December 2, 2025 • 20 mins
The Big Take Daily from Bloomberg News brings you inside what's shaping the world's economies with the smartest and most informed business reporters around the world. The context you need on the stories that can move markets. Every afternoon.Episodes available here:Https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1308-big-take-84969425/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's actually a fun place to hang out. Erow dot net,
A r r oe dot net. They always teach us
in Radio one thought per break. Then why are we
shoving all of our podcasts into one episode? Not here,
it's seventeen different podcasts. Ero dot net, A r r
oe dot Net. Enjoy the exploration, David. I don't know
how you guys do what you do, because I swear
(00:21):
that we are living in an age where the news
if you stick around for five minutes, it's going to change.
And then and then we depend on people like yourself
at Bloomberg with with a big daily take, and it's like,
how do you even stay ahead?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It is incredibly challenging, and I think for us, you know,
we're setting out to do a podcast every day, every weekday,
you know, recognizing the fact that news is changing day
by day, but hour by hour as well. So I'll
have an interview in the morning, uh, maybe another interview
after that, we'll kind of script and put the piece together,
and then it's the day where it's on. So much
can change. There have been no shortage of times when
(00:57):
we've done that, haven't had to scrap the whole thing,
but had to go back to the drawing board, kind
of rework it. Just in light of news developing that
is definitely the challenge of our age, just how fast
the news is moving. And this is such a wonderful
format for giving people more time to think about think
through these issues, but of course there are challenges they're
in just given the pace of the news today.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Well, I mean, I can understand what you're doing when
you do it daily, because that's what I do. I mean,
and I always tell people because I'm a radio guy
and that's what we're conditioned to do, show up every day.
But I mean the planning that goes into what you're
doing and the number of people that are involved. I
would love to see a meeting with your entire team
that says, Okay, this is where you've got to be
ABC and D because I mean, you guys do it
(01:39):
so flawlessly.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I appreciate you saying that. So I think that there
are kind of many concentric circles of team that we're
talking about here. So I have a wonderful team that
I work with with producers who are putting together the
show day in and day out, but we sit very
much in the center of yes, A New York based newsroom,
but a global one as well. Bloomberg has two thousand
plus journalists around the world, and that's the beauty of
this place that if there's a story that's happening in
(02:04):
Europe or Asia, Africa, there are countless people that we
can call who, yes, have kind of a general sense
of what's happening and why I can give us that context.
But a really remarkable facet of this newsroom, this place
is that you know there is somebody who is covering
an individual company full time or one particular part of
a country, and to be able to go that granular
(02:25):
is incredibly useful, often amazing, just to have that level
of expertise. And so the way that these shows are
coming together again going to that first concentric circle. Great
team of producers who are scouring the newsroom, scouring our output,
kind of flagging stories that come up, keeping track of things.
But we have such good faith in great relationships in
this global newsroom, folks who are telling us very early
(02:47):
on in they're reporting, Hey, I'm working on this project.
I think it might lend itself well to the podcast.
Maybe there's a compliment that you can do with the
print story that we're doing. Being brought in early really
makes it just kind of a pleasure, you know, times
and we'll send a producer out with a print reporter
to gather sound. So we've kind of established ourselves. It's
a really integral part of this newsroom and it's a
really great thing.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So is it like in nineteen seventies Hollywood newsroom drama
in the way that when news comes that dose is
shutting down early. I mean, I can't imagine somebody being
on the phone going you're not gonna believe it. I
just came across, dude, Oh, we got to get this
on as quickly as possible. We're talking about something that
most people thought was already gone.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
You know, we've had those moments. And I will say again,
operating day in and day out, and I've done live radio.
I love what you do. The pleasure of this is
that in a way that we can say, you know what,
let's take a beat. Let's figure out how we can
do this either later today or tomorrow. What's the way
that we can kind of bring our special perspective on this.
But you're right, the phone is ringing. I don't know
(03:47):
if it's quite the old Hollywood newsroom of old or
what what place is today. But I will say there's
a lot incoming and we're having to navigate all of that,
and I think that what we do best when we
do it is to kind of pause and say, look,
there are plenty of competing podcasts outlets that are going
to do this immediately. What's the way that we kind
of make this story our own Again that the prism
(04:07):
through which we're looking at so many of these stories
is through business in the economy. Let's just take a
breath and figure out what's the way that we can
tell this story that's going to be unique to us,
unique to Bloomberg, and hopefully is going to give our
audience a better understanding what's to play here.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
But David, you are that news outlet that everybody says,
if you want to trust somebody, you got to go
to Bloomberg. I mean, you guys have earned that honor,
and that's where everybody seems to be turning.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I appreciate you saying that, and I think that's something
that we've really tried part at. So there's no partisan
veneer or perspective that we have. Again, I think I
keep trumpeting this just the size of the newsroom. We're
relatively young compared to a lot of our peers, but
have really invested in the breadth of that newsroom and
really kind of telling it like it is. And so
(04:53):
you know, we marry again the very granular stories about
what's happening at a given company on a given day,
these kind of broader, context rich pieces that are explaining
what's happening in a different sector, how what's happening to
that company affects other companies and the economy more broadly.
