Chapter tours NY Times bureau

  Every day the New York Times Washington bureau pitches stories for the print front page, and may get one or mor stories on A1,.Elisabeth Bumiller, deputy bureau chief, told D.C. Pro members and students Feb. 26 a brown-bag lunch. Bumiller, who covered the White House for The Times during the Bush administration, said that in her current role she enjoys working with reporters to get their stories in the newspaper.

  The 24/7 internet news cycle has changed how the bureau functions, requiring editors to meeting earlier in the day and requiring reporters to file updates for online content.

  The program included a tour of the bureau and lively discussions with reporters, Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent, David Sanger, national security correspondent, and Coral Davenport, environmental correspondent.

  Baker said it has become increasingly difficult to report on the Executive Branch when many of the President’s meetings with reporters are “off the record.” The White House often does not give a reason for avoiding full attribution. Baker said the last time he asked President Obama an on-the-record question was about three years ago. Financial constraints on media outlets, and limited space for reporters on Air Force One, have made covering the White House more difficult, as well, Baker said.

  Sanger said cyber warfare is one of the most important national security stories today. A key question and ethical dilemma is when the United States would be justified in using cyber weapons against other nations, and the debate often sounds like the one that arises over use of nuclear weapons, according to Sanger.

  Davenport, a recent addition to the bureau, expresse confidence that climate change is linked to human activity as closely as lung cancer is linked to long-term smoking. She said no person or nation can reduce the impact of carbon emissions on the planet.

  People may have a stereotypical notion of environmental reporters as people who like camping, report on polar bears and forests, Davenport said, but she does none of that. Instead, she approaches her beat by taking into account other reporting areas like law, economics, business and national security. One strategy she uses when writing about an agency or other institution is to report from the outside-in — interviewing sources who have just left the institution, not those who work there.

  Davenport got her current job after writing and tweeting her environmental stories to The Times while working for National Journal. Her advice to aspiring journalists is to develop a beat and strategically tweet their best work to outlets for which they want to work.