "Sometimes those conversations turn into interviews and they never had that awkward, I gotta walk up to that person and ask them if I can interview them." (Don Gonyea, 04:16)

The Value of Letting People Open Up

• Real insight comes when interviewees relax and share more personal details, often unrelated to politics at first.
  • "When you talk to them a little longer, you might find out something about their family that you didn't even ask ... Sometimes that's all you need to hear and it tells you more about them." (Don Gonyea, 04:52)
• These organic details help ground their political beliefs in their lived realities.

Challenges: Polarization & Distrust

• Don shares the increasing difficulty of persuading people, especially conservatives, to speak with journalists.
  • "It's gotten harder to get people to talk. I can just say that flat out." (Don Gonyea, 06:03)
• Notes the prevalence of rehearsed talking points, likely sourced from media echo chambers or social platforms:
  • "When you talk to five or six people and three of them give you the exact same answer ... that's frustrating." (Don Gonyea, 06:41)

Journalistic Value of Ground-Level Conversations

• Don shies away from those eager for the mic, preferring less-rehearsed, more genuine sources:
  • "The more somebody wants to be interviewed, the less I want to talk to them." (Don Gonyea, 07:36)
• Human details—job, family, community—give context to political opinions and enrich the story.
  • "You can apply their political beliefs to their life ... then it just gives you a different context for hearing about their political beliefs." (Don Gonyea, 08:26)
• His guiding curiosity: Why are people making the choices they make—not just who they're voting for.

Memorable Moment

• When asked where he’d most like to be interviewed, Don picks the outfield at a Detroit Tigers game, illustrating his down-to-earth approach:
  • "We could have picked a nice spot out in center field and had a conversation." (Don Gonyea, 09:10)

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• "If you can't do something with that, like, you gotta turn in your microphone."
   — Don Gonyea, recalling a chance encounter with a voter in Louisiana (01:25)

• "I try to be approachable. I try to be non-threatening. You're just looking for a way to break the ice and start a conversation."
   — Don Gonyea on his method (03:24)

• "It's gotten harder to get people to talk. I can just say that flat out."
   — Don Gonyea on the challenges of reporting today (06:03)

• "The more somebody wants to be interviewed, the less I want to talk to them."
   — Don Gonyea on avoiding rehearsed narratives (07:36)

• "Ultimately, when I talk to people, I don't care how they're voting. I just want to know why."
   — Don Gonyea (08:42)

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Segment Timestamps

• 00:00 – 02:08 — Why trust in journalism matters; introducing Don Gonyea and his approach.
• 03:13 – 04:39 — Don’s strategy for casual conversations and breaking the ice.
• 04:39 – 05:45 — The importance of personal, unexpected details in interviews.
• 05:45 – 07:23 — Challenges from polarization, media distrust, and talking points.
• 07:23 – 08:51 — What Don seeks in interviews: context and underlying motivations.
• 08:51 – 09:29 — Don’s personal ideal interview setting.

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Tone & Language

The episode is conversational, reflective, and candid—marked by Don Gonyea’s humility and straightforwardness. The dialogue is empathetic and grounded, offering insight into both practical journalism and the personal philosophies behind it.

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Takeaway

In divided times, real listening—grounded in patience, curiosity, and human connection—remains journalism's most vital tool for understanding and accurately portraying America. Don Gonyea’s approach is a reminder that, beyond politics and headlines, meaningful stories come from genuine, unguarded conversation.

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Transcript

[Scott Detrow]

For most of this year, we have been bringing you weekly reporters Notebook segments, and the goal has been pretty simple to help explain how we do our jobs. And that's felt like an important thing to do, not because we want to sit here and talk about ourselves, but because we know just how much trust in journalism and journalists has eroded in recent years. We wanted you to hear us walk through the choices we make and the things we prioritize when we're out in the world trying to report the news and bring it to you. The segment is continuing, but this is going to be my last Reporter's Notebook for a while, because after this weekend I am shifting over to host All Things Considered on the weekdays. This week's Reporter's Notebook comes at a moment when we're all thinking about the deep divides in our country, how hard it is just to talk to each other and listen to each other. And really, that is the most important thing that reporters do, right? We listen to stories and, and then we tell them. And no one at NPR listens better than national political correspondent Don Goneye. Here's just one example of how Don connects with voters. He was in Monroe, Louisiana.

[Don Gonyea]

It was a Trump event at the end of his first term. And people have been waiting outside in line for 8, 10, 12 hours. And they finally let us in, and we're walking in and there's a guy there who's a volunteer, and he's telling people, yellow tickets up there, red tickets down here. And as I walked past him, I said, can you tell me about this place? You know, I meant the arena. And this guy, he said, well, I saw Elvis in here once. And, you know, if you can't do something with that, like, you gotta turn in your microphone.

[Interviewer/Host]

Luckily for us, Don has not put down his microphone.

[Scott Detrow]

Consider this. In a divided country, it is increasingly difficult for reporters to build trust and engage with a wide range of people. And that is why it is important to find ways to meet them where they are. It's Consider this from npr, I'm Scott Detrow.