And we're really trying to tell it like it is. Yes,
on print, go to our website Bloomberg dot com, certainly
(05:13):
through the podcast. We've got Bloomberg Radio and television, a
huge social platform as well, really trying to be a
global newsroom and a global outlet. And I think, as
you're pointing out, it has cheered me and others in
the newsroom to see sort of people coming to us
recognizing the fact that's that's what we do. Well here,
you know what you're getting from us, and that is
just the facts, a lot of details and analysis that's
(05:36):
really informed by the kind of strong reporting that everybody
here's doing.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
So then who gets the assignment. When word comes out
that there's harassment going on, it's untalked about at Oxford,
and it's like and you know, everybody's mouths are going
to be dropping wide open. It's going to be like
what and you go instantly, we go to Bloomberg. We
really do?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
You know, we've invested a lot in our coverage of
the UK. I'll say that, first of all, were playing
there in a way that we hadn't in years before.
You know, I've worked at other places, I've come here.
It's something that always stood out to me, and I'll
tell this to everybody I meet, is I've never been
in a more collaborative newsroom. So that's a good example
of a story where you know, it's not just one
reporter who's doing the work. It's a bunch of reporters
(06:17):
working together with editors. It's kind of an ego list
place in a way that few others are, and so
it's kind of rare. I'd say that you'll see a
Bloomberg story that has just one byline, one name on it.
People are working together all the time, and so yeah,
I think people are aware obviously of the consequences of
doing hard hitting work, But there's a lot of power
in kind of working as a team makes us more muscular,
(06:37):
and I think that's happening in the case of that story,
but others that we've done recently as well. We have
just an incredible investigations and projects team, really grinding it
out day and day out. But we'll spend months working
on stories, again fully aware of the fact that that
product is likely to have a seismic effect on whatever
market or economy or political place or company. But again,
(06:59):
the folks is on the work, getting it right, getting
it true, and it's just wonderful to be a place
that really prioritizes that.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Well, you're spot on with that, because yesterday I was
doing some heavy duty research for a future iHeartRadio investigation,
and that is is that do you really need to
be a writer in order to have a podcast? And
of course everything that I was bumping into is no, no, no,
no no, And I'm going, wait a second. They have
obviously not done any research for Bloomberg here the daily Take,
for the Big Daily Take, and the reason why is
because that writing is so important, Because how is it, David,
(07:27):
that I can be late on an episode, but yet
when I tune in. As old as that story might be,
it still feels like it's happening right now, and that
means that you guys know who we are. On this side.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
We think a lot about the Long Tale, as it's called,
of these stories. How do we make a podcast that's
gonna last if you come to it a couple of
weeks like the old It's like the stack of New
Yorker magazines you can pulling out and it's still going
to be worth worth reading. So obviously there are stories
where you know we're gonna jump on it. Today might
be a good example. We're going to talk about sort
of the prospects for some sort of deal between Ukraine
and Russia that might age. But we're trying to approach
it in a way where the themes that we're getting
(08:02):
at are going to last, are going to be of
interest that somebody might come to it a couple of days,
a couple of days, a couple of weeks down down
the line. But yeah, I think the writing is crucial here.
There are episodes that we do that are largely you know,
one on one interviews. I'll sit down with somebody for
twenty thirty minutes we'll letit that down a little bit,
but largely it will stand as an interview. There are
others where the writing is crucial, just sort of holding
(08:23):
the listener's hand as we go through what might be
a very complicated story. You mentioned that Oxford story that
my colleague Sarah Holder did. Yes, you know, recognizing the
fact that you know, you're introducing people to place that
they might not know that well, might not know context
or history, making sure all of that's in there, making
sure people feel like they can come to the story blind.
But also kind of recognizing the fact that writing, as
(08:44):
you know, can really move a story along, can kind
of keep the pace and interest up. And you know,
it's great to look around my team and see how
enthusiastic producers are and wanting to take up that mantle
and working on the writings themselves. Recognizing that writing for
broadcast is a different thing entirely. It could be a
great writer for pre but you have to understand the
way we talk, the way we tell a story orally
is a totally different thing.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Dude. It's all about pitch, volume and tone and pacing.
My god, how are you getting your pacing down?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
You know, I look back on my career thus far.
This is my first time hosting a podcast like this.
Of course it's recorded, it's a different animal. Before this,
I was a beat reporter at NPR. I did live
radio at Bloomberg Drivetime Live Radio. Nothing kind of shaped
me as a broadcaster more than that, as you know, well,
kind of rolling with the punches, going into the studio,
(09:35):
knowing sort of what you need to be prepared if
everything goes according to plan, but almost more importantly, what
you need if it doesn't go according to plan. What
material you need to have in your head and on
paper so that you can kind of not just get
through those three hours, but really do Yeoman's work a
great job of doing that. My first job as reporter
was at Marketplace Public Radio Business show. What it really
(09:57):
taught me was the importance of voice. And I started there.
Iristall As, the longtime host of that show, has a
great voice, easily identifiable voice. I found myself in those
first few months feel like I need to need to
emulate the way that he talks, the way that he voices.
You know, try that didn't work, But what it awakened
me to is everyone has a voice. You need to
(10:17):
work on it and practice it. And so after those
three months passed, I really found myself figuring out, how
do I write for myself?
