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Political reporters on the record

Whether it is shaping “Inside City Hall” with host Dominic Carter, hammering out rules with the candidates for debates sponsored by the station, briefly dipping in front of the camera for bits of political commentary with Kristen Shaughnessy, or doing a daily summary of the papers in his NY1TCH blog, Bob Hardt has a major role in defining the political coverage for a station that has quickly defined itself as one of the city’s premier sources for local news.

The NY1 political director recently talked with City Hall about the job, how it differs from his experiences at the Associate Press and New York Post and the difference it has made in his take on politicians.

City Hall: What made you switch from the Post to NY1?
Bob Hardt: I thought making the switch from print to TV would be an interesting challenge. I wanted to see what it would be like to run something rather than just be a runner. And I thought that the fact that an hour every night on television is devoted to politics – an hour is ours – versus having to fight for space in a newspaper, was also appealing.

CH: Most of your job now is behind the scenes. Do you prefer it that way?
BH: Yeah, it’s a lot more fun and rewarding and also you don’t have to worry about what clothes you’re wearing or how you look.

CH: Do you spend a lot of time coordinating things with Dominic Carter before going on the air?
BH: Yeah, Dominic and I sit down before most guests come on. He’ll have a long list of questions that he’ll show me and we’ll whittle those down. He usually has a lot of ideas, and then I’ll have a few, and then between those we’ll come up with a list.

CH: How do you pick which items to highlight in your blog, NY1TCH?
BH: That’s a really good question. If the same story is in four different newspapers, I will try to pick the paper that has devoted the most space to that story. So that is one way I go about things. Obviously any exclusive I’ll mention, but it’s pretty much a laundry list of everything that’s been in all the papers that day.

CH: What are the most important elements of your political coverage?
BH: Basically everyone knows for local and state elections if they want to watch the coverage they’ve got to watch us, not the other channels. Because we’re going to be at all the headquarters, we’re going to run all the speeches. We’re going to have every reporter there, we’re going have analysts in the studio. It’s going to be wall-to-wall, so anyone who is really interested in the mayor’s race or the governor’s race is going to say, “Hey, I’ve got to watch NY1.”

CH: In politics, what is the toughest to cover on television?
BH: I don’t think the campaigns are the problem, I think it’s covering the legislative process. I mean, the video of the City Council and the State Assembly and the State Senate is inherently boring. It’s people sitting at desks, and standing up and talking – and how do you provide good video for that? It’s very challenging.

CH: Does your job as political director give you a different perspective on politicians?
BH: I think sometimes you see different sides of politicians that you wouldn’t ordinarily see as a reporter, unless you were organizing a debate or trying to convince all of them to come out on TV. There’s more wheeling and dealing as a producer then you would ever have as a reporter. Demands that they might make that you have to say no to. Like, “No, if you come on we do have to ask you that question – we can’t make that deal, sorry.”