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[Scott Detrow]

It's consider this from npr. NPR correspondent Don Gonyea is the master of finding voters of all political stripes, earning their trust and getting them to talk to him.

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Always.

[Don Gonyea]

I try to be approachable. I try to be non threatening. You're just looking for a way to break the ice and start a conversation. And it's not always walking up to somebody on the street. Sometimes I'm sitting on the outdoor patio at a little family restaurant in some town and there'll be people at the tables around me. If there's an opportunity, if you make any eye contact, contact, maybe you ask them a question about the town, maybe you ask them what you should order off the menu, you know, is the perch from Lake Erie good? You know, the batter fried perch. And then you start a conversation. And then I always, you know, let them know what I'm in town for. Invariably they say, oh, where are you from? And then that gives you an opportunity to tell them what you're up to. And sometimes those conversations turn into interviews and they never had that awkward, I gotta walk up to that person and ask them if I can interview them. And then you go places in the conversation that maybe you didn't expect to go to. And then those things will give your story like an unexpected little piece of color or something.

[Scott Detrow]

Can you tell me more about those.

[Interviewer/Host]

Moments when somebody does finally relax or trust you just enough to tell you something you didn't even ask? And what you learn from that?

[Don Gonyea]

Yeah, it's, I mean, it's usually, you know, with somebody who has already opened up to you a little bit and decided they're willing to talk to you. So, so that's, that's the key right there. But, but when you talk to them a little longer, you might find out something about their family that you didn't even ask or something about their job or their job situation that you didn't even ask. And sometimes that's all you need to hear and it tells you more about them. Sometimes it leads to a follow up question that somehow does relate to the campaign that you're covering that helps you understand why they are voting or why they are thinking about voting or why they're undecided as they process all of the issues. It'll give you insight into that process. And that's a really important thing to get.

[Interviewer/Host]

You know, I mentioned we're all thinking a lot about, especially the last couple weeks, just the way the country has gotten so much more polarized. It is no secret that a lot of conservatives just don't trust the media anymore. And I'm wondering, in that environment, have these interactions, have these interviews changed in any noticeable way for you?

[Don Gonyea]

It's gotten harder to get people to talk. I can just say that flat out. If I want to get a half a dozen good conversations that somehow kind of represent a certain spectrum of thoughts, the kind of things that we see in polling. I have to talk to more people in order to get people who will agree to do a quick interview. And a lot of that is because they just. They don't trust a reporter and they don't feel there's anything to be gained from talking to a reporter. The other thing that I've noticed, and this goes back probably 15 years, but it keeps in increasing, is people have talking points in their head. And maybe they got those talking points from social media, maybe they got it from their television news channel of choice, whatever it is. But it's when you talk to, you know, five or six people and three of them give you the exact same answer in kind of the exact same way, that's frustrating. And look, it's not that these three people wouldn't have agreed with one another, but, like, the way they said it feels like it came right from some pundit on television.

[Scott Detrow]

What, to you is the journalistic value.

[Interviewer/Host]

Of having all of these conversations?

[Scott Detrow]

How do they shape the way that.

[Interviewer/Host]

You think about whatever you're covering? And how do you kind of, as a reporter, trying to make sense of the world, process all the interviews that you. That you do.

[Don Gonyea]

Yeah. I can tell you one thing. The more somebody wants to be interviewed, the less I want to talk to them. If somebody's like, why don't you talk to me? Why don't you talk to me? I'm like, I'm okay, good. I'm going to kind of just work, work, work, work the room here, because I don't want somebody who's rehearsed and who. And who clearly, like, has an agenda that they want to get to me and that they want to get out again. I just want to have a conversation. These conversations, when you know where a person works, how old they are, how long they've had this job, what community they live in, if they have kids, grandkids elderly parents, grandparents, these all kind of fill out a story for them, right? And then you can, you can apply their political beliefs to their life, and then you can take all of that, and then it just gives you a different context for hearing about their political beliefs. And ultimately, when I talk to people, I don't care how they're voting. I just want to know why.

[Interviewer/Host]

So, last question, don I'm in D.C. you're in Detroit. We're talking remotely. If you had been the voter that I was interviewing, where would you have preferred this interview take place? Where would you have wanted to be, Donyea, man of the street and have this conversation?

[Don Gonyea]

You know, the Detroit Tigers are starting an afternoon game about one mile from where I sit. So, you know, we could have picked a nice spot out in center field and had a conversation.

[Interviewer/Host]

Maybe, maybe we'll scrap this and I'll fly out and we'll do it that way. DON Kanye, thank you so much for, for explaining how you do your job every day.

[Don Gonyea]

It's a pleasure. Thanks for asking.

[Scott Detrow]

That was NPR national political correspondent Don Gonyea. This episode was produced by Kyra Wakim. It was edited by Adam Rainey. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun. Let's consider this from npr, I'm Scott Detrow.

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