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- [00:00]
Kristen Welker
This is an iHeart podcast guaranteed human
- [00:04]
Advertisement Announcer
Xolair Omalizumab is proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens. Xolair 150mg is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people 1 year of age and older. To reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods while taking Xolair, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic to. Don't use if you are allergic to Xolair. Xolair may cause a severe life threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you have ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Xolair should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions including anaphylaxis. Xolair is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions including anaphylaxis while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see xolair.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Xolair this is an advertisement for Xolair paid for by Genentech and Novartis.
- [01:14]
Sophia
Tell me if I'm alone here Whip Smarties. But shopping used to feel more fun before all the algorithm fed blah and the endless sea of blah blah blah blah blah and dupes. But I have a confession. I have found that fun feeling again on ebay. It's not mindless scrolling, it's a fashion pursuit. And when you score that rare Adidas Collab or the Dior saddlebag you have been manifesting. Ooh, it's a rush. There's always more to discover. Ebay has millions of pre loved finds from hundreds of brands backed by ebay. Authenticity Guarantee Ebay Things People Love Ryan
- [01:54]
Kristen Welker
Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a
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- [02:05]
Kristen Welker
Of course, if you enjoy overpaying.
- [02:07]
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- [02:07]
Sophia
But that's weird.
- [02:08]
Kristen Welker
Okay, one judgment anyway.
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- [02:16]
Kristen Welker
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- [02:24]
Sponsor Announcer
support for the show comes from public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete Disclosures available at public.comdisclosures hi everyone, it's Sophia.
- [03:27]
Sophia
Welcome to Work in Progress. Welcome to this week's Work in Progress. Friends, I know this is a pretty wild time in the news, certainly at home in the States, around the world. The amount of information we're being met with is hard to digest and certainly hard to emotionally handle at times. And when I feel that way, one of the things that gives me the most hope and makes me feel the most centered is to turn to journalists that I trust. And one of the journalists I trust most in the landscape is Kristen Welker. At a time like this, when trust in institutions is incredibly fragile, and let's be frank, the truth itself is often contested. The role of our press has rarely felt more consequential or more scrutinized. And leading that conversation with an incredible ability to balance truth telling in a deep and empathetic way, and incredible amounts of historical context and unbelievable access that she has earned through many years in this business, creating incredible relationships, is Kristen Welker. She is only the second woman to moderate Meet the Press. She is the first journalist of color to moderate Meet the Press. She is carrying its legacy into a new era and designing its future in real time. Her career has been built on incredible preparation, very impressive restraint, and what is clearly a deep belief in journalism as a public service. From watching the evening news as a little girl in Philadelphia to reporting from the White House across three administrations, Kristen Welker has focused on fairness and accuracy and now as the Moderator of Meet the Press, she has taken the show to number one, helping the country make sense of power. And the stakes couldn't be higher right now. So let's get some intel and a little hope from Kristen Welker. Hello.
- [06:04]
Kristen Welker
How are you?
- [06:06]
Sophia
Hi. I'm good. How are you?
- [06:08]
Kristen Welker
I'm great. Thank you so much for having me. This is such an honor, and I'm such a big fan of yours and your work, and so what a. What an absolute honor to be able to sit down and have this conversation with you. Thank you for the.
- [06:23]
Sophia
Well, it's so thrilling for me. You know, I. My day job is technically being an actor, but I went to journalism school, and it. It really has informed every aspect of my life and activism and advocacy and all of it. And so when I get to sit down with journalists, it's like, you know, some people want to meet rock stars. And I'm like, can I come see you at work?
- [06:44]
Kristen Welker
Well, that's incredible. And I love that you went to journalism school, and I had read that, which made me even more excited for this conversation. I think it's fantastic that you are so passionate and have so many interests, and you happen to be a great actress as well.
- [07:00]
Sophia
Thank you. I really appreciate it. I'm giggling because I realized I'm assuming. Well, I'm guessing about your day. I'm actually filming a movie in South Africa, and so I was, like, running through the parking lot trying to avoid the rainstorm that's now beginning outside to get in here. So you could, you know, be interviewed by a person who didn't look like a drowned rat. And I made it, so we're really. We're doing it.
- [07:24]
Kristen Welker
I'm. I'm impressed that you're filming a movie and you also are still doing your podcast. It's amazing.
- [07:30]
Advertisement Announcer
Yeah.
- [07:31]
Kristen Welker
Doing both.
- [07:31]
Advertisement Announcer
Yeah.
- [07:32]
Sophia
We. We figure it out. I will say the time change is actually kind of helping, because after I'm done working here, I can tap into your morning. So it's great.
