from "the new york times." tell us why "the new york times" decided to go this route. born outhe daily" was of the question of trying to understand this moment. it launched in february 2017. maybe as journalists, we hadn't understood the country. to create a product that would explore the expertise of our reporters to really understand this moment. the show relies on new york times journalists to help us understand the news of the day, to go deep and understand the context behind the headlines. that is the genesis of it. hearing from voices across the country to really understand the news and the moment we are in. host: expand that idea of understanding the country, understanding the moment. what are the questions that made

you think we weren't understanding it enough? guest: i joined "the daily" two months and. i wasn't here for the very beginning of it. coming out of the election, maybe we didn't understand how the country was feeling, different perspectives. voices, hear from those not necessarily reading it and print, hearing from people on the ground and understanding the different perspectives that people had, the different issues and concerns, and bringing that to life in an audio form. understanding where the country is, understanding the news and how people are interpreting it, how they are reacting to it. we really wanted to lean into

the times journalism and expertise. leading into that to really get of new york and you see and hear from people in the country. new york and d see and hear from the people in the country and hearrk and d.c. from the people in the country. we feel an obligation to our listeners that if you are seeing news alerts, seeing things popping up, they want to understand what the big story of the day is. that's what really drives us. we have a mission to explain the big headlines and what's going on. what is the big talker? what can we contribute? what can we provide context to? that is leaning on the expertise of new york times journalists to

understand the news driving the day. host: how do you produce a podcast? podcast? is there a is it monday through friday, all week long? guest: it is monday through friday. we are up every morning by 6:00 a.m. it's about 20-30 minutes in length. host: rachel quester joining us as part of our podcasters series. it want to ask her a question about "the daily," give us a call. 02-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8002 for independents. taken uphis podcast the issue of the mass shootings -- what are you hearing?

guest: this is not the first mass shooting we've had to cover on the show. we've been trying to figure out what is the context, what is the information we can provide? for the particular shooting in el paso, we decided to take a look at the location of where this happened. onspoke with our reporters the ground in el paso trying to figure out the story there. we spoke to a reporter who was doing some -- was looking into why this shooter potentially chose this walmart, the specific location, the people who shop there. there's a lot of people coming across the border to shop there. they were doing back to school shopping. we thought it was important to understand that particular location and white was maybe chosen -- and why it was maybe chosen.

trying to put some context around this tragedy. reporterso one of our following beto o'rourke on the campaign trail. she had been with him in nevada. their trip was diverted to el paso. she noticed this couple that approached him, the husband was speaking with him -- she eventually turned to them both and it turned out that they were parents of a parkland shooting --tim, walking all of our joaquin oliver. that allowed us to encapsulate this unbelievable moment and coincidence where the family who had been affected by a mass shooting again found themselves forl paso for walking --

joaquin's 19th birthday. when moments like these have back andtake a step think ok, what is the greater here, here, what is happening that we can explain to our listeners this moment? our journalists are on the ground somewhere like el paso. they can encapsulate the feeling on the ground there, the response. what is the second day story we can tell? how can we continue to provide context and useful information? that happens to be one of our tech correspondence who spoke to correspondents who spoke n, the founder of 8cha understanding parts of the internet where this is fueled. what is the first day story?

understanding what happened. then taking a step back and looking at the larger institutions or structures in place that can potentially help us understand how something like this was fueled. we like to say that nothing happens in a vacuum. what are the larger structures and systems in play that can lead to something like this? host: how do you suspect your podcast will treat the politics of this situation as the discussions of gun control go forward? storytellers are journalists. how are they thinking about this, what are they hearing? country andow the our leaders are looking at this moment, how they are talking about it. we like to step back and provide some historical context.

is there a way to talk about this historically? what are the politics of it we can dive into? ouring on the expertise of reporters who are on the front lines of figuring this out. host: will your coverage of these recent incidences differ from previous shootings? guest: i think this one is different in that the specific location that was chosen, we can look to that to see, ok, what were the motivations here, what is the larger issue at play? every mass shooting, we are covering what happened and the victims. this one in particular, it was looking at what we could see as the shooter's potential motivations here. andave to take a step back look at the systems in place that allow this to happen.

