Amazing Race
Tom Johnson, executive editor of Bloomberg Politics,
oversees 24/7 election coverage
A
WRITTEN BY CINDY SCHWEICH HANDLER
ll politics, all the time: That’s how many
Americans might describe the airwaves, a
few weeks away from the presidential election. It’s also how veteran news producer
Tom Johnson could characterize his job. As
the executive editor of Bloomberg Politics,
the Montclair resident oversees Bloombergpolitics.com,
and produces the daily TV program “With All Due
Respect,” which airs weekday evenings on both Bloomberg
TV and MSNBC. At a time when clear-eyed analysis and
commentary are needed more than ever, we spoke to
Johnson about how he separates the news from the noise.
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED IN TV NEWS COVERAGE?
In the summer between my junior and senior years of college,
I got an internship at CBS News, and worked at the 1992
Democratic Convention in New York City. After graduating, I
worked at ABC News for 20 years, covering a broad array of
topics. As a production assistant, I helped cover the Oklahoma
and Atlanta Olympics bombings. Then I had the opportunity to
be the anchor producer for Peter Jennings on World News,
which I did for three years. Over the next decade, I was a producer for World News with Charlie Gibson, then Bob Woodruff
and Elizabeth Vargas, and Senior Broadcast Producer for the
evening news with Diane Sawyer.
PHOTOS OF SET AND CONTROL ROOM: COURTESY GRIFFIN HAMMOND
WHAT ARE THE GREATEST CHALLENGES AND REWARDS
TO PUTTING ON A NIGHTLY NEWS PROGRAM? The
challenges are related to time: You’re racing against the clock
to get the program on the air, and you have a limited amount
of time to tell stories. But at ABC News, there were rewards
every night. You’re creating a summary of the day, which is an
incredible responsibility. Sometimes a lead story doesn’t have an
obvious impact, but it’s still lead-worthy. Who’s it impacting?
There’s a lot of back and forth about exclusive and breaking
stories; I pay more attention to how substantive it is.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM WORKING CLOSELY
WITH JOURNALISTS LIKE PETER JENNINGS AND
DIANE SAWYER? Peter had an insatiable appetite for news.
He loved learning, and wanted to know everything about the
people he talked to, and what they saw. Diane liked to dig deep
into a story. She did a program on what may have been one
of the most dangerous high schools in America, Strawberry
Mansion in Philadelphia, and the approach to her piece wasn’t
Hey, America’s schools are failing, what do we do? It was, Let’s talk
to the people on the front lines trying to make things work, and
figure out what’s succeeding, and what challenges are being faced.
WHY WERE YOU ATTRACTED TO THE BLOOMBERG
JOB? At ABC, procedures and programs had been established
for decades. At Bloomberg, I had the opportunity to start from
scratch and be part of something different, focusing in on
politics and working with the duo of Mark Halperin and
John Heilemann.
IN THE DIGITAL AGE, WHAT CAN A TV SHOW DO
THAT SOCIAL MEDIA CAN’T? We still believe in getting
reporters out of the building and on the campaign trail to cultivate relationships for reporting, and to understand where the
electorate’s at. We try to sort through everything to figure out
the key questions raised each day. The fact that our show runs
an hour allows us to challenge interview subjects. We can
extend an interview to three time blocks, to let people make
points and defend themselves.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT THE
UPCOMING ELECTION? It certainly feels historical,
with the first female nominee of a major party, and Trump…
It’s going to be a wild ride till election day. ■
FALL 2016
MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE
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