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yep?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
How do I make it sound natural? How do I
emphasize what needs to be emphasized? And it is I
think you'd agree with you kind of a lifelong thing,
kind of refining that, working on that, but recognizing the
fact that the way that we communicate is certainly important,
just as what we're communicating is important.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Please do not move. There's more with David right around
the corner the podcast Bloomberg The Big Daily Take. Hey,
thanks for coming back to my conversation with David Gura,
one of the team members of Bloomberg's The Big Daily Take.
Just between the two of us here, because when you
say writing for yourself, that's when I get to step
in as that writer. And there are times I don't
(10:59):
want punk situation. What I want is I want something
natural because there's no comma, there's no quotations when I'm
speaking like we are here, and it's like, I don't
want that stuff because it's going to put rules around
my delivery.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
You would laugh if you look at the scripts that
I prepare. So you know like I will put an
asterisk next to a word that I want to emphasize.
There are tons of ellipsies in my scripts. You're right,
I mean, punctuation goes out the window. But it's funny
like we'll get a new producer who will look at
one of my scripts for the first time, and he
or she'll say, what is happening here, Like do I
need to change us or corrected? No, But it gets
to what you're saying, which is I have an inherent
(11:32):
sense of sort of the way that I pace things,
how I emphasize things, and we all develop I think
you're getting into this are our own kind of symbology
of how we make a script readable to us. And
I love it when I've worked with the producer long
enough that he or she will kind of pick up
on the weird of weird quirks of my writing. We'll
start including stuff like that might might not always be
(11:52):
in the right place, but I applaud I applaud those
producers for giving it a go and trying to figure
out what it is that makes me able to read
it script in the way that feels not feel the meme.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Well, I want to know how people don't. They'll sit
there and say, I can't read your handwriting. I do
every day. I can read my handwriting. What are you
talking about? You can't read my handwriting.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
It's perfect, That's totally true. And I've worked in newsrooms where,
like you'll, you'll look at a script that a reporter
or a host has read, anchor has read. Everything is misspelled.
It looks totally incomprehensible to me, but of course that
person has just read it flawlessly before. So I think
it's like we all have our own kind of lexicon
and way of doing this and unique to us. And
(12:33):
if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
We are in such strange times in the way that
I always because there's one of the things that I
put a lot of focus on, don't write a story
before it happens. And we are living in that age.
We are writing this story before it happens, because we've
got the midterms right in the corner. We've got we've
got we're trying to get peace with Ukraine and Russia.
I mean, how do you guys even prep for that.
It's like, at the drop of a hat, everything that
you had planned today is out the window.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
There are very few occasions when we will kind of
go through the practice of writing an entire script for
a lot of a script before something happened. So for us,
we were talking about the Fed Reserve a little while
ago that you know they meet regularly, and we know
that a given meeting, they're either going to raise rates
or lower rates, or keep them the same. So we're
not we're not going to write an entire script ahead
(13:18):
of time, but we're going to think through certainly what
an intro to an episode's going to be for each
of those three scenarios, and just it it enables us
to move a lot faster once we know that decision
comes out. But you're right, I think, you know, I
think of the big events that we're looking ahead to
now on trade policy, we've got the Supreme Court set
to decide whether or not what the President's done with
tariffs is legal or not. That's certainly a case where
(13:40):
I know that my colleagues were working on that are
thinking through what's that episode going to be like if
the Supreme Court upholds what the President's done, says that
you know, under the aeges of national security, you can
have those tariffs in place, and also thinking through the
other episode, which is, if the Supreme Court decides not
to do that, what are the questions that raises about
the policies that and put in place the money that
(14:01):
the US is brought in so far, just beginning to
kind of game out what those are. So you're right
in pointing out we're in an age when I think
we have these kind of pivotal moments we're looking ahead
to and we are able to, if not do all
of the work ahead of time, kind of think through
all the different contingencies of what might happen. And it
can be more exhausting because it does feel like you're
doing you're working on every possible angle. But I think
(14:23):
because of the pace of things, you kind of want
to get ahead as much as you can, at least
in the effort of thinking through what those decisions might mean.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Yeah, because you guys have mastered the art of acceptable cliffhangers.
And what I mean by that is is that when
word came out about James Comy and Latitia, it was like, Okay,
well I'm gonna go there. I'm gonna get the story
of what just happened, but I'm going to make sure
that I stay on Bloomberg the big daily take, because
they're going to tell me what goes on after this,
because it doesn't just go away since it fell off
the front page.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
You know, we tried something for the first time with
that story. We did a piece. My colleague Sarah Holder
did a piece on the way that the president and
is seeking retribution against those key things wronged him during
the first term. And so those two individuals obviously or
example of how the Presidence sees that did that episode
kind of a sweeping, big look at sort of the
way he's thinking about that, what he's done thus far.
(15:11):
And then Low a couple of weeks later, we had
this development in the court cases against Letitia James and
James Comy, and we decided not to repurpose that episode
wholly redo the interviews or I think through it, but
kind of top that with more analysis of sort of
what had just happened, what that means, and then air,
you know, republished that conversation beneath almost almost in hole.
