KC Counts talks with NPR Senior Editor Steve Drummond about his book "The Watchdog" and his work in journalism. Here is their conversation transcribed:
KC Counts:
Let me start by asking you, Steve, what inspired you to write this particular book?
Steve Drummond:
Yeah, I ran across, some years ago, some references on the website of the Truman Library to the oral histories that they conducted in the years after the war, with some of the young staffers who worked for the for the Truman Committee. These are people right out of college who got a job - you know, first job out of college, investigating the war effort and many of them look back on this period as a time of inspiration when they felt like they were engaged in public service, doing the public good, and they found Truman an inspiring leader; and I read through several of these accounts and I was kind of like, wow - I think there's a good story here.
KC Counts:
And so let's talk about that story. I mean, it's fascinating. What did you discover?
Steve Drummond:
Thank you. So, to me, so much of it was surprising. Notably the story of Truman himself in 1941, an unknown senator. Outside his own state, hardly anybody had ever heard of him, and three years later he's Vice President of the United States. And on his way to the White House. And it was, you know, by all accounts, this investigating committee that got him there, going around the country, taking a look at this giant government spending program and saying, hey, are we spending the people's money wisely? Are we doing a good job here? He had been very influenced by his experience after World War One, when after the war, there were 117 separate investigations of the war effort and some of them ran into the 1930s. And Truman felt like, why do this after the fact when it's a done deal? His idea was to investigate the war effor during the war, when money could still be saved, or lives could be saved.
KC Counts:
What do you think people will be most shocked to learn from it?
Steve Drummond:
To me, the thing that I keep coming back to is, given the toxic atmosphere, the partisan atmosphere of the Washington that I live in and work in today, how amazingly Truman was able to assemble a bipartisan committee here. He was a Democratic senator, criticizing the administration of his own party and doing it in a bipartisan sort of public service way that wasn't, you know, designed to get headlines or enhance his own reputation, but really, he was trying to save money and look out for the people and the lives that were at risk in the war effort.
KC Counts:
We can look back over time and see how partisanship has grown from year to year, decade to decade. What do you think we should be learning from looking back to that time?
Steve Drummond:
I think it came back to a recognition from the senators in both parties and of course it was wartime, so there was a patriotic mood in the air, but nevertheless, by putting aside their differences and focusing on the areas they had common ground in. But you know, in Truman's time as chairman of the committee, they put out 32 reports, every single one of them was unanimous and bipartisan And in the process, do a lot of the service for the public good and it just seems like that seemed so logical back then, but today it just seems like such a bizarre idea.
KC Counts:
What has happened to us?
Steve Drummond:
That's a really good question. I don't know. I think you know the media and the presence of the media plays a role. You know, KC, you and I know that in our careers, we've seen the rise of social media. That has a lot to do with this. And there's just a different feeling of trust in the government that existed in 1944.
KC Counts:
So let's talk a little bit about you and your background. You have done more work in print media than in radio. Is that fair to say?
Steve Drummond:
Yeah, a little bit. I've been at NPR for about 20-2 years, and I had been in newspapers, maybe a little bit less time than that. I might be coming up to more time in radio than print these days.
KC Counts:
Well, I wanted to ask you if you preferred one over the other.
Steve Drummond:
Ohh, I love telling stories with sound. I discovered it and I seem to, when I came to NPR, and I was working with people who you know are really, really good at this and I've just really enjoyed it ever since. This was strange to go back to writing a book and writing a story that was just words on paper that didn't involve tape or sound, and that was really exciting and rewarding too. But my regular job editing stories for the radio I've found that's kind of my home in journalism these days.
KC Counts:
It's more fun, isn't it?
Steve Drummond:
Yeah. Yes it is.
KC Counts:
Now you also teach the next generation of journalism students. What do you see in our students today?
Steve Drummond:
I do. I teach a podcasting course here at the University of Maryland, just outside DC and I find they are, the first time I talked to a class was seven or eight years ago and back then podcasting and audio recording and editing sound was very strange to the young people. Now, I find they come into my class, they've already been doing this stuff for years. They're chopping away their TikTok videos and their Instagram stories, they actually have a much better grounding telling stories with either pictures or with sound than they did even a few years ago, and I find that really rewarding. It's fun to take them to the next level.
KC Counts:
Doesn't it almost feel like bell bottoms coming back?
Steve Drummond:
Yes it does. It's been a long time since I was on a college campus as a student and it's fun to be back and watch them kind of going through their own, you know, kind of living their own lives. And sometimes it does seem to circle back around to, you know, a long time ago.
KC Counts:
Well, the rise in podcasting is another fascinating topic in and of itself, I think that everybody who's anybody and nobody does it, right?
Steve Drummond:
Yeah, and and it's one of the cool things that I find is some of my students come into class having done a podcast, or I don't know if you're familiar, NPR runs a student podcast challenge every year. We just got - this year we got 3000 podcasts from young people around the country and it's really inspiring to see them taking the thing that you and I know how to do (and we do as a job) and watching them take it in new directions and have a lot of fun with it. Or you know, and especially with young people, they have a lot to say.
KC Counts:
Now I know we only have a moment left, so I want to get back to The book and I I want to ask you, do you have an audio book version? Did you read it yourself?
Steve Drummond:
I did. I Sat in the studio for six days and I read it myself. It was a lot of fun. It was kind of challenging too. They kept having to, you know, I'm a fast talker. They kept having to say “slow down” or, you know, “take it easy” and sometimes a sentence that I wrote for the book worked fine in print, but it was really, really hard to read. So, anyway, it was - the whole experience was a lot of fun and you know, a couple of people who have heard it said it sounds OK.
KC Counts:
I can so relate to that because I came out of - well, my training originally was in high school speech and debate, so they taught us to just read as fast as we could and when I came here to work at public media, my first comment from a listener was “I love you on the air, but you gotta slow down, girl!”
Steve Drummond:
Ohh yeah. That's exactly how I felt.
KC Counts:
Well thank you so much for spending some time with us. It's been a joy to talk to you. I wish we had more time and good luck with the book.
Steve Drummond:
Hey, KC, it was my pleasure. Thank you so much.
KC Counts:
Thank you, Steve.
Steve Drummond:
bye bye.
