How does The New York Times cover the fire hose of news from the Trump administration? What journalistic principles drive that coverage? Why does The Times publish work that challenges our audience’s assumptions at a time when many people want their views validated? Where do we wish we had more reporters based? And who makes these decisions?

The “who” is Joe Kahn, the executive editor of The Times since June 2022, who leads our newsroom of more than 2,000 journalists. Joe has run our coverage of the turbulent American economy, the war in Ukraine, the Oct. 7 attacks, the Israel-Hamas war, President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s exit and now a second Trump administration that is challenging the rule of law, free speech and alliances — while becoming the most consequential presidency since Ronald Reagan’s.

We recently asked readers for questions about Joe’s work and our coverage. I’ve synthesized them and added a few of my own, including about Joe’s observations from his recent trip to China, where he was a foreign correspondent in the mid-1990s and again in the early 2000s.

Here’s what we discussed:

• Reporting on President Trump
• Rapid change in China
• Reporting without a personal point of view
• What’s on Joe’s mind the most

Reporting on President Trump

Joe, most of our reader questions were about President Trump. Some on the left like our investigative stories digging into Trump’s business dealings and want more of them. Some on the right like our stories about Trump’s effectiveness and impact in office and want more of them. Some readers want us to call the president a fascist; others want us to portray him as a patriot. There’s a desire out there for us to referee the news. How do you navigate all of that?

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