NPR correspondent speaks on career, politics during KRCU event

Don Gonyea, a political correspondent for National Public Radio, spoke at a fundraising breakfast for KRCU Public Radio on Wednesday, Oct. 4, on the Southeast Missouri State University campus in Cape Girardeau.

Gonyea spoke about his years reporting for NPR, saying he began in 1986 at the local affiliate station, WDET, in Detroit, covering labor unions and the auto industry. He said he was assigned to cover the White House in 2000 and has been the national political correspondent for NPR since 2010.

Gonyea joked about being invited to speak on a "slow news day" referring to the recent breaking news of Kevin McCarthy being ousted from his position as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

"But this is the reality of my job over the past weeks, months and years. I can't think of the last time when we had a slow news day," Gonyea said. "The world seems to be spinning a lot faster in terms of the speed at which cataclysmic events happen, and I'm just talking about politics."

He reflected on his time covering the 2000 presidential election and the subsequent recount of votes in Florida that gave George W. Bush the victory over Al Gore.

"That was probably the first time I said, 'This is the biggest story I'll cover in my life," Gonyea said prompting laughter from the audience. "I wondered, 'What story could be bigger than this?' and then less than a year later 9/11 happened."

Gonyea said it was remarkable to him how often he is on the air talking about something that has never happened before. He tallied stories he covered during his career of major events that spawned the next even bigger event.

"With 9/11 we saw TSA in airports, the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan that only ended last year," Gonyea said. "In some ways, the Iraq War begat Barack Obama's presidency, which in turn begat Donald Trump's."

He said a direct line could be drawn from the tea party responding to Obama's Affordable Care Act to the Make America Great Again activists and the rise of Trump.

"I try to have that very large world view as I cover stories and at least have in the back of my mind somewhere how all of these things are connected," Gonyea said. "And how where we are today didn't just come out of the blue."

Gonyea talked about how his work has changed over his career. He mentioned the public's mistrust of the media and how it has gotten harder, "especially over the last five years" to find people willing to talk to him.

"But I am hugely proud of my record of accurately reflecting what my encounter with people was like," Gonyea said. "I think it's important for all of us to hear what Americans of all stripes are thinking. What they're talking about."

Gonyea closed his remarks by stressing the importance NPR's member stations such as KRCU in Cape Girardeau. He said local support to member stations is what has given him such a long and rich career.

"I started at a member station and member stations really are the lifeblood of NPR," Gonyea said. "I mean this is how you support NPR, by supporting your local station, and this is the way my work finds its way to your ears."

Dan Woods, director of KRCU Public Radio, thanked Gonyea for helping to kick off the station's Fall Fund Drive. He said donations given at the breakfast exceeded the $3,000 goal, bringing in $5,780.

More information about NPR programs and how to donate to KRCU may be found online at www.KRCU.org or by calling (573) 651-5070.