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The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, is the brand new moderator of the PBS program Washington Week, which is able to now be known as Washington Week With The Atlantic. I talked with Jeff about this new partnership, which launches tomorrow night time on PBS at 8 p.m. ET.
First, listed here are 4 new tales from The Atlantic:
A Preoccupation With Democracy
Tom Nichols: Washington Week and The Atlantic are each establishments in their very own proper. What’s the aim in becoming a member of them collectively for a program like this? Maybe as an alternative of claiming “a program like this,” I ought to have began by asking what sort of program you envision.
Jeffrey Goldberg: I’m aiming for what I believe is one thing Washington Week already does extraordinarily nicely: I need to have discussions with the reporters who’re really reporting on the week’s occasions, in order that viewers get a way of not solely what’s happening however how these tales are reported. We want time for extra detailed conversations with the individuals who have been there and who will inform us what occurred. One of many nice issues about this program is that it permits individuals to talk in complete paragraphs, and I’m an enormous fan of paragraphs.
Tom: It is a new gig for you, proper? You’ve by no means been a moderator.
Jeff: Proper. I’ve been on one million panels on TV and at conferences—time I’ll by no means get again, alas—however that is my first outing as a moderator. So my suggestion is that you just watch, merely to see if I’m in a position to learn from a teleprompter. The jury is out on that query.
Tom: So now that you just’re going to be on the different facet of the desk, how do you propose to run the present? What’s going to the format appear like?
Jeff: I hate to make issues sound so easy, as a result of, as you understand, I’m a sophisticated man. However the aim right here is to search out one of the best minds within the press and allow them to analyze what’s happening. I would like individuals to really feel like they’ve really discovered one thing after they watch this.
Tom: Nicely, I don’t assume it’s simplistic, however it appears like a callback to an older, extra conversational custom of reports applications within the pre-cable age.
Jeff: To some extent, it’s. Some tv information and public-affairs applications have develop into too frenetic for my style. The viewers is bombarded with lights and buzzers throughout brief segments the place six or seven individuals—or extra—try to make some extent as shortly as attainable. And a few of these individuals are partisan hacks. A bunch of journalists having an precise dialog is uncommon on tv now, and we’re going to take the time to have these extra affected person conversations.
Tom: However isn’t that what viewers need—flash and motion?
Jeff: Look, there are lots of people on this nation. Some individuals need TikTok; some individuals need The Atlantic. Some individuals need each. Not you or me, essentially—though you might be one thing of a TikTok star, in fact. However I’m positive there’s a Venn overlap. At The Atlantic, we all know our readers have a strong consideration span. So does the viewers for Washington Week and PBS NewsHour. And take a look at how many individuals will take heed to lengthy podcasts and skim lengthy articles. There’s loads of area for the sort of detailed discussions we’re going to supply on this system.
Tom: Simply wait till I deliver my cat on TikTok. However coming again to tv, that frenetic exercise is closely pushed by partisanship. The reveals invite partisan advocates to duke it out over advanced points in 5 minutes, and though I’m not with out sin on that rating, I agree that it may be maddening. Nonetheless, an election is arising, and individuals are going to be targeted on 2024. How will Washington Week With The Atlantic deal with what’s going to be a reasonably unusual 12 months?
Jeff: This isn’t only a unusual 12 months; it’s an election like no different in American historical past. A former president below state and federal indictments is operating towards the person who defeated him, and he may find yourself in both jail or the White Home. However each Washington Week and The Atlantic are nonpartisan. The Atlantic’s motto is that we’re “of no celebration or clique”—however we do care, quite a bit, concerning the American concept, about democracy and its survival, and I need to deliver that preoccupation with democracy from The Atlantic to Washington Week.
Tom: You’ll be speaking largely with others from the media, and individuals are fairly distrustful of journalists. Do you assume that’s a difficulty for the present?
Jeff: The general public is distrustful of loads of establishments and particularly of journalists, sure. We stay in a time when loads of us assume the very worst of everybody else. That mistrust makes it arduous to remain knowledgeable, and that’s unhealthy for democracy. That’s a part of why it’s vital not solely to cowl tales, however to elucidate to viewers how these tales have been lined.
Tom: You have been associates with the late Gwen Ifill, who helped make Washington Week into an establishment. What did you be taught from watching her?
Jeff: Gwen believed in journalism, she believed that there was such a factor as observable actuality, she wasn’t terrified of something or anybody, and she or he believed within the promise of America. She was one of many biggest there ever was. She had such authority, and that got here partially from realizing what was true, and in believing she had an vital job to do. It additionally got here from being a pioneer, as a Black girl in an trade that wasn’t at all times inquisitive about altering, in opening itself as much as different voices. She actually is considered one of my heroes, and as a good friend, I miss her each day. She died proper after Trump was elected, and the nation may actually have used her talent and perception and fearlessness over the previous seven years.
Immediately’s Information
- Fernando Villavicencio, an Ecuadorian presidential candidate who was vocal about authorities corruption, was assassinated throughout a rally yesterday night.
- A brand new report from ProPublica discovered that Supreme Court docket Justice Clarence Thomas has accepted a wider array of items and hospitality from rich patrons than beforehand identified, and didn’t disclose a few of them.
- North Korean state media reported that Kim Jong Un has dismissed his prime normal and ordered the army to ramp up battle preparations.
Night Learn
The Owls Are Not What They Appear
By Rebecca Giggs
Within the moments earlier than seeing an owl comes a sense like instinct. I cannot overlook one night time once I stood on a balcony in suburban Sydney, and each wakeful creature within the surrounding bushland abruptly froze. Even the frogs appeared to need to resign their noisy our bodies. Who goes there? Seconds later, a strong owl (the identify of a species native to Australia) dropped onto the railing, and I, too, almