Tackling America’s financial landscape with Michael Corkery

Air Dates: June 16- 22, 2025

Journalists chronicle the world in the so-called “first draft” of history. Michael Corkery is helping lead one of America’s great newspapers as it tells the story of President Trump’s second administration with a particular focus on its impact on the world of business and finance.  

Corkery is the finance editor at The New York Times, where he oversees a team of reporters writing on banks, private equity, corporate law firms and the stock market. Their coverage focuses on big news events and how Wall Street influences government and society. Prior to becoming an editor, he spent over 25 years as a reporter telling the stories of people from a range of political viewpoints, geographies and life experiences. Before he started at The Times in 2014, he worked at The Wall Street Journal, the Providence Journal and The Burlington (Vermont) Free Press.

On this episode of “Story in the Public Square,” Corkery explored the impact of tariffs and federal funding on consumers. He analyzes the country’s changing financial landscape and its impact on Americans, saying, “when you're not sure about where things are headed and you're reading all these headlines about the stock market crashing, you pull back as an average consumer.”  

“Story in the Public Square” broadcasts each week on public television stations across the United States. In Rhode Island and southeastern New England, the show is broadcast on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. Check your local public television listings for air times near you! An audio version of the program airs Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. ET, Sundays at 2:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. and Mondays at 4:30 a.m. ET on SiriusXM’s popular P.O.T.U.S. (Politics of the United States), channel 124. “Story in the Public Square” is a project of the Pell Center at Salve Regina University. The initiative aims to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.