(15:33):
I think it worked, but it gets to this phenomenon
where you know you can do as much as you
can knowing that something's likely to change in the future.
You know, you don't you don't want to cast that
all the ways. And the beauty of the podcast, as
you mentioned, is is it can last for a long time.
How do you how do you keep what you've done
alive and vital and vibrant. And I think that's something
we're working on every single day. How to keep it
(15:54):
something that's a valuable resource to people who might find
it day over, might find it, you know, a couple
months down the line.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Well, the big thing that's been everybody's been talking about
is Navida and and the thing is is that the
average person doesn't know what that is. They they know chat,
GPT and GROCK, but you talk about these these leaders
when it comes to AI technology. I need you guys
to educate me. And that's what you guys do. So
I mean, hopefully you won't sit there's any these stupid listeners,
you know, because I mean, because we are uneducated until
(16:20):
we spend those moments with you.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Look, I would never say stupid listeners. I'm very conscious
of the fact that people are coming to this kind
of maybe recognizing the name in video. This is something important.
This is part of this whole you know, ground ground
swell of enthusiasm for AI. You know, we charted out
that conversation. I think we left this in the episode,
but you know, a seemingly basic conversation of what Nvidia
do does is I think still very important to a
(16:43):
lot of listeners. So in video makes these chips that
underpin all of the evances we've seen in generative air.
There's a micro chip manufacturer and it's a company. Obviously
if you if you even pay cursory attention to the
stock market, you see how well it's done here in
recent years. The demand for this company's have been huge.
But but you know, we got into that story by
(17:04):
asking basically, you know, we hear about chat CHIPETI, we
hear about ROC, why doesn't vidio matter? What it matters?
Because again, it's the backbone of all of this, and
I think it's always important to again lay that groundwork
so that you can kind of get to the heart
of the story, but make sure that nobody feels left
behind at the at the front gate. You want to
let people in so they're able to follow what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
So do you go into any meetings with someone saying, Okay, okay,
here's what's going to happen. This new story should be
breaking any time that two thousand dollars check that the
President has been trying to give us, like for the
past couple of months. If anybody gets any word of it,
that's your story. I mean, do you do you point
it to somebody? Or is it like when when a
news story breaks, it's like, is it who's available? What
what happens at that point in time? Because you guys.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Are really really up to date, we try to plan
as much as we can. Again, that can be difficult,
but Sarah and I kind of share hosting responsibilities, so
it kind of our our our schedule dictates some of that.
But you know, the story that we're working on today,
the Ukraine Russia story, again we're trying to figure out
who the best guest is, who's best position to do
that story. Is it's somebody who is in our Ukraine bureau.
(18:04):
Is it's somebody who's based in Europe? Is it somebody's
based in our Washington news bureau. Who's the person who
can kind of give us the latest information? Of course,
but that valuable, that valuable context, and you know, I'm
always impressed by how it comes together. I'm sure you
feel the same way you're looking for a guest. You're
hoping that guest comes through, and five minutes before you
need it to happen that that person's going to come through.
(18:25):
That happens here as well. But I think the beauty
of having this big newsroom is we can really put
a lot of thought into who is the person who
can bring us that information, who we have rapport with,
we've worked with well before, who can kind of play
ball as we try to gain this out. I mean,
there are people that we go to who have gone
to before. I know, if I sit that person in
front of a mic, you know we have a comfort
(18:47):
with each other. They know how the podcast sounds, they
know what we need. We can kind of get up
to speed pretty quickly. That's hugely valuable as well. Yes,
the kind of obviously the information is crucial and key,
but just understanding kind of the vibeer the way the
podcast interview on is important as well.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Well. Your editor is very much in touch with you guys,
because whoever is doing your editing really moves everything forward,
and that in itself is an art form.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Yes, we have some great editors and they've been recognized
with awards in their own right. But it's funny. I've
worked on my own again. When I was covering Wall
Street for NPR, yes, I had an editor, but a
lot of putting those pieces together was done independently. Now,
just to pull back the curtain a bit, like I'll
do an interview, I'll have spoken with an editor beforehand
of what we hope to cover, what we hope to
hit on. That editor will listen to the interview in
(19:32):
real time. We'll come back and sit down the editor,
the producer and I talk through what worked, what didn't,
what the arc of that show might be. We might
move some questions and answers around a bit, but that
really is a remarkable skill, just being able to think
of the whole thing holistically. And then if we add scripting,
if we add kind of me narrating around some of
that interview, doing it in a way that again keeps
(19:53):
momentum up, explains what's happening better. I'm always in such
debt and so grateful to the editors that we work with.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
God, I love your passion because this is where modern
journalism is, and this is where the inspiration is, and
I just can't thank you enough for taking the time
to even share a few moments with this dude.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Total pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Well you got to come back anytime, David, because I
love talking about this stuff, and you know, I'm a
broadcast instructor and I need people like yourself to keep
pushing this forward because it's happening. Okay, So you're not
going to be a YouTube sensation. Well you know what
connection is bigger than YouTube, trust.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Me, that matters. Yes, yeah, I agree, I agree completely,
and I'm from North Carolina. I'll say that isn't the
side as well.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Well, there you go with you. It's in our soil, dude,
there you go. You'd be brilliant today. Okay, thank you.
