You think you’ve got a busy job? As the federal workforce reporter at Bloomberg Law, Courtney Rozen has to keep up with all of the government workforce changes wrought by the Trump administration and its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). She is the first to cover this newly created beat for Bloomberg Law
On this episode of Gov & Beyond, Courtney talks with hosts Luca Pagni and Joyson Cherian about how she approaches her job as well as what she’s learned from covering the new administration and her previous work reporting on the Biden White House. You’ll also find out which one of Taylor Swift’s songs she wants to break up with.
Prepare for News Before It Happens
Comparing the present administration with its predecessor, Courtney noted that the pace of news has been faster since the arrival of the Trump administration. While that presents a challenge for how to stay on top of the frequent changes initiated by the White House in recent months, she and her team manage the workload by reporting and drafting updates about expected changes before they happen.
“We get paragraphs prepared [ahead of time] so that when it happens, or if it happens, we’re ready,” she said. “We keep a lot of spreadsheets. There’s a lot of phone calls and talking to each other and sharing what each of us knows about our different beats and federal agencies we cover. And that’s the way we’ve been able to make this pace work so far.”
And while Courtney obviously is keeping her eyes on the big picture as the Trump administration pushes its changes forward, she said she is most interested in the impact those changes will have on smaller government agencies. Given the administration’s dismissal of employees across government, those workforce cuts may have the greatest effect on agencies that did not have extensive headcounts to begin with. Courtney said she’s going to be tracking what happens at those agencies over the next few months to report on the effects of those reductions.
Protecting Her Sources
Joyson asked Courtney about her most valuable sources and how she works with them to report the news. She noted that she conducts some of her communications with sources through the Signal app but also via email and, most recently, Bluesky. She also said she spends a lot of her time in courtrooms, since many of the recent administration actions have been subject to legal challenges.
She added that she is willing to use anonymous sources when appropriate. “We’re willing to keep people anonymous,” she said. “And the way that that works is we make a decision of, you know, is this information newsworthy and can we report it without naming the source?…It’s not just a decision that one person makes.”
As they do in every interview, Luca and Joyson ended the discussion by asking Courtney about what movies, music and foods she likes and dislikes. An immediate “like” for Courtney was the movie “Legally Blonde,” which she estimated she’d seen 100 times. But despite enjoying much of Taylor Swift’s music, there’s one song that she hopes never to have to hear again. Listen to the podcast to find out which one it is.
You can hear the full podcast below or read the transcript for the full interview with Courtney.
Timestamps
0:19 – Comparing the Trump and Biden administrations
3:30 – The stories that resonate
4:32 – The stories that have her attention
5:10 – How sources can work with Courtney
6:40 – What makes a great source
7:57 – The movies, food and music she loves and hates
10:17 – Best ways to connect with Courtney
Transcript
Intro: Welcome to Gov & Beyond. I’m your host, Luca Pagni, here with my co-host, Joyson Cherian. This podcast features conversations with the newsmakers and influencers at the center of today’s public sector news cycles. From our studio at W2 Communications, let’s go Gov & Beyond. Welcome everyone to Gov & Beyond.
Luca Pagni (LP): I’m your host, Luca Pagni here with my co-host Joyson Cherian. We’re excited to be joined today by Courtney Rozen, Federal Workforce Reporter at Bloomberg Law. Welcome, Courtney!
Courtney Rozen (CR): Hi. Thanks for having me.
LP: Yeah, of course. Thanks for joining. Courtney, could you start off by telling us a bit more about your background and your current role at Bloomberg Law?
CR: I write about the federal workforce, and DOGE, that’s the Department of Government Efficiency that President Trump created. This is a new role at Bloomberg. We haven’t had such an entity before, and so my boss has set up this position. My last job was a White House reporter. I covered the Biden administration for four years for Bloomberg, and I’ve transitioned to this new role in the last couple months.
Joyson Cherian (JC): Perfect. You know, there’s been a lot happening in the first few months of the administration, and you’ve been at the forefront of covering the impact of everything that’s been going on. How have you and your team been able to stay on top of everything?
CR: The pace of changes that this administration is making is definitely much quicker than the previous administration. I covered the Biden White House, and this pace of news was slower. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t just as important or meaningful, but it was definitely slower. So one of the ways we stay on top of things, we write for expected developments that we think might happen. We get paragraphs prepared so that when it happens, or if it happens, we’re ready. We keep a lot of spreadsheets. There’s a lot of phone calls and talking to each other and sharing what each of us knows about our different beats and federal agencies we cover, and that’s the way we’ve been able to make this pace work so far.
LP: Courtney, it’s interesting because you just mentioned how your beat has kind of changed, of you’re the first federal workforce reporter for Bloomberg Law, and previously you were focusing on the Biden administration as a White House reporter for Bloomberg Law. How is your, what differences have you seen between your coverage of White House and the Biden administration to now your current beat and role of focusing on Trump’s second administration and just federal workforce overall?
CR: The Biden White House was very detailed about how it rolled out policy announcements. We would often have calls the night before with whoever the President’s advisors were working on a particular issue. They would talk to us on background, meaning we wouldn’t use their name, but they’d give us a preview of what the President was going to announce the next day, whether it be on climate change, the economy, health care, whatever it was this administration, we don’t have that level of detailed coordination ahead of time. We’re often getting executive orders and having to interpret them, memos that come from agencies, reading them as they come along. It’s not as much as a coordinated rollout of decision-making.
LP: That definitely makes sense, and just in terms of coverage, and you know, the stories and articles that you’re writing, what seem to be the stories that are resonating the most with you know you, but also your readers?