- [07:40]
Kristen Welker
That's great. It won't work out perfectly.
- [07:43]
Sophia
Well, I'm thrilled. So let's begin. I'm always so excited to sit down with people who have incredible careers or what I believe to be amazing points of view about the world. And I want to ask you so many things about the world today because it's an insane place to live. But before I dive into your smarts and your career and your resume, which I couldn't have read to my audience in the world's longest intro and still gotten through, you're such a singularly impressive woman and journalist and advocate and mom and all the things.
- [08:25]
Kristen Welker
Thank you, Sophia.
- [08:27]
Sophia
Well, I mean, no, thank you. But I'm always really curious what life was like for you before people knew you, before you knew that people would know you. And I especially like to ask this question of parents, because I think we. We carry younger versions of ourselves in us. But when you see younger versions of yourself in your kid or your kids.
- [08:52]
Kristen Welker
Yes.
- [08:53]
Sophia
That's a trip. And I wonder if you could interact with little Kristin at 8 or 9.
- [09:01]
Sponsor Announcer
Yeah.
- [09:01]
Sophia
As the woman you are today, if you would have that kind of catch your breath moment of, oh, my God, you've always been like this. I see myself in you. Are there things you think have stayed the same about you since childhood?
- [09:18]
Kristen Welker
I love that question. It's so fantastic. And. Absolutely. I grew up in Philadelphia, which is the birthplace of our democracy. I happen to be watching the Ken Burns documentary on the American Revolution, which is incredible. Right?
- [09:37]
Sophia
It's so good.
- [09:38]
Kristen Welker
So good. And I'm reminded of what Philadelphia is and what it means and the place that it holds in our history as I watch this. And so, growing up in Philadelphia, I grew up in a neighborhood called Fairmount. It was a couple of blocks from the art museum, you know, where Rocky ran up the steps, that famous scene. And that was sort of the backdrop to my childhood. And my parents were incredibly. And I still have them with me, which is such a blessing. But when I was growing up, they were incredibly politically engaged, so we would have coffee clutches at our house for politicians, and politics was just always the backdrop to my life. In addition to that, my mom was a member of, like, every woman's group in Philadelphia. So she would bring me to these luncheons with her, and I would hear from these amazing, inspiring women who were breaking barriers, who had set goals for themselves and accomplished what they put their minds to. And in addition to that, I think my parents thought it was really important that I had appreciation of where I came from. My mom's African American, my dad's occasion. So in addition to all of her women's groups, she would take me to events that honored African Americans, their contributions to Philadelphia. MLK Day was always a really big day in my household. And my mom would take me to, like, the big city lunch. And I remember I met Rosa Parks one year. Yes. It is a moment I will never forget. And that feeling of meeting someone who is so powerful, who changed the world in which she lived, who played a big role in that, and just the inspiration That I got from all of that, I think is part of what have brought to bear to this role as an adult. And I think part of my passion for politics, covering politics, trying to understand our political world, comes from that backdrop and from the fact that my mom actually ran for city council when I was growing up.
- [11:51]
Sophia
Yes, I was going to ask you about this.
- [11:54]
Kristen Welker
So I got to see that world with a front row seat, and I got to experience what it was like to actually be a part of a political campaign. I was a kid at the time. I was in high school the first time she ran. Wow. But I got to really. I went to events with her, I listened to her give speeches, and I started to really develop a bug for politics. And the power of it. Yeah, the importance of it. Some of the journalists covering my mom thought that and wanted to ask her about being married to my dad as a political issue. Like, was that somehow a betrayal of her race? I mean, this is Philadelphia in the 1990s. And so she actually got asked about this by some radio talk show host. And I remember at the time feeling personally offended. Why would they ask her these questions? And my mom said, look, if they're asking these questions, these are probably questions that some voters have. They're tough questions. They're very personal questions. But at the same time, she felt like she had a responsibility to answer those questions, and she did. And I really respect her for that, and I respect her for teaching me that lesson at the time. But it also, I think, taught me the importance of approaching journalism with a sense of civic duty, holding people to, but also compassion. Who are you talking to? What is their story? And making sure that you're bringing that to bear in every conversation. So those are the seeds of who I am now as an adult. And I certainly, when I look back at who I was as a kid, I can see those parallels.
- [13:43]
Sophia
Yeah, well, and it strikes me what an amazing way to grow up where, you know, we hear about in writing or we see in certain movies, these depictions of, oh, back then, the great authors, you know, the Hemingways or the Josephine Bakers who had these salons in New York or Paris or, you know, places where people were gathering for all art. But there, there is art to community organizing. Yeah, I. I actually think part of the reason we're in such a political mess right now is the art was taken, the storytelling was kind of taken from politics, and it became all fiscal sort of business, win at any cost. And it, it's incredible to me to think about how as a young Woman, you were raised in these rooms with circles of women talking about how they were going to build change, talking about the truth, frankly. And I try to say this to, you know, young people, to my audiences. Every single thing that is personal to you is political.