Nice to speak with you.
It's actually a fun place to hang out. Erow dot net,
A r r oe dot net. They always teach us
in Radio one thought per break. Then why are we
shoving all of our podcasts into one episode? Not here,
it's seventeen different podcasts. Ero dot net, A r r
oe dot Net. Enjoy the exploration, David. I don't know
how you guys do what you do, because I swear
(00:21):
that we are living in an age where the news
if you stick around for five minutes, it's going to change.
And then and then we depend on people like yourself
at Bloomberg with with a big daily take, and it's like,
how do you even stay ahead?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
It is incredibly challenging, and I think for us, you know,
we're setting out to do a podcast every day, every weekday,
you know, recognizing the fact that news is changing day
by day, but hour by hour as well. So I'll
have an interview in the morning, uh, maybe another interview
after that, we'll kind of script and put the piece together,
and then it's the day where it's on. So much
can change. There have been no shortage of times when
(00:57):
we've done that, haven't had to scrap the whole thing,
but had to go back to the drawing board, kind
of rework it. Just in light of news developing that
is definitely the challenge of our age, just how fast
the news is moving. And this is such a wonderful
format for giving people more time to think about think
through these issues, but of course there are challenges they're
in just given the pace of the news today.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Well, I mean, I can understand what you're doing when
you do it daily, because that's what I do. I mean,
and I always tell people because I'm a radio guy
and that's what we're conditioned to do, show up every day.
But I mean the planning that goes into what you're
doing and the number of people that are involved. I
would love to see a meeting with your entire team
that says, Okay, this is where you've got to be
ABC and D because I mean, you guys do it
(01:39):
so flawlessly.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
I appreciate you saying that. So I think that there
are kind of many concentric circles of team that we're
talking about here. So I have a wonderful team that
I work with with producers who are putting together the
show day in and day out, but we sit very
much in the center of yes, A New York based newsroom,
but a global one as well. Bloomberg has two thousand
plus journalists around the world, and that's the beauty of
this place that if there's a story that's happening in
(02:04):
Europe or Asia, Africa, there are countless people that we
can call who, yes, have kind of a general sense
of what's happening and why I can give us that context.
But a really remarkable facet of this newsroom, this place
is that you know there is somebody who is covering
an individual company full time or one particular part of
a country, and to be able to go that granular
(02:25):
is incredibly useful, often amazing, just to have that level
of expertise. And so the way that these shows are
coming together again going to that first concentric circle. Great
team of producers who are scouring the newsroom, scouring our output,
kind of flagging stories that come up, keeping track of things.
But we have such good faith in great relationships in
this global newsroom, folks who are telling us very early
(02:47):
on in they're reporting, Hey, I'm working on this project.
I think it might lend itself well to the podcast.
Maybe there's a compliment that you can do with the
print story that we're doing. Being brought in early really
makes it just kind of a pleasure, you know, times
and we'll send a producer out with a print reporter
to gather sound. So we've kind of established ourselves. It's
a really integral part of this newsroom and it's a
really great thing.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So is it like in nineteen seventies Hollywood newsroom drama
in the way that when news comes that dose is
shutting down early. I mean, I can't imagine somebody being
on the phone going you're not gonna believe it. I
just came across, dude, Oh, we got to get this
on as quickly as possible. We're talking about something that
most people thought was already gone.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
You know, we've had those moments. And I will say again,
operating day in and day out, and I've done live radio.
I love what you do. The pleasure of this is
that in a way that we can say, you know what,
let's take a beat. Let's figure out how we can
do this either later today or tomorrow. What's the way
that we can kind of bring our special perspective on this.
But you're right, the phone is ringing. I don't know
(03:47):
if it's quite the old Hollywood newsroom of old or
what what place is today. But I will say there's
a lot incoming and we're having to navigate all of that,
and I think that what we do best when we
do it is to kind of pause and say, look,
there are plenty of competing podcasts outlets that are going
to do this immediately. What's the way that we kind
of make this story our own Again that the prism
(04:07):
through which we're looking at so many of these stories
is through business in the economy. Let's just take a
breath and figure out what's the way that we can
tell this story that's going to be unique to us,
unique to Bloomberg, and hopefully is going to give our
audience a better understanding what's to play here.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
But David, you are that news outlet that everybody says,
if you want to trust somebody, you got to go
to Bloomberg. I mean, you guys have earned that honor,
and that's where everybody seems to be turning.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
I appreciate you saying that, and I think that's something
that we've really tried part at. So there's no partisan
veneer or perspective that we have. Again, I think I
keep trumpeting this just the size of the newsroom. We're
relatively young compared to a lot of our peers, but
have really invested in the breadth of that newsroom and
really kind of telling it like it is. And so
(04:53):
you know, we marry again the very granular stories about
what's happening at a given company on a given day,
these kind of broader, context rich pieces that are explaining
what's happening in a different sector, how what's happening to
that company affects other companies and the economy more broadly.
