How We’re Covering an ‘Identity Crisis’ in Politics

Both major political parties in America right now are going through something of an identity crisis. I’m Carolyn Ryan, managing editor at The New York Times. Obviously, on the Republican side, a lot of that is tied up with Trump, and he’s the character everyone has orbited around. The Democratic side is a really rich and interesting subject too, especially the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America. The one question that a lot of our readers have and our reporters are exploring is, does the D.S.A. essentially become an engine of the Democratic Party, or does it become something else and break away? Deciding who to cover and how much is an art rather than a science. There’s no perfect formula. The more that you can test your ***umptions about who’s powerful and who’s not, the better your reporting is going to be. As reporters on the ground, we’re always trying to calibrate and measure what kinds of movements and frankly, what kind of candidates might be emerging. I remember in 2016, for example, we had a reporter drive across the country stopping at small towns, and he came into my office and said, “Carolyn, I saw Trump signs everywhere.” What it really comes down to is what do ordinary Americans want from their government?