- [14:50]
Kristen Welker
Yes.
- [14:50]
Sophia
And every single thing that you experience in your personal life is the result of a policy.
- [14:54]
Kristen Welker
Yes.
- [14:55]
Sophia
Politics is everywhere. It's like the air we breathe, and people don't quite realize it. And so you grew up in this artistic community of women building a future, and then you watched your mom run for office at a time where that was deeply uncommon. I mean, when you think about, you know, you're talking about the 90s. When you think about the fact that. And I believe I have my numbers right, but they could be reversed because I'm, you know, I gently do that in my brain sometimes. I believe it was. I believe it was 1990. 1993 was the first year a woman was included in a clinical study of any kind. Everything was always studied on men. And it was either 1991 or also 1993 for the very first time that women could wear pants on the Senate floor. Like it. I think people forget that it's been essentially a blip on the radar that we've had even this generation's shaky version of equality, which is being eroded. How was it to be a teenager, to be cognizant enough, to be far enough into social studies and history and all of those things, and to watch your mom fighting to be able to take her place on that kind of mantle?
- [16:17]
Kristen Welker
Well, you actually touch on a really important point, which is part of the criticism of her. And I think the frustration with her campaign that she faced was the fact that she was challenging this very powerful male member council, John street, and he would go on to be mayor, by the way, but. And he did win that race. But that was part of what she was up against. Yeah, I remember the incredible pride I felt in her for taking that on. And my dad took it on with her. I mean, he was right with her every step of the way. So I was so proud of both of them. But it was uphill, and I was very cognizant of that. That was a big theme in the campaign. How dare you, as a woman, challenge this very powerful man? This was his right to go on to hold this seat. And that was part of the framing of some of the coverage at that time, too. And again, I think it speaks to. And it was an early lesson about how important reporting and good reporting and accurate reporting is because if you are only building upon those false narratives that somehow a woman doesn't have the right to challenge a man in that space, then that's actually a disservice to the people that you are reporting for, the public and the public's perception. And so I think it was a really early lesson to me about, first of all, just how brave my mom has been throughout the course of her life and how much she's the inspiration to me. But again, the importance of making sure that these stories are covered accurately. And you talk about this moment that we're in. And I think, and I'll add one point to all of the great points that you made. I think one of the challenges that we have right now when we think about how divided we are, is that our media ecosystem is so divided. And I spoke to Doris Kearns Goodwin, who's also a historian. I'm sure you're familiar with her and another legend. But she talks about this as the fact that she says our media ecosystem is almost as divided as it was during the Civil War. I mean, think about that. People are going to different places. You think about all of the different things that are being spread on the Internet and that diffuses, I think, the public's shared understanding of a set of facts. And that's part of what I think the challenge of this moment is too. And so I think back to my childhood and how in some ways, that was a very early preparation for this moment, which is very challenging. I think our job as journalists is to help people break through the disinformation, the misinformation that's online, and really help them understand to sort through what is fact from what is not fact.
- [19:40]
Sophia
And now a word from our sponsors who make this show possible.
- [19:47]
Advertisement Announcer
Xolair Omalizumab is proven to significantly reduce allergic reactions if a food allergy accident happens. Xolair, 150 milligrams, is a prescription medication used to treat food allergy in people 1 year of age and older. To reduce allergic reactions due to accidental exposure to one or more foods while taking Xolair, you should continue to avoid all foods to which you are allergic. Don't use if you are allergic to Xolair. Xolair may cause a severe life threatening allergic reaction called anaphylaxis. Tell your doctor if you have ever had anaphylaxis. Get help right away if you have trouble breathing or if you have swelling of your throat or tongue. Xolair should not be used for the emergency treatment of allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis Xolair is for maintenance use to reduce allergic reactions, including anaphylaxis, while avoiding food allergens. Serious side effects such as cancer, fever, muscle aches and rash, parasitic infection, or heart and circulation problems have been reported. Please see xolair.com for full prescribing information. Ask an allergist about Xolair this is an advertisement for Xolair paid for by Genentech and Novartis.