when thee for the show las vegas shooting happened in october of 2017. after the initial coverage of that, we took a step back to look at the different playbooks of how various organizations respond to something like a mass shooting. we looked at the nra playbook to see how they respond. something we find useful, looking at that historical context, how people have talked about these things in the past, to provide a framework going forward to better understand what is happening when something like this occurs. 202-748-8001 fpr -- 202-748-8001 for-800 republicans, 202-748-8000 for

democrats, 202-748-8002 for independents. politics,mes to 2020 what have you learned so far about the 2020 political field and what you want to communicate to your listeners? guest: what we are trying to understand is that obviously the focus is on the democratic primary and the democratic party is going this -- undergoing this internal debate. does it embrace policies like medicare for all or the green new deal or does it not and does it backtrack from that? what we've been trying to understand is that is a debate in the party right now. incident last week where one of the political reporters had interviewed kamala

harris. we think it's important to hear from the candidates themselves so they can explain their positions. that will include us relying on our reporters talking to voters and seeing how they are thinking about the field right now. what we are trying to do is to humanize this debate right now within the party and understand the different demands that the party is trying to deal with and how it wants to present itself in the general election. we are in the primary right now so that debate is the fundamental question right now for the party. we are trying to understand the candidates, what they represent within the party, relying on our reporters talking to voters and seeing what voters want and seeing what direction they want the party to go. host: what did you learn from producing the podcast on

narrowing the debate field? guest: it was a fascinating look -- there's a way to talk about debate right after it happens. we try to provide the larger context of what's happening. you look at that debate stage, it's two nights, there's a lot of candidates. how did that happen? what did ultimately lead to? demands put on the candidates themselves, how that can inform their response to what we are seeing. we want to provide framework, we want to provide context. framework forhis me to look at the debate stage, understanding what is happening there and why the responses are the way they are. that is beneficial, not just

hearing what the thoughts are immediately afterwards but a framework going forward for ultimately how the voters decide on who the democratic nominee will be. host: mary in montana. ofr up with rachel quester "the daily" podcast. caller: i noticed in your recent podcast, there were a lot of episodes focused on domestic issues. i wonder what international reporting is done with the podcast. that can transform people's lives. host: do you listen to the podcast daily? regularly, but i sometimes listen to the podcast. host: go ahead. guest: thank you so much. we've been thinking a lot about our international coverage. what really drives the show is

the big news of the day. often, that does tend to be what happens in the united states. we need to recognize what happens around the world. entireths ago, we had an week devoted to the rise of populism in europe. we believe it's really important for our listeners to understand what's happening globally and how we can look at that and understand what's happening in europe and how that affects our country as well. "the new york times" has reporters all over the world. that's a great resource for us to tap into and find out what those stories are internationally. that is something we are striving for more and more. it is so important. looking to your point about economics, understanding the economic situations in italy or .rance or germany host: recent episodes from the

the economybsite, is booming, or is it? what is kamala harris stand for -- what does kamala harris stand for? guest: it is really the news that is driving the day. you mentioned the economic episode. we knew that the fed was going to be lowering the interest rate for the first time in 10 years. that's one of those stories you see on your tv screen or you get an alert on your phone, if we have questions about it, we are wondering, maybe our listeners do, too. to editors come together discuss the stories in the paper that they. that allows us to tap into what this larger institution is thinking about. this is my burning question this

to discuss themorning. this is what i don't understand and i need to figure that out. if we are feeling that way, we are hoping that our listeners feel that way. when you wake up in the morning and turn on "the daily," you better understand the world and what happened the day before, potentially. we never put on an episode that is a feature-length episode, more humanity focused or more human focused or a feature story in place of doing the news. we feel it is our mission to look at the main story driving that day and we unpack it for our listeners to make it more digestible, make it speak to a larger context. we are a daily news show. it is our obligation to tap into the news, to tap into new york times journalism. for us, that is not just a starting with the headline.

that might be the historical context. when you see a story, it automatically starts with what just happened. what do i need to understand before the news event that allows me to better understand the news? the headline you are seeing on might come 15 minutes into the episode. we know that nothing happens in a vacuum. contextthe historical that you need to understand so when you finally get to that news moment, you understand that? the boeing story, natalie had this exclusive reporting to understand what was happening with the boeing planes. it's tapping into the unbelievable reporting that's andg on in this institution the obligations to our listeners to unpack and understand the

news of the day. 202-748-8001 for republicans. 202-748-8000 for democrats. 202-748-8002 for independents. chris, go ahead. caller: i would like to ask rachel about what was discovered about the el paso shooting, the location and why that location was a walmart. guest: our colleague reported that this walmart is one of the busiest walmarts in the entire franchise. it was frequented by many immigrants. it is close to the border, across the border from juarez. it was back to school shopping, it was at maximum capacity.

