SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
It is time now for our weekly Reporter's Notebook segment, and for reasons that will become clear in just a moment, I am going to hand over the hosting duties here and bring in ALL THINGS CONSIDERED host Ari Shapiro.
ARI SHAPIRO, BYLINE: Ta-da. How the tables have turned.
DETROW: I guess this means you're asking me questions.
SHAPIRO: I am. You just got back from Rome. And I love this because you and I often hang out in each other's offices. Hosts talk to each other about what goes on behind the scenes. Now we get to actually share that with other people out in the world.
So take us to that moment. You're there covering the new Pope's selection, the conclave. What was it like in the moment that you saw the white smoke coming out of the chimney? Where were you?
DETROW: This was interesting. I had thought so much about what this would be like, to wait and just stare at this chimney on the Sistine Chapel, which is one of the most famous, beautiful places in the world. And for the first 3 or 4 hours or so of staring at the chimney, it was really exciting, and I was on the edge of my seat and just waiting. And then it was just kind of waiting, you know?
SHAPIRO: Yeah. There was a seagull.
DETROW: There was a seagull, a lot of seagulls, a lot of waiting. And we kind of figured out the rhythms of when smoke would appear, black smoke, and when it was safe to wander away.
SHAPIRO: Right.
DETROW: And there was a point on that Thursday where I thought, OK, if this ballot had happened, it would have happened by now and we would have seen the black smoke. I'll be back in a few minutes.
SHAPIRO: Oh, so you left.
DETROW: So I left. I left our broadcast area, which - it's important for later - was a fenced-in area. There was, like, a maybe 4-foot-high fence surrounding the area. And I walked about - if St. Peter's Square is a clock, our broadcast booth was at 6 o'clock. The basilica is at 12 o'clock. So I walked over to about 3 o'clock, where my favorite thing in all of the square was. It was this marble water fountain of papal tiaras. It was three papal tiaras with a little spout coming out of it. And I just loved the papal tiara water fountain. I'm like, I'm going to go refill my water bottle in the papal tiara water fountain.
SHAPIRO: So it was at an actual drinking fountain.
DETROW: Yes.
SHAPIRO: Was it holy water?
DETROW: I'd like to think so.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter).
DETROW: So I went there with Tyler Bartlam, my producer, and I walk over to get water, and we're just chitchatting. And we just hear this scream, and a scream turns into a roar that spreads out throughout the entire square. And you see..
SHAPIRO: 'Cause there are thousands of people there.
DETROW: Yeah, just waiting for this moment, and we see white smoke, and we both look at each other, and we yell, pope.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter).
DETROW: And we ran as fast as we could because the goal was to get on the air as soon as there was white smoke.
SHAPIRO: Of course, live special rolling coverage. Yeah.
DETROW: So I ran as fast as I could, and I...
SHAPIRO: I'm imagining you shoving spectators aside, body slamming people.
DETROW: I didn't have to throw an elbow, but I was ready. We're getting back as quickly as possible, and we come up, and there's a security checkpoint for the broadcasting area where you have to go - you have to show a code. They have to scan you. It takes a moment. And our editor, Courtney Dorning, just says, jump, just jump. And I truly don't actually have memory of this, but I apparently, without stopping, did a running jump, vaulted over, pushed my hand down, jumped over the fence, sat down, said OK, put on my headphones, and we were on the air, like, 30 seconds later.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
DETROW: You're listening to live Special Coverage from NPR News. I'm Scott Detrow coming to you from the edge of St. Peter's Square. The bells are tolling at St. Peter's. White smoke has billowed out of the Sistine Chapel's chimney, and that means the Catholic Church has a new pope. This election comes on the second day of the papal conclave.
SHAPIRO: So first, you have to fill time until you find out who the pope was.
DETROW: Yes.
SHAPIRO: And then you find out who it is. Already, this is going to be huge news, whoever the new pope is. And then you find out that he's an American from Chicago. I heard that moment in your voice on the air.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
DETROW: Oh, my goodness. The pope is from Chicago. Robert Francis Prevost has been selected as the next pope of the Roman Catholic Church, a 69-year-old...
To have the name be announced as American, this suddenly becomes this monumental historical moment for Americans. Never in the history of the church has the Pope been American. And as a Catholic growing up, I was taught it's just never going to happen...
SHAPIRO: Right.
DETROW: ...Because they wouldn't elect an American because America has so much power in the world already. But yeah, it was an exciting moment, and listening back, you could hear that I was excited...
SHAPIRO: Right.
DETROW: ...Because we're in this amazing space at this cool breaking news moment, and I don't know. I was excited to be there.
SHAPIRO: I think there's something about live coverage that allows you to get caught up in the moment in a way that is journalistically appropriate, whether you're talking about an inauguration or a new pope or the emotion of a tragedy, if you're covering a war or a natural disaster.
DETROW: Yeah.
SHAPIRO: Being an unbiased, nonpartisan - use whatever word you want to use - journalist doesn't mean you can't feel the electricity in the room.
DETROW: Right.
SHAPIRO: And you could really hear that in your voice.