- [20:57]
Sophia
Tell me if I'm alone here, Whip Smarties but shopping used to feel more fun before all the algorithm fed blah and the endless sea of dupes. But I have a confession. I have found that fun feeling again on ebay. Because on ebay it's not just shopping, it's a full on fashion pursuit. And when you find the thing that adrenaline hit is real. Like when you score that rare Adidas collab that's lived on your mood board. The Dior saddlebag you ripped out of a magazine in 2007 and never got over. Or something like The Cecile Bonson XGT2 1 60s that sold out in five seconds. Yeah, those. It's about the thrill of finding pieces that feel like me. And I want you to find pieces that feel like you. There's always more to discover. Ebay has millions of pre loved finds from hundreds of brands backed by ebay. Authenticity guarantee eBay things people love oh friends, these days I am all about quality over quantity, especially in my closet. Because listen, if it's not well made and versatile, it's just not worth it to me. And that is why I love our friends at Quint's. The fabrics feel elevated, the cuts are thoughtful and the pricing actually makes sense. Quince makes high quality wardrobe staples using premium fabrics like 100% European linen, 100% silk, organic cotton poplin, and I love the seasonal colors and prints for spring. Plus Quince works directly with safe ethical factories and cuts out the middlemen. So you're not paying for a brand markup or some fancy retail store. You're just paying for quality clothing. Everything Quince makes is built to hold up from the stitching to the fit and the fabrics. These are pieces you will reach for over and over again. Like that Quince cotton cashmere sweater that has become my go to. Oh it's so cozy and it's light enough for layering but still feels so luxe. Plus it did not cost what I thought a quality cashmere sweater would. So stop waiting to build the wardrobe you actually want right now. You can go to quince.com work for free shipping and 365 day returns. That is a full year to wear it and love it and you will now available in Canada too. Friends don't keep settling for clothes that don't last. Go to quint.com that's Q U I N C E.com work for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quints.com work support for the show comes
- [23:43]
Sponsor Announcer
from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year. You can listen literally. Type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S P500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures available at public.com disclosures.
- [24:49]
Sophia
I wonder how difficult it must be because as a journalist there are things you might say at your dinner table to your best friends that you cannot say on social media, on the nightly news, on your Sunday show. You know, you you are required in certain ways to bite your tongue and in other ways. Your whole job is to try to really cut to the quick of what is true. And I think about it for all of you, how frustrating it must be to try to set a high bar for the way you conduct yourself and then to see another big news network. I'll say it. You don't have to Fox News go to court repeatedly and defend the lies they tell on television to people by saying we are not a sober news program, we are an entertainment program. You know, these are quotes from lawsuits from court defenses. And I go but if half the country's getting their news from people that are willing to lie for the rage bait that results in the viewers that result in the money, how are we ever gonna tamp down that polarization that, as you mentioned, is at a kind of pre Civil War level. And it. It frightens me on that macro scale. I see it when you talk about your mom's journey. Immediately my brain remembered back in 1992, when Hillary Clinton was the first lady and was literally fighting for universal child health care. She said, I'm a mom. I want all children to have the kind of health care my kid gets to have because we're in the White House. That should just be obvious in the richest country in the world. And people went after her and said, who do you think you are to do this? And she cracked. Remember the infamous joke, what do you want me to do? Bake cookies?
- [27:01]
Kristen Welker
Right.
- [27:03]
Sophia
And then suddenly she was shaming mothers.
- [27:05]
Kristen Welker
Yeah.
- [27:06]
Sophia
And she was like, I do bake cookies. I'm just saying if I have this opportunity, like, I'm supposed to have a cause as the First Lady. And I've never forgotten that they lambasted her for trying to take care of other people's children the way her child would be taken care of. And that was really, when you think about it, a symptom of news doing the thing that you mentioned it did to your mom, too. So you saw it from such an early age. You obviously see how much of a fever pitch it's gotten to now. How do you go into your office and figure out how to lead and also attempt to bring the frenzy down for. For your viewers, how that feels like a big job for one person?
- [27:57]
Kristen Welker
It is. It's monumental. And I will say a couple of things. I mean, I spent 10 years in local news before I got to the network, which was, oh, my goodness, maybe 15 years ago now I'm really dating myself. But this has been my life's work. It's really how my brain is wired. And I am so. And this sounds cheesy maybe, but I really mean this. It's so important that whether I'm reporting in Philadelphia as a local reporter, where I spent five years, by the way, which was great, or at the network, at the White House, or on the press, that I am making sure I'm including a wide range of voices that I'm doing so in a way that people across the political spectrum can hear the conversation that is so important right now, it's what we strive to do every weekend on Meet the Press. And it's not easy because we're so divided. But I'm so deeply dedicated to the goal because I say it's a goal, because sometimes we don't always get it a thousand percent right. Which we try to making sure that these conversations are tough, are filled with fact checks, were needed, are to account. But again, where people across the political spectrum can hear them, can learn from them, can listen to them. Because if we are alienating part of our viewers, part of our listeners, then we're not helping. In this moment, I really think the media has a responsibility to find a way to help bring people together to the extent possible in these really hard conversations that we're having as a country. I mean, and I know we're get to this, but what is happening right now in Minneapolis I think is a new challenge in many ways. I think feels like an inflection point in a lot of different ways. And in this moment, when I think it's so critical that our coverage is sober and fact based, fair and tough, and invites a range of different voices in so that we're making sure that we're covering the story from every angle, but to make sure that everyone across this country feels like they're invited to the table.