And we're really trying to tell it like it is. Yes,
on print, go to our website Bloomberg dot com, certainly
(05:13):
through the podcast. We've got Bloomberg Radio and television, a
huge social platform as well, really trying to be a
global newsroom and a global outlet. And I think, as
you're pointing out, it has cheered me and others in
the newsroom to see sort of people coming to us
recognizing the fact that's that's what we do. Well here,
you know what you're getting from us, and that is
just the facts, a lot of details and analysis that's
(05:36):
really informed by the kind of strong reporting that everybody
here's doing.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
So then who gets the assignment. When word comes out
that there's harassment going on, it's untalked about at Oxford,
and it's like and you know, everybody's mouths are going
to be dropping wide open. It's going to be like
what and you go instantly, we go to Bloomberg. We
really do?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
You know, we've invested a lot in our coverage of
the UK. I'll say that, first of all, were playing
there in a way that we hadn't in years before.
You know, I've worked at other places, I've come here.
It's something that always stood out to me, and I'll
tell this to everybody I meet, is I've never been
in a more collaborative newsroom. So that's a good example
of a story where you know, it's not just one
reporter who's doing the work. It's a bunch of reporters
(06:17):
working together with editors. It's kind of an ego list
place in a way that few others are, and so
it's kind of rare. I'd say that you'll see a
Bloomberg story that has just one byline, one name on it.
People are working together all the time, and so yeah,
I think people are aware obviously of the consequences of
doing hard hitting work, But there's a lot of power
in kind of working as a team makes us more muscular,
(06:37):
and I think that's happening in the case of that story,
but others that we've done recently as well. We have
just an incredible investigations and projects team, really grinding it
out day and day out. But we'll spend months working
on stories, again fully aware of the fact that that
product is likely to have a seismic effect on whatever
market or economy or political place or company. But again,
(06:59):
the folks is on the work, getting it right, getting
it true, and it's just wonderful to be a place
that really prioritizes that.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Well, you're spot on with that, because yesterday I was
doing some heavy duty research for a future iHeartRadio investigation,
and that is is that do you really need to
be a writer in order to have a podcast? And
of course everything that I was bumping into is no, no, no,
no no, And I'm going, wait a second. They have
obviously not done any research for Bloomberg here the daily Take,
for the Big Daily Take, and the reason why is
because that writing is so important, Because how is it, David,
(07:27):
that I can be late on an episode, but yet
when I tune in. As old as that story might be,
it still feels like it's happening right now, and that
means that you guys know who we are. On this side.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
We think a lot about the Long Tale, as it's called,
of these stories. How do we make a podcast that's
gonna last if you come to it a couple of
weeks like the old It's like the stack of New
Yorker magazines you can pulling out and it's still going
to be worth worth reading. So obviously there are stories
where you know we're gonna jump on it. Today might
be a good example. We're going to talk about sort
of the prospects for some sort of deal between Ukraine
and Russia that might age. But we're trying to approach
it in a way where the themes that we're getting
(08:02):
at are going to last, are going to be of
interest that somebody might come to it a couple of days,
a couple of days, a couple of weeks down down
the line. But yeah, I think the writing is crucial here.
There are episodes that we do that are largely you know,
one on one interviews. I'll sit down with somebody for
twenty thirty minutes we'll letit that down a little bit,
but largely it will stand as an interview. There are
others where the writing is crucial, just sort of holding
(08:23):
the listener's hand as we go through what might be
a very complicated story. You mentioned that Oxford story that
my colleague Sarah Holder did. Yes, you know, recognizing the
fact that you know, you're introducing people to place that
they might not know that well, might not know context
or history, making sure all of that's in there, making
sure people feel like they can come to the story blind.
But also kind of recognizing the fact that writing, as
(08:44):
you know, can really move a story along, can kind
of keep the pace and interest up. And you know,
it's great to look around my team and see how
enthusiastic producers are and wanting to take up that mantle
and working on the writings themselves. Recognizing that writing for
broadcast is a different thing entirely. It could be a
great writer for pre but you have to understand the
way we talk, the way we tell a story orally
is a totally different thing.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Dude. It's all about pitch, volume and tone and pacing.
My god, how are you getting your pacing down?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
You know, I look back on my career thus far.
This is my first time hosting a podcast like this.
Of course it's recorded, it's a different animal. Before this,
I was a beat reporter at NPR. I did live
radio at Bloomberg Drivetime Live Radio. Nothing kind of shaped
me as a broadcaster more than that, as you know, well,
kind of rolling with the punches, going into the studio,
(09:35):
knowing sort of what you need to be prepared if
everything goes according to plan, but almost more importantly, what
you need if it doesn't go according to plan. What
material you need to have in your head and on
paper so that you can kind of not just get
through those three hours, but really do Yeoman's work a
great job of doing that. My first job as reporter
was at Marketplace Public Radio Business show. What it really
(09:57):
taught me was the importance of voice. And I started there.
Iristall As, the longtime host of that show, has a
great voice, easily identifiable voice. I found myself in those
first few months feel like I need to need to
emulate the way that he talks, the way that he voices.
You know, try that didn't work, But what it awakened
me to is everyone has a voice. You need to
(10:17):
work on it and practice it. And so after those
three months passed, I really found myself figuring out, how
do I write for myself?