CR: Readers are really interested in firings at federal agencies. This administration has directed agencies first to fire probationary workers. Those are people that are new hires or recent promotions. There was a lot of interest in how agencies were implementing that. At this point, we’re also starting to see agencies downsize whole offices, cut whole teams. We’ve seen that at the Department of Health and Human Services, for example, or the Office of Personnel Management, or the federal government’s HR team. And our readers are really interested in those developments, often because a lot of our readers work inside these agencies, or they are involved in advocacy around the issues that these agencies handle, or their attorneys. So they’re interested in who is still working there and what they’re working on.
JC: We’ve just gotten through the first quarter of the new administration. What are the news items that you’ll be keeping an eye on in the months ahead and what do you expect?
CR: I’m interested in the impact of smaller government agencies. We are seeing the Trump administration dismiss employees across government, and I’m interested in how that is going to affect agencies ability to do their jobs, and what they’re going to focus. On given that they have a smaller headcount, I’m going to be tracking that over the next couple months across different agencies, as we see these cuts take effect.
JC : You know, that digs into a follow up question that we have about, how are you building relationships and reporting on everything? There’s clearly people, potentially sources who want to support you and work with you, but might feel potential reprisal from their agency leadership. What are the some of the best ways for them to get in touch with you, to share their points of view and share their insights into what’s happening within their organizations?
CR: Well, I’ll start by saying that I couldn’t do my job without lots of people giving me their points of view, it would be impossible. These agencies, the political leadership, are making statements about the way they’re running things, and the way for us to know if that’s truly happening is by talking to people around the agency, in the agency who aren’t necessarily the political appointees. I communicate with a lot of people on Signal, the app. I keep the address for that on my LinkedIn page. Also, my email is on there. Same thing with I have a Bluesky account, now that’s new. So that’s how to get in touch with me. One thing I’ll say is we’re willing to keep people anonymous, and the way that that works is we make a decision of, you know, is this information newsworthy and can we report it without naming the source? And that’s a process that we go through with editors, with reporters. It’s not just a decision that one person makes, but we’re able to do that for people, if that’s what they’re concerned about.
JC: You know, as you’re looking for sources, what are the characteristics of a great source for you? What are, what is someone that you look for, that you want to hear from, and what are the types of opinions or insights that you’re hoping to hear?
CR: It depends on what I’m working on to I spend a lot of time talking to federal employment lawyers. Those folks are generally not concerned about reprisal or being anonymous, but talking about the different moves that this administration is making and the different laws it’s invoking to do that, I talk to them. I build lists of them. I like to hear from new ones. You can always email me. Another way, I talk to federal workers, I talk to unions quite often. A lot of those groups are able to sometimes connect me with union members who might be willing to talk. So that’s been another avenue for me to meet more people. I spend time in courtrooms when I can there’s a lot of litigation challenging the various Trump administration moves on the workforce, and often in those you know, courtrooms, when there’s a hearing or I’ll run into people that you know are involved in that particular issue, and I get to know them as well.
LP: I know that we’ve focused a lot on your coverage areas and you know, but we also like to get to know our guests a little bit on a more personal level, get into…
CR: Sure!
LP: …some goofy, goofier questions, is what I’ll call it. But so to that end, you know, I’d be curious to hear what is one of your like, most frequently watched movies, that no matter what you’re doing, you’ll just drop everything and you’ll go watch it, whether it’s at the beginning, middle or whatever.
CR: I love Legally Blonde. I’ve probably seen that 100 times. So there, there’s my answer.
LP: I was gonna say it’s definitely a good movie. So I definitely understand that.
JC: What we’ve learned from asking these sort of get-to-know-you questions is, if you ask people what they like, they’ll tell you what they like. But if you ask people what they dislike, they’re passionate about the help out their answer.
CR: Okay.
JC: So, we’re curious, what dish or food ingredient do you hate?
CR: Avocados.
JC: Really?
CR: Yes.
JC: Is it a texture thing or the taste thing?
CR: You know, I don’t know. I just don’t care for them in any format.
JC: Good to know. No avocado test for you.
CR: No.
LP: So, then kind of going off of Joyson’s point. I’m sure the answer probably won’t be anything on the Legally Blonde soundtrack, but if you never had to hear a certain song again, what would that song be?
CR: I’m not dissing Taylor Swift’s broader portfolio of songs. I listen to them all the time, the one we are never getting back together, that one I could do without.
LP: You mean to tell me that you don’t enjoy walking through a grocery store and hearing that nonstop?
CR: I’ve heard it plenty of times. Yeah.
LP: I was gonna say that might, might spark a little bit of an outrage with our audience…
CR: No.
LP: …I know agency members, but.
CR: Not dissing the rest of the Taylor Swift song portfolio. She was on in my car this morning when I drove into work. It’s just that particular song.
LP: Totally understand. But Courtney, you know, it has been a blast talking to you, and really appreciate you taking the time to speak with us today. If any of our listeners want to learn more about the work that you’re doing, how, what would be the best way that they can reach you?
CR: I am active on LinkedIn. I post probably once or twice a day the different stories we’re working on. You can reach me on there, my emails there, my signal accounts there. You can message me. Our website is news.bloomberglaw.com. It’s a subscription service, so most of the time you need one to see most of these stories, but our stories that are outside the paywall, that you don’t need a login for are on there, so you can also go there.
LP: Got it. Well, awesome. And again, thank you, Courtney, and thank you to everyone who tuned into this episode. And Courtney, thank you again for helping us go Gov & Beyond.
CR: Thanks guys.
Outro: Thank you for joining us on today’s episode of Gov & Beyond. To learn more about our podcast and hear all of our episodes, please visit us at w2comm.com/govandbeyond. And make sure to follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @govandbeyond. You can also subscribe anywhere podcasts are found.