- [30:43]
Sophia
Right.
- [30:44]
Kristen Welker
People feel like they can't sit at the table and listen to the conversation, then we're only deepening the divide. And that's how I see my role as a journalist. That's what I strive for. And again, it sounds. It's just so fundamental to journalism.
- [31:01]
Sophia
Yeah. Well, I also think there's something so interesting about you and the way that you work, because it's something I've been thinking about, especially over the last few years and for our friends at home. You went to Harvard to study American history.
- [31:17]
Kristen Welker
Yes.
- [31:18]
Sophia
And I think about the things you were aware of early because of the way you grew up. I think about the things you watched because your mom ran for office, the things you really deepened your knowledge about in terms of our country, our patterns, global patterns at uni. And one of the things I have found to be the most impactful when people are in this identity debate rather than a debate about facts, is to contextualize things in terms of history, in terms of lessons we've learned, in terms of times we weren't willing to learn a lesson and then did things everyone can agree on because they happened a hundred years ago, fifty years ago, twenty years ago, and say it's happening now. Do you feel like your expertise about our history informs the way you cover breaking news today?
- [32:13]
Kristen Welker
It's a great question. Absolutely. Everything I do, I think, is with a mind toward where we have been as a country. And again, this is so deeply infused in who I was as A child and where we are now and the possibilities that we have. And I just had the opportunity to sit down with Ken Burns and talk to him about his documentary, actually. And he talks about the fact that if the framers of the Constitution, if the people who fought and died in the American Revolution could come back and look at our country right now, they would actually be amazed in so many ways that we still have a functioning democracy, that so many more voices and people are included in those rights that they fought and died for.
- [33:07]
Sophia
Yeah.
- [33:08]
Kristen Welker
And clearly would say, this is still an experiment. This is still a work in progress. This is not a finished product yet by any measure. There is still so much more work to be done. And I try to think about it within that context.
- [33:26]
Sophia
Yeah.
- [33:26]
Kristen Welker
And I do think it adds. This goes to your point about how I see my role. It's a very weighty moment for that reason. I mean, every time we're thinking about guests and what the interview is going to be like and how we're going to structure the show, it's all incredibly intentional. And you talk about the history. We have a segment called Meet the Press Minute, and it's a moment to sort of reflect on the history of the moment. Yes. To put it into a little bit of a broader context. Here we are having this conversation. Let's go back 50 years and remember what this politician, this former president, said about this issue at the time. Because to your point, Sophia, we've wrestled with so many of these issues in the past.
- [34:20]
Advertisement Announcer
Yes.
- [34:21]
Kristen Welker
And we continue, I think, to debate and wrestle with some of these things, fundamental, foundational issues to who we are as a country and what this country looks like and how we all coexist here together.
- [34:35]
Sophia
Absolutely. And you're right. It's a constant experiment. And I think it's important for us all to remember that progress takes time, destruction is faster. But we've proven we can progress. And so if the, if the ancestors, founding fathers, all the historical figures who came before us got us here, we're certainly not going to give up now.
- [35:02]
Kristen Welker
That's. That's right. Yeah.
- [35:04]
Sophia
Yeah. And I wonder for you, you know, becoming a White House correspondent, doing so across three administrations. Again, talk about historical context. I'm really curious how what you observed across each of those buckets, if you will, informed the intentions you set when you started on Meet the Press, because I know there's no way you walked in there as the woman you are, as the first host of color, as. As the historian that you love being and. And didn't have like, of course you had goals for the show, but I'm talking, like, your personal intentions as Kristen.
- [35:47]
Advertisement Announcer
Yeah.
- [35:48]
Sophia
Did you think about them specifically? Did they come to you as you were designing the show? Like, how does it work to prep for the first night you walk in there and you take over?
- [36:00]
Kristen Welker
What's so interesting is that I had. First of all, I should say I was absolutely stunned when I was offered this role.
- [36:11]
Advertisement Announcer
Really?