DETROW: Yeah. Thank you. And I think that's something that - you and I both feel that way, and I don't know necessarily if people in our positions 20 or 30 years ago felt that way. But I think, like, it's OK to sound human, right? And I think about the fact that last summer, I was in the host chair when the Trump assassination attempt took place. And...
SHAPIRO: Right...
DETROW: ...The first conversation we had on the line was our colleague Danielle Kurtzleben, who had been in the middle...
SHAPIRO: At the rally.
DETROW: ...At the rally, ducking under a table, terrified. And the first thing I'm doing is talking to Danielle, and I just like - are you OK?
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN: ...Wondering about, like, what might happen next.
DETROW: You're in a safe position right now, just to ask that?
KURTZLEBEN: Yes, they - people are streaming by. Most in the crowd have already left. The leaving started pretty immediately.
DETROW: Then we were doing interviews with people who had been in the crowd with their children. I think just, like, letting your humanity show through and being empathetic is important.
SHAPIRO: Do you remember the first time you ever did live special coverage?
DETROW: Yes, and it was totally terrifying. It's something of a...
SHAPIRO: I often find it totally terrifying.
DETROW: I've always been attracted to it. Of all the things that broadcast news (ph), Special Coverage has been the most exciting to me. I actually remember listening to you do it for Arab Spring at one point. You were, like, filling in...
SHAPIRO: Oh, wow.
DETROW: ...On Talk Of The Nation, and I had a long car drive.
SHAPIRO: Talk Of The Nation - that's a throwback. Yeah.
DETROW: And you were doing it...
SHAPIRO: Years ago.
DETROW: ...For hours. And it just - you know, it was always cool as a listener for me to think about those moments. And the first time I got a chance to, I was actually pretty new at NPR. We were going to simulcast a PBS presidential debate, and all I had to do was talk for a minute because it was - you know, it started at, like,10:01.
SHAPIRO: Yeah.
DETROW: Right? And the mic opened...
SHAPIRO: Yeah.
DETROW: ...At 10 o'clock. And I still remember the feeling of just, like, my throat going down to my toes and...
SHAPIRO: Yeah.
DETROW: ...Back up.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
DETROW: From NPR News, this is special coverage of the PBS NewsHour Democratic primary debate. I'm Scott Detrow. In a moment, we expect former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie...
And I don't think I sound as bad as I think I sounded, but just, like, you're listening to live Special Coverage - just because, like, the - there - usually, there's no script at all, you know?
SHAPIRO: Right.
DETROW: And over time, I've gotten more comfortable with that, and I kind of enjoy the adrenaline rush of that.
SHAPIRO: You said it's your favorite thing. Why?
DETROW: You know, I've always wanted to be a reporter. I think I've always wanted to be a broadcast journalist. I actually come from a family of broadcast journalists. My dad was a longtime radio news anchor. My uncle was a longtime DJ in San Diego. So, like, just, like, talking into microphones is a big part of my family.
And I think, like, growing up as I first started to get interested in it, like, those big moments where the TV anchors are bringing you through an election or a big breaking story was always exciting to me. As I got older, I would - I'll admit to being a nerd and, like, pulling up YouTube clips of kind of, like, live special coverage through the years of...
SHAPIRO: Wow.
DETROW: ...Big breaking stories and just kind of, like, watching it to see - especially as I started doing it - to see, like, how the anchors or hosts handle one moment or the other, like, the idea that you don't have a safety net, and you don't have a script in front of you, and it's kind of up to you to think on your feet and kind of bring the audience along with you.
I like putting myself in the audience's shoes and asking - sometimes just stopping a reporter and asking a really, really basic question because I'm thinking of, like, what does the person totally fresh to the story need to know? And I think just, like, not being afraid to ask a really basic question. I think sometimes we want to, like, try and impress the people who are listening or who we're interviewing. And I think, like, usually with Special Coverage, the most basic question is, what's happening? Why is that happening? Who is this person? Rinse and repeat.
SHAPIRO: What are you seeing? Yeah.
DETROW: Yeah, what are you seeing? Tell us what's in front of your eyes, especially for something like that. Like, what are you seeing? And then we go to Ruth Sherlock in the crowd. Like, people are overjoyed and waving American flags and crying in the middle of St. Peter's Square, and it's an exciting moment, you know? Like, that's the story right there.
SHAPIRO: My favorite moment from listening to your live Special Coverage in Rome was when you thanked your Latin teacher at the end.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)
DETROW: I want to thank my high school Latin teacher, Father Robert Cregan (ph), for this moment where we were translating Latin on the radio. Thank you so much for listening. Again, a lot more coverage of this enormous story - I'm Scott Detrow. We will talk to you...
Father Cregan - he was my teacher of freshman year Latin. He is no longer with us, but it just jumped into my head. I was like, you know, never before and probably never again is translating Latin something I'm going to be using as part of my job, so I'm just going to take this moment to thank him.
SHAPIRO: It was a great moment. Scott, thank you for letting us flip the tables and answering my questions for a change.
DETROW: Well, I appreciate it. Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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