Bill Moyers Journal: The Conversation Continues contains the transcripts from shows broadcast from 2007 to 2010. My problem with some of the interviews was that time had made them dated. My favorite interviews were Jon Stewart and David Simon (The Wire). Here’s the entire list of the 47 interviews:
Table of Contents:
Jon Stewart
Michael Pollan
Louise Erdrich
Nikki Giovanni
Andrew Bacevich
Robert Wright
David Simon
Victor Gold
Nell Painter
Jim Hightower
Richard Goldstone
Robert Bly
Jeremy Scahill
Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
John Lithgow
William Greider
Karen Armstrong
Ross Douthat and Mickey Edwards
Grace Lee Boggs
Games K. Galbraith
Douglas Blackmon
Sam Tanenhaus
Maxine Hong Kingston
E. O. Wilson
Simon Johnson
Holly Sklar
Jane Goodall
James Cone
David Boies and Ted Olson
Wendell Potter
Benjamin Barber
Margaret Flowers
Philippe Sands
Howard Zinn
Michelle Alexander and Bryan Stevenson
Thomas Cahill
Shelby Steele
Robert Kaiser
Barbara Ehrenreich
Martín Espada
John Grisham
Susan Jacoby
Jim Yong Kim
W. S. Merwin
Mike Davis
Reverend Jeremiah Wright
Barry Lopez.
We don’t turn out journalists like this anymore.
I don’t think we’ll see any television programs like BILL MOYERS JOURNAL, either, Patti. That whole form has devolved into 3-minute interviews.
Not only that, but in most cases the “interviewer” is content to ask canned questions handed to him beforehand by the subject or his handlers.
You’re right, Jeff. Many so-called interviews reek of phoniness.
or just plain reek, period. Also many (most?) interviewees deign to appear only on shows or in situations that they know will show them to good effect.
No doubt, Rick. So much of today’s “interviews” are merely staged performances guaranteed to show the interviewee in the best light possible.