- [36:12]
Kristen Welker
Yes. I really. When Rebecca Blumenstein, the president of NBC News, called me to offer me the job, I literally thought she was calling to say, hey. She said, I just want to update you on some campaign coverage. I was like, great. And I thought I was going to be assigned to one of the presidential campaigns. And she called to say, you know, Chuck has made this decision. He would like to pass the baton to you. We would like you to moderate Meet the Press. I could have been knocked over with a feather.
- [36:42]
Sophia
Wow.
- [36:43]
Kristen Welker
And it was the greatest honor and surprise. And yet what was so fascinating is that when I sat down and really thought about what I wanted the show to be and to the question that you're asking, in many ways, it became very clear very quickly. I wanted to focus on the strength of the interviews and I wanted to create this segment called Meet the Moment for one of the, I think, really important reasons that you have made, which is that politics is infused into every single part of our lives. So this notion that actors and athletes and historians are not a part of who we are as a country and how our politics operates, that's just not the case. So I wanted to bring those voices in. And that's why I started my Meet the Moment segment, which hopefully you will join me on one day. And I will have the honor of interviewing you at some point.
- [37:52]
Sophia
Anytime, Anytime. All the time.
- [37:55]
Kristen Welker
Okay, great.
- [37:56]
Sophia
Anytime you need someone, someone gets sick, call me, I'll be there.
- [37:59]
Kristen Welker
Okay. No, not for you.
- [38:01]
Sophia
Permanent rsvp. Like, we'll book it, but then when you need a fill in, I'll be there and then we'll book it again.
- [38:10]
Kristen Welker
That's fantastic. But, you know, I just thought that was so important to expand the voices that we're hearing from on Sundays. It is a moment for, I think, Americans for our viewers to sit and reflect on the week that was and where we're going. And to do that, I really wanted to bring in more voices. And so it's one of the aspects of the show that I'm really proud of. I always say, every week, is there any way we can add a half hour onto the show? Because we have so much content. We have a small but mighty team. They're just incredible. And we often wind up with three interviews, an incredible panel. But that really was the philosophy that I brought to bear when I took the baton from Chuck. And as Chuck always says, you are a steward of the chair. I mean, at some point I will pass the baton on to someone else, but for the time being, and while I have this extraordinary role and opportunity, my goal really every Sunday is to make sure that we're hearing from a diversity of voices. And that includes, yes, politicians, but people who are impacting our politics, who are outside of the political spectrum. So we talked to Michael Phelps about mental health. I raised him because here we are about to go into another Olympics, which I know everyone's excited about. You know, Olivia Munn, who I spoke with about her breast cancer battle and also her surrogacy journey, which is something that we share common. I welcomed my two beautiful kids into the world with the help of a surrogate, Allison Felix, about black maternal health. And the list goes on and on. And we're really proud of these segments because I think it's expanded the conversation and it's also created a moment in the show. They don't air every Sunday, it's maybe once a month, but it is a moment where our viewers can, you know, you have your kind of political debate at the top of the show and then a moment to reflect and go a little bit deeper into one of the top issues and one of the any one of these critical issues I think that impacts us.
- [40:26]
Sophia
And now a word from our sponsors.
- [40:30]
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- [41:40]
Sophia
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- [42:39]
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- [43:40]
Kristen Welker
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Kristen Welker
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Kristen Welker
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- [44:17]
Sophia
I'm curious, you know, when you, when you talk about it again, what you're doing so beautifully is personalizing things for people, you know, and I love that you mentioned, thank you for this. You know that artists and athletes and all sorts of people matter to these conversations. I think when people look at us and say stick to acting or shut up and dribble, they forget that artists and athletes historically have been the boundary breakers of culture. And it requires a kind of courage and it requires a willingness to put your best interests second, sometimes last, to put your community interest first. And I appreciate when folks in your position honor that and welcome us into those conversations. So that's, that's part one and part two.
- [45:16]
Kristen Welker
I appreciate that. I really do.
- [45:18]
Sophia
Yeah. Well, I mean it. And you know, the second part of, I guess the point where it leads me is, you know, you mentioned this. What's happening in Minneapolis is impossible. You know, when we talk about the divide, there are political officials who, who literally go on record and want us to believe the opposite of what we see with our own eyeballs. And I'm really curious in a moment that is so political, that is about the Constitution, that is about habeas corpus, that is about the rights of asylum seekers, that is about the literal founding of our nation. And that also is so deeply personal and visceral and happening to our neighbors in Minnesota. How do you deal with it? How are you talking about this? How are you talking about it on Meet the Press? And how are you going to get into the personal on Meet the Moment? Because I certainly look to you sometimes to go like what do I do? And I know listeners do too. And I, I just am curious how you're making sense of all this.