you see a lot of immigrants coming to shop here. , thisis reporting showed was a specific target to target a specific group of people. migrants or people living in el paso -- el paso is a predominantly latino community. his reporting showed that that's why that walmart was targeted. host: rachel quester, does "the daily" taken editorial point of view? guest: we do not. we want to report the truth as "the new york times." we are "the new york times," an extension of the front page. we do not have an editorial opinion. we like to invite on different perspectives. it's important for people to hear perspectives they may have never heard before.

that's lawmakers on different sides of the aisle -- after the las vegas shooting, we spoke to a gun store owner where the virginia tech shooter bought his gun. we want to provide that nuance. we do not take an opinion. we like to invite people on to share their perspectives so we can better understand what's happening. host: will the podcast regularly feature conservative opinion nests or liberal opinion nests -- conservative opinionists or liberal opinionists? guest: first and foremost, we go to our reporters to understand what's happened. if we want to hear from a lawmaker, that's when we will invite that on. for instance, the one off the

top of my head is congressman well heard is the only republican with the district on him whenr, we spoke to the debate was happening within he hadublican party and an interesting perspective on how to deal with something like that. we go to lawmakers when we think that they can encapsulate that nuance we are looking for and give us a view into how they are thinking about the issue, various legislation, et cetera. most of the time, we are going to our reporters and relying on our reporters. when we want to hear from a person on the front lines, that's when we'll go to a lawmaker or a voice in the country. host: tulsa, oklahoma. republican line. this is vincent for rachel quester.

let's go to joe in maine. independent line. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. callingunderstand why out the president even more --hello? host: you are on. caller: i don't know what happened. thank you. i don't understand why you're not calling out the president for calling out el paso as a hellhole or whatever he called it a month and a half ago. he said there was trouble down , telling lies like he always does. call them all out. we have a peaceful city here. it that this guy just butt off?ies his

guest: i can't necessarily speak to the president. the approach we take with "the daily," the approach is to understand why that specific place was targeted and what are the larger teams at play here. that's what i can say about that. president's comments in context and delving into what we think is useful to provide our listeners an attempt to understand something like this. host: from niagara falls, anne anne is next. you're on. caller: ok. rachel, i would like to ask, have you interviewed any of the and theirle there

feelings of how the politicians time like this a ? are they aware, had they been made aware to report if they see something or hear something, say something? have you ever heard any of the -- have you ever interviewed the young people? -- i: we have not spoken can't think of an episode where we've done that. that is something going forward people's hearing from who are seeing these things on the front lines. parkland students, things like that.

if you're talking specifically about mass shootings, it is very important, that is something we should be thinking about going forward. seeing, younger voices what are they thinking? thatg to understand where youth perspective is, understanding the issues they care about and how that is motivating them and what they want to be hearing. for a an opportunity conversation with somebody to get into the nuance -- that is something we will certainly be thinking about going forward, the various voices we want to be hearing from. is it a younger voice, is it somebody in a school? yes, that is something we will definitely be thinking about. host: winchester, virginia. independent line. maria, hello.

you will have to turn down your television. my question would be from the mass shooting -- do you think it will trigger more --ngs like they were sitting what the president has to say about anything. i'm not in a position to answer that question. timesy on new york reporters. i don't think i'm best equipped to answer that question. host: what are the plans for today's podcast? guest: that's a great question. we haven't had our morning meeting it. -- meeting yet. is there further coverage we need on the mass shootings? is there more to peel back about

, about whiteo supremacy? was anrning's episode interview with the founder of 8c han. it's just really talking amongst ok,elves and figuring out, what other service can we provide for our listeners? what are the earning questions we still have? -- yearning questions we still have? we want to be useful so when you finish that episode, you feel like you have a greater understanding. that is a conversation we will have to have amongst ourselves. to the caller's point about international coverage, there's a lot happening, the trade war with china going on. there's other topics we need to

be thinking about. what is the story that is driving the day? what is going to be most useful for audience? host:

we have to leave it there. you can address that if you wish. >> i do not think i am equipped to answer that. >> what is your listenership like for the podcast? and have you seen growth come out of it? >> we have seen a huge amount of growth. about 2 million listeners a day. audience in the u.s. and around the world. >> good afternoon, everybody. i'm sure the gavel of europe. my name is jeff, news editor with al jazeera media network colic haswork in my been unjustly imprisoned in egypt. we have call for his immediate release on other jal