Expressing Opinions

When a columnist goes on our show.

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Walmart announced a new policy this week that limits ammunition sales.Credit...Larry W Smith/EPA, via Shutterstock

On Thursday’s episode, a Times colleague did something unusual — for “The Daily,” anyway: He expressed an opinion. The financial columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin told the story of his journalistic campaign to encourage the U.S. financial system — retailers, banks, investment houses — to change how it operates. Right now, few of them, if any, see it as their role to prevent gun violence or stop mass shootings. Andrew argued that they should, and has called on them to begin reporting suspicious transactions that might indicate a customer was planning a gun-related crime and to limit their financial relationships with companies that sell assault rifles. In his mind, it was in their capacity and was their moral obligation.

“The Daily” isn’t an opinion show. Far from it. We’re a news show that prizes our objectivity. So why did we decide to tell that story with this colleague? Because over time, Andrew’s columns on this subject became part of the news. He was, in his own way, influencing the course of events.

After the mass shooting last month at a Walmart in El Paso, Andrew had written an open letter to Walmart’s chief executive, Doug McMillon, asking him to use the company’s economic might to reduce gun violence. The letter was met with a personal reply from the C.E.O. McMillon had read the column and wanted Andrew to know he was thinking about it. Then McMillon took action: He limited Walmart’s ammunition sales, stopped selling handguns in the U.S. and called on Congress to consider a ban on assault rifles.

The more we explored the news, the clearer it became that Andrew was an ideal person to tell the story of how those in the financial system were thinking about guns, what steps they were willing to take, what risks seemed intolerable to them and the role of corporations in a polarizing societal debate like the one over gun control.

The next challenge was how to identify Andrew to our listeners, so they understood he was not a typical Times reporter, who wouldn’t take a stance. We tried to do that in a few ways. In the show’s introduction, we described Andrew as a columnist, and I mentioned his role again in the middle of the interview:

Michael: And as a columnist, distinct from a reporter in the newsroom, it sounds like you are taking the position that there is a kind of moral obligation within the financial system that, in your mind, they have not been awakened to or are aware of, that they can and should play a role in restricting or monitoring gun sales in light of these mass shootings.

Andrew: Absolutely. It’s a responsibility, especially in an environment in which lawmakers seem so deadlocked on everything that nobody is willing to step up.

A few listeners wrote in to tell us that that wasn’t enough.

“I really liked Andrew Sorkin today, but I think it’s worthwhile for Michael to clarify (or double-clarify) that he’s a columnist early on in the podcast,” one listener said. “I think most people get the columnist/reporting distinction, but most of the U.S. seems to have forgotten and view all reporting with suspicion. I think ‘The Daily’ is great and would hate to see listeners confuse a columnist interview with a reporting interview and as a result be tempted to impute a bias to your interviews of reporters.”

We hear you. The bar will always be exceedingly high for interviewing a Times colleague who expresses an opinion. And when we do, we will take pains to make sure listeners understand who the guest is and why we’re doing it.

Talk to Michael on Twitter: @mikiebarb.


Who: Michael Simon Johnson, a producer for “The Daily”

What: How the Kochs Built an Industrial Empire and Reshaped Politics,” from “The Interchange

After hearing about the death of the billionaire businessman David Koch two weeks ago, I found myself with a renewed interest in the opaque world of the Koch brothers, the oil and gas titans who have been major forces in energy, philanthropy, conservative policymaking and climate skepticism over the last half-century. David and his brother Charles, of the multinational conglomerate Koch Industries, together had a net worth that rivaled the likes of Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos.

But how did the Kochs achieve all of this — both the money and the influence? How have they managed to exert their will so forcefully onto American politics? What have their operating principles been over the years? These are some of the basic questions I’ve never adequately looked into, but have stayed on my mind as “Koch” became a household name.

Turns out it takes nearly seven years of investigative reporting to get the answers. Christopher Leonard, the author of “Kochland,” went on a recent episode of “The Interchange” to talk about everything you forgot you wanted to know about the Kochs. Leonard is focused and surgical with his knowledge, laying out clearly and in detail how the brothers built up their empire, why they fought tooth and nail against any movement on climate policies, how their genius business strategies work, and, perhaps most fundamentally, what it is that Koch Industries actually does.

“The Interchange” is a podcast about the global energy transition, and this episode doesn’t discuss the Koch brothers’ philanthropic pursuits, like their interest in criminal justice reform, that might endear them to some of their critics. The show may not be everyone’s can of grease, but if you’re like me, you’ll find this an excellent interview that you’ll wish would, like a renewable battery, keep on going.


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The Motown group the Four Tops in 1966.Credit...Associated Press

“This is the sound not just of black America, but the sound of America.”

Tomorrow, on a special episode of “The Daily,” the Times critic-at-large Wesley Morris tells the story of the birth of American music. Black music, forged in unfree conditions, became the ultimate expression of artistic freedom — and the bedrock of the nation’s soundscape from Motown to yacht rock.

The episode is part of the new Times podcast “1619,” hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones. You can hear “1619” on “The Daily” on Saturdays, and we’re also releasing it as a standalone show, with new installments published on Fridays. Listen to the latest at nytimes.com/1619podcast or by searching for “1619” wherever you get your podcasts.

And you didn’t think we’d release this episode without a playlist, did you? Listen to music from the episode here:


Tuesday: “When else do you get an opportunity for a midnight conversation with one of the most senior leaders of the Taliban?” Mujib Mashal tells us about covering the peace talks to end America’s longest-running war.

Wednesday: Alex Burns gives the rundown on the tightening Democratic primary race: “We are very, very close to what will become a kind of sudden-death phase of this campaign.”

Thursday: Walmart has stepped into the gun control debate, and “the rest of corporate America is watching,” Andrew Ross Sorkin says. “What’s the real economic impact of what they’ve done?”

Friday: As the 2015 nuclear deal unravels, a new Times investigation reveals the secret history of how close Israel, the U.S. and Iran came to war. Mark Mazzetti explains.


Have thoughts about the show? Tell us what you think at thedaily@nytimes.com.

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A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 2 of the New York edition with the headline: An Unusual Moment for ‘The Daily’. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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