- [46:28]
Kristen Welker
Well, and I'll take you inside what happened this weekend as that unfolded. We typically have our editorial meeting on Saturday morning and it's our big editorial meeting. So it lasts typically three hours. We're going through the interviews question line by line, word by word. And this breaking news happens and we all sort of stop what we're doing and start to try to process what has happened. Like everyone in the country, we didn't understand what had happened. We didn't know what to make of it. We saw the initial video clips come in. And I can tell you, I mean, we sat there, Sophia, in that conference room. There were, of course, breaks here and there, but for the better part of 12 hours, looking at the video clips over and every single angle, making phone calls to officials, trying to understand what had actually happened, and crafting an interview for the deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanch, that would reflect the moment and the urgency of it. And the questions I think that we really tried to capture. What are the questions that Americans have as they are going to watch this? What information do you need to walk away with after having watched Meet the Press? And it was incredibly grueling in part because watching that video over and over again is devastating. It's wherever you fall on the political spectrum, it doesn't matter. Watching that video is incredibly hard to watch. At the same time, we forced ourselves to watch it so that we had confidence going into the interview with Todd Blanche that we were asking accurate questions. And again, it goes back to journalism. We just took a very sober approach to what had happened. And to your point, why was there a disparity between what some top officials were saying and what Americans were seeing in this video? And that was really the framing point of our entire interview in many ways. And, and the what happens now? And I can tell you that after Meet the Presents, my work does not end. I've been on the phone recording a story since I walked off the set on Sunday, because it's, it's a story that I think is not just resonating across the country, but it has the. It seems like it's going to impact the Trump administration's policies as it relates to how they are going about these deployments. We'll have to see what ultimately happens. But again, it's about, in these moments which feel so incredibly hard to wrap your head around, sticking with the principles of journalism, what do we need to do? We need to report out the facts here, what actually happened, what's going to be done about it, who's going to be held accountable? And will there be a policy change? What will look different in a month from now, in six months from now? And just asking those just very foundational questions, I think helps people when they sit down to your point on a Sunday morning and they're trying to process what happened. It helps people, I think, to take that for our goal is to help people to take that first step toward processing what was a really difficult moment, I think, for the entire country and clearly for the Trump administration as well. I mean, they have acknowledged publicly and privately that this, this is a big problem, what happened.
- [50:14]
Sophia
Right. Well, I think it's interesting as well, to your point about the, the importance of journalists to continue reporting.
- [50:23]
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- [50:24]
Sophia
You know, it's not lost on me as a civilian who is engaged in the news as nearly a full time job, that the administration didn't backtrack until there were so many videos, so many angles of the video, there was no way to deny what happened. And then the cleanup begins. And, you know, I was reading reports that, you know, now Kristi Noem is saying she was pressured by Stephen Miller. And now, you know, everybody's pointing the finger. And it, I'm curious how that works to your point. You know, this happened on a Saturday. You had to report on it on a Sunday. It takes over your weekend. I also think about it for you as a mom, you know, you're not gonna see your family on a weekend like that. And then I think about it in terms of the working week. You know, more videos come out, more stories come out. I would imagine your newsroom has the ability to call offices that most of us don't. You can call the Minneapolis police and say, are they allowing you to process the evidence yet or is the answer still no? You can call people in the administration and ask for information. How do you, how do you guys determine what calls get made first and how do you make those hard decisions about. I'm going to, you know, use an analogy. This obviously isn't real, but let's say you have 10 pieces of information to report on and only enough minute to cover six. How do you decide what's less important than something else to shape your hour?
- [52:03]
Kristen Welker
Oh, my gosh. It's. It's our challenge every single weekend. And yeah, if you could have seen the interview as written Saturday morning versus as delivered Sunday, you would see the evolving nature of what had to get dropped and what needed to be in focus. And to your point, and I, I do think this is important, we were doing all this against the backdrop of a snowstorm. So we have this, right? Everyone went to the hotel because we couldn't go home. Right.
- [52:37]
Sophia
State of emergency.
- [52:38]
Kristen Welker
Yes. And then, you know, which was a few blocks from our studios and then came back a few hours the next morning. How do we determine how to prioritize? It is an evolution that is evolving until the minute I go to air. And one of the Unique methods that we use to prepare for Sunday. We do mock interviews. My executive producer is a genius at this. And basically we study what the person has said. He has played every single person I've ever interviewed.
- [53:16]
Sponsor Announcer
Wow.