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Yep?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
How do I make it sound natural? How do I
emphasize what needs to be emphasized? And it is I
think you'd agree with you kind of a lifelong thing,
kind of refining that, working on that, but recognizing the
fact that the way that we communicate is certainly important,
just as what we're communicating is important.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Please do not move. There's more with David right around
the corner the podcast Bloomberg The Big Daily Take. Hey,
thanks for coming back to my conversation with David Gura,
one of the team members of Bloomberg's The Big Daily Take.
Just between the two of us here, because when you
say writing for yourself, that's when I get to step
in as that writer. And there are times I don't
(10:59):
want punk situation. What I want is I want something
natural because there's no comma, there's no quotations when I'm
speaking like we are here, and it's like, I don't
want that stuff because it's going to put rules around
my delivery.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
You would laugh if you look at the scripts that
I prepare. So you know like I will put an
asterisk next to a word that I want to emphasize.
There are tons of ellipsies in my scripts. You're right,
I mean, punctuation goes out the window. But it's funny
like we'll get a new producer who will look at
one of my scripts for the first time, and he
or she'll say, what is happening here, Like do I
need to change us or corrected? No, But it gets
to what you're saying, which is I have an inherent
(11:32):
sense of sort of the way that I pace things,
how I emphasize things, and we all develop I think
you're getting into this are our own kind of symbology
of how we make a script readable to us. And
I love it when I've worked with the producer long
enough that he or she will kind of pick up
on the weird of weird quirks of my writing. We'll
start including stuff like that might might not always be
(11:52):
in the right place, but I applaud I applaud those
producers for giving it a go and trying to figure
out what it is that makes me able to read
it script in the way that feels not feel the meme.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Well, I want to know how people don't. They'll sit
there and say, I can't read your handwriting. I do
every day. I can read my handwriting. What are you
talking about? You can't read my handwriting.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
It's perfect, That's totally true. And I've worked in newsrooms where,
like you'll, you'll look at a script that a reporter
or a host has read, anchor has read. Everything is misspelled.
It looks totally incomprehensible to me, but of course that
person has just read it flawlessly before. So I think
it's like we all have our own kind of lexicon
and way of doing this and unique to us. And
(12:33):
if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
We are in such strange times in the way that
I always because there's one of the things that I
put a lot of focus on, don't write a story
before it happens. And we are living in that age.
We are writing this story before it happens, because we've
got the midterms right in the corner. We've got we've
got we're trying to get peace with Ukraine and Russia.
I mean, how do you guys even prep for that.
It's like, at the drop of a hat, everything that
you had planned today is out the window.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
There are very few occasions when we will kind of
go through the practice of writing an entire script for
a lot of a script before something happened. So for us,
we were talking about the Fed Reserve a little while
ago that you know they meet regularly, and we know
that a given meeting, they're either going to raise rates
or lower rates, or keep them the same. So we're
not we're not going to write an entire script ahead
(13:18):
of time, but we're going to think through certainly what
an intro to an episode's going to be for each
of those three scenarios, and just it it enables us
to move a lot faster once we know that decision
comes out. But you're right, I think, you know, I
think of the big events that we're looking ahead to
now on trade policy, we've got the Supreme Court set
to decide whether or not what the President's done with
tariffs is legal or not. That's certainly a case where
(13:40):
I know that my colleagues were working on that are
thinking through what's that episode going to be like if
the Supreme Court upholds what the President's done, says that
you know, under the aeges of national security, you can
have those tariffs in place, and also thinking through the
other episode, which is, if the Supreme Court decides not
to do that, what are the questions that raises about
the policies that and put in place the money that
(14:01):
the US is brought in so far, just beginning to
kind of game out what those are. So you're right
in pointing out we're in an age when I think
we have these kind of pivotal moments we're looking ahead
to and we are able to, if not do all
of the work ahead of time, kind of think through
all the different contingencies of what might happen. And it
can be more exhausting because it does feel like you're
doing you're working on every possible angle. But I think
(14:23):
because of the pace of things, you kind of want
to get ahead as much as you can, at least
in the effort of thinking through what those decisions might mean.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Yeah, because you guys have mastered the art of acceptable cliffhangers.
And what I mean by that is is that when
word came out about James Comy and Latitia, it was like, Okay,
well I'm gonna go there. I'm gonna get the story
of what just happened, but I'm going to make sure
that I stay on Bloomberg the big daily take, because
they're going to tell me what goes on after this,
because it doesn't just go away since it fell off
the front page.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
You know, we tried something for the first time with
that story. We did a piece. My colleague Sarah Holder
did a piece on the way that the president and
is seeking retribution against those key things wronged him during
the first term. And so those two individuals obviously or
example of how the Presidence sees that did that episode
kind of a sweeping, big look at sort of the
way he's thinking about that, what he's done thus far.
(15:11):
And then Low a couple of weeks later, we had
this development in the court cases against Letitia James and
James Comy, and we decided not to repurpose that episode
wholly redo the interviews or I think through it, but
kind of top that with more analysis of sort of
what had just happened, what that means, and then air,
you know, republished that conversation beneath almost almost in hole.
(15:33):
I think it worked, but it gets to this phenomenon
where you know you can do as much as you
can knowing that something's likely to change in the future.
