NPR White House Correspondent Franco Ordoñez will visit Bloomington-Normal as the keynote speaker for WGLT’s Radio Faces.
The 17th annual fundraiser will take place Nov. 8 — the first time WGLT has hosted an in-person gala since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ordoñez covered the White House for McClatchy prior to joining NPR in 2019.
“I really like being part of the big story,” he said earlier this week from the NPR booth at the White House. “You’re on the spot at some of the biggest moments in history. It’s cliché that journalism is the first draft of history. I’ve been doing almost seven years, and there’s been a lot of history in that time.”
There are days when the hassle of security and a suit and tie can be cumbersome, but the novelty of working in the White House has not worn off. Ordoñez said he takes a photo of nearly every time he works there.
“Once you open the gates, and you go through and see that big white house, the awe that you feel walking up to the West Wing right in front of the Oval Office is something that I certainly hope I will never take for granted. When I’m bored of doing that, maybe it’s time to move on.”
Covering the Trump and Biden administrations
Ordoñez previously covered foreign affairs and immigration as a correspondent dispatched to Ukraine, Cuba, Mexico and Haiti, to name a few — experiences he said gave him the flexibility to think on his feet during the Trump administration, which rarely followed established customs and norms.
“During the Trump administration, there were definitely difficult moments,” said Ordoñez.
The former president made the press a political foil, declaring the media to be the enemy of the people. He also provided them with unparalleled access.
“When we would fly on Air Force One, he often would come back and speak with us in the back of the plane,” Ordoñez said.
President Biden did this for the first time since taking office last week on the return flight from Israel.
“There’s no question there was a different relationship with the press with Trump and Biden, but it’s not so black and white,” Ordoñez said.
Trump spoke off the cuff. And officials would say what the press and public see is consistent with who he is behind closed doors. The Biden team, Ordoñez said, is more careful.
“They’re a lot more disciplined in not sharing information that they don’t want to be shared,” he said. “That can be very frustrating, to be frank, for journalists working here.”
Reporting on “unprecedented” times
With major events coming one after another in the day-to-day news cycle, Ordoñez relies on textbook reporting, talking to sources and officials to suss out whether the current era is truly “unprecedented.”
“That is a word we use too much,” he said, but scholars, staffers and career politicians say these are, indeed, unprecedented times.
“Certainly January 6. The withdrawal from Afghanistan after decades was just huge. The Middle East, coronavirus, a couple of impeachments. And someone running for president having four indictments against them and also dominating the field. This is just mind-boggling.”
Ordoñez’s time abroad gave him perspective on American democracy and how it is perceived.
“I think there’s a lot of concern about the United States right now,” he said. “On the other hand, I feel, having covered other countries and other governments, very fortunate to be in the United States.”
Ordoñez is encouraged by how government systems and safeguards have held up when democracy has been tested but remains concerned.
“There are huge challenges the United States faces right now, to who the United States wants to be and how it defines a democracy."
NPR White House Correspondent Franco Ordoñez visits Bloomington-Normal Nov. 8 for WGLT's Radio Faces.