- [53:17]
Kristen Welker
Mock interviews. Typically on a Saturday and again on Sunday. But because of the nature of this news cycle, there was no time for that. So we just came in on Sunday and did them. And by the way, Tim Russer would do that as well with his executive producer. And it was hallmarks of how he would prepare. And it helps you to think through what is the person going to say? How am I going to think about what they're going to say? What are the holes in the question I'm asking? Is this the sharpest way to ask it, or is it kind of letting the person do a choose your own adventure answer? And to make it really is a stress test of our questions, of my ability to kind of have an awareness of all of the information to make sure that I'm armed with all of the information going into the interview. Have I missed something? Do I need to go back and read something more carefully? And it's a stress test of the interview and of my knowledge of any given subject. And so I have found it to be. And we as a team have found it to be incredibly effective in terms of what's the most important in a moment like this, where it's breaking news. And I can't tell you, Sophia, how many Sundays we are dealing with breaking news, whether it's domestically or internationally.
- [54:28]
Sophia
Right.
- [54:29]
Kristen Welker
We typically live in that breaking news moment. And we try to, you know, really look at what's happening from every different angle. And that was the decision we made this week. So there are some bigger picture questions that I didn't get to ask that, of course, were on the cutting room floor, that I was. I wish we had even more time, but that just realistically, you know, you can't get to everything. So you do have prioritize. You do have to say, okay, again, what do you as a viewer need to know? What do you have to know at the conclusion of this interview? What. Not be able to live with myself if I didn't ask this. What. What are the set of questions that I just could not bear to know I didn't ask. And those are. And it's really. Every week it's a challenge and the same sort of rules apply. You're asking about, like, how do we think about how those calls get me?
- [55:31]
Sophia
Yeah.
- [55:33]
Kristen Welker
I mean, this weekend aside, I'm in a constant state of making phone calls to my sources who I've developed over time. You know, I've been in Washington since 2010. So, you know, I'm constantly reaching out to people both inside the administration and outside the administration, people on Capitol Hill, people who've served in past administrations, who often can give broader perspective to a moment in a situation like this where you're dealing with a law enforcement matter. I'm reaching out to my law enforcement sources to say, help me understand here, what's the protocol? How does this video we're seeing match up against the protocol that you're aware of? So we're trying to constantly bring the best reporting to bear on the show. But again, as I said, I've spent the past several days making phone calls because as a journalist, I want to help and be a part of the effort of NBC News to get to the bottom of what exactly happened here and what's going to happen moving forward. And I think the moment demands it. There are times, I mean, I will tell you, my days off for Monday and Tuesday, since we work on the weekend. And I try to preserve those days for my two kids and just to have that mom time with them uninterrupted, when there are huge stories like the Venezuela story.
- [56:54]
Sophia
Yeah.
- [56:55]
Kristen Welker
You know, again, the week does not end. You're in on Monday. You're working on streaming show during the week. So I'm anchoring my streaming show, which typically gets anchored by someone else on Mondays and Tuesdays, and to make sure that I'm a part of the ongoing coverage and I guess to button it up. What I would say is at the heart of all of this is I'm a reporter. And that's how I've approached my role as moderator of Meet the Press, as a reporter. And to really be a reporter, I think you have to approach these things with humility in a sense of trying to constantly ask enough questions to enhance your own understanding and therefore the public's understanding of these.
- [57:34]
Sophia
Absolutely. Yeah. I actually would say that one of the best marks of a great reporter is their willingness to ask and listen, not just to digest and tell.
- [57:47]
Kristen Welker
Yes, you're right. That.
- [57:49]
Advertisement Announcer
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- [57:49]
Kristen Welker
That's really what's at the heart of it. And it goes to your initial question, how do we bring people together in this moment? By listening.
- [57:56]
Sophia
Yeah. This is such an incredible conversation. And I'm thrilled to let you know that while we are at the end of part one, there is a part two with Kirsten Welker.
- [58:21]
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- [59:31]
Kristen Welker
This is Chelsea Handler from Dear Chelsea,
- [59:33]
Sophia
after the Big Game, like most people, I kept thinking about the commercials, and there was one that stayed with me. It was from the Blue Square Alliance
- [59:39]
Kristen Welker
Against Hate, and it wasn't loud or flashy.
- [59:42]
Sophia
It showed a Jewish kid being targeted
- [59:44]
Kristen Welker
at school and another student who chose not to ignore it. As someone who was Jewish, that moment
- [59:49]
Sophia
felt very real to me. Not dramatic, just familiar. And what struck me was how clearly it showed that hate doesn't always announce
- [59:56]
Kristen Welker
itself, but the impact is still huge. If you saw the Blue Square spot
- [60:01]
Sophia
during the Big game, it's worth thinking about.
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Kristen Welker
And if you want to show support,
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Sophia
sharing the Blue Square is one small way to do that.
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Kristen Welker
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Sophia
Before you get on the road for
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Kristen Welker
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Kristen Welker
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Sophia
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- [61:08]
Kristen Welker
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