You know, you don't you don't want to cast that
all the ways. And the beauty of the podcast, as
you mentioned, is is it can last for a long time.
How do you how do you keep what you've done
alive and vital and vibrant. And I think that's something
we're working on every single day. How to keep it
(15:54):
something that's a valuable resource to people who might find
it day over, might find it, you know, a couple
months down the line.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Well, the big thing that's been everybody's been talking about
is Navida and and the thing is is that the
average person doesn't know what that is. They they know chat,
GPT and GROCK, but you talk about these these leaders
when it comes to AI technology. I need you guys
to educate me. And that's what you guys do. So
I mean, hopefully you won't sit there's any these stupid listeners,
you know, because I mean, because we are uneducated until
(16:20):
we spend those moments with you.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
Look, I would never say stupid listeners. I'm very conscious
of the fact that people are coming to this kind
of maybe recognizing the name in video. This is something important.
This is part of this whole you know, ground ground
swell of enthusiasm for AI. You know, we charted out
that conversation. I think we left this in the episode,
but you know, a seemingly basic conversation of what Nvidia
do does is I think still very important to a
(16:43):
lot of listeners. So in video makes these chips that
underpin all of the evances we've seen in generative air.
There's a micro chip manufacturer and it's a company. Obviously
if you if you even pay cursory attention to the
stock market, you see how well it's done here in
recent years. The demand for this company's have been huge.
But but you know, we got into that story by
(17:04):
asking basically, you know, we hear about chat CHIPETI, we
hear about ROC, why doesn't vidio matter? What it matters?
Because again, it's the backbone of all of this, and
I think it's always important to again lay that groundwork
so that you can kind of get to the heart
of the story, but make sure that nobody feels left
behind at the at the front gate. You want to
let people in so they're able to follow what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
So do you go into any meetings with someone saying, Okay, okay,
here's what's going to happen. This new story should be
breaking any time that two thousand dollars check that the
President has been trying to give us, like for the
past couple of months. If anybody gets any word of it,
that's your story. I mean, do you do you point
it to somebody? Or is it like when when a
news story breaks, it's like, is it who's available? What
what happens at that point in time? Because you guys.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
Are really really up to date, we try to plan
as much as we can. Again, that can be difficult,
but Sarah and I kind of share hosting responsibilities, so
it kind of our our our schedule dictates some of that.
But you know, the story that we're working on today,
the Ukraine Russia story, again we're trying to figure out
who the best guest is, who's best position to do
that story. Is it's somebody who is in our Ukraine bureau.
(18:04):
Is it's somebody who's based in Europe? Is it somebody's
based in our Washington news bureau. Who's the person who
can kind of give us the latest information? Of course,
but that valuable, that valuable context, and you know, I'm
always impressed by how it comes together. I'm sure you
feel the same way you're looking for a guest. You're
hoping that guest comes through, and five minutes before you
need it to happen that that person's going to come through.
(18:25):
That happens here as well. But I think the beauty
of having this big newsroom is we can really put
a lot of thought into who is the person who
can bring us that information, who we have rapport with,
we've worked with well before, who can kind of play
ball as we try to gain this out. I mean,
there are people that we go to who have gone
to before. I know, if I sit that person in
front of a mic, you know we have a comfort
(18:47):
with each other. They know how the podcast sounds, they
know what we need. We can kind of get up
to speed pretty quickly. That's hugely valuable as well. Yes,
the kind of obviously the information is crucial and key,
but just understanding kind of the vibeer the way the
podcast interview on is important as well.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Well. Your editor is very much in touch with you guys,
because whoever is doing your editing really moves everything forward,
and that in itself is an art form.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Yes, we have some great editors and they've been recognized
with awards in their own right. But it's funny. I've
worked on my own again. When I was covering Wall
Street for NPR, yes, I had an editor, but a
lot of putting those pieces together was done independently. Now,
just to pull back the curtain a bit, like I'll
do an interview, I'll have spoken with an editor beforehand
of what we hope to cover, what we hope to
hit on. That editor will listen to the interview in
(19:32):
real time. We'll come back and sit down the editor,
the producer and I talk through what worked, what didn't,
what the arc of that show might be. We might
move some questions and answers around a bit, but that
really is a remarkable skill, just being able to think
of the whole thing holistically. And then if we add scripting,
if we add kind of me narrating around some of
that interview, doing it in a way that again keeps
(19:53):
momentum up, explains what's happening better. I'm always in such
debt and so grateful to the editors that we work with.
Speaker 1 (20:00):
God, I love your passion because this is where modern
journalism is, and this is where the inspiration is, and
I just can't thank you enough for taking the time
to even share a few moments with this dude.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Total pleasure. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
Well you got to come back anytime, David, because I
love talking about this stuff, and you know, I'm a
broadcast instructor and I need people like yourself to keep
pushing this forward because it's happening. Okay, So you're not
going to be a YouTube sensation. Well you know what
connection is bigger than YouTube, trust.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Me, that matters. Yes, yeah, I agree, I agree completely,
and I'm from North Carolina. I'll say that isn't the
side as well.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Well, there you go with you. It's in our soil, dude,
there you go. You'd be brilliant today. Okay, thank you.
Nice to speak with you.
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