Michael Kruse & Bill Duryea: Lessons from a 16-year reporter-editor partnership

What makes an editor-writer relationship work? We sit down with a reporter and editor who have achieved something of a rarity in the news business — a 16-year partnership across multiple publications. Michael Kruse and his editor, Bill Duryea, first teamed up at the Tampa Bay Times (then St. Petersburg Times) in 2009. They moved together to Politico and Politico Magazine in 2015, where they continued to work together for ten years. Kruse is a senior staff writer there, and now Duryea has just joined the Washington Post as the senior editor for America. With Duryea's move comes an opportunity to reflect on their work together and what they've learned about reporter-editor relationships. Get the full reading list and show notes: https://niemanstoryboard.org/2025/09/25/michael-kruse-bill-duryea-lessons-reporter-editor-partnership/Subscribe to the Nieman Storyboard newsletter: https://niemanstoryboard.org/about/subscribe-to-nieman-storyboard/Show CreditsHosted and produced by Mark ArmstrongAssociate producer: Marina LeighEpisode editor: Kelly ArajaAudience editor: Adriana LacyPromotional support: Ellen TuttleOperational support: Paul Plutnicki, Peter CanovaNieman Foundation interim curator: Henry ChuMusic: “Golden Grass,” by Blue Dot Sessions (www.sessions.blue)Cover design by Adriana LacyNieman Storyboard is presented by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard.