Hi, I'm Naomi Shaven. Welcome to Axios Recap. Today is Wednesday, December 22nd,

and we're focused on journalistic responsibility. This is the last ever episode of Axios Recap.

We've come to the end of the road.

It's also my last conversation in this series of lookbacks at 2021 with my Axios colleagues.

Today's guest, Jim Van de High, co-founder and CEO of Axios, and a longtime journalist himself.

He's worked as a sports reporter and political scoop

breaker, and he co-founded both Politico and Axios. I wanted to ask Jim how he thinks the media has

performed this year, covering the pandemic, a divided America, and a new presidential administration.

And I wanted to know what challenges he sees ahead

as the media tries to rebuild public trust.

In a moment, I'll be joined by Jim Vanda High

from the Axis Newsroom in Clarendon, Virginia.

I'm joined now by Jim Vandahy.

He's a longtime journalist and the CEO and co-founder of Axius.

Hi, Jim. Hey, Naomi. Good to be here.

You've covered Washington for years in different iterations and in different jobs. And I'm wondering how covering Washington has changed over this past year, especially with an eye on the transition

of power that we saw in January. I think Washington journalism in general has changed

profoundly, irreversibly over the last three or four years. I think this past year, the layer of

complexity and sort of the new twist and really the sad twist was the looting, the violence,

the death at the U.S. Capitol, and the fact that you have a portion of one of the parties denying it and also claiming that an election that was validated by state officials, including Republicans in most of these states, saying that it's not valid.

Like that's new.

Like there's always been politics and spin and BS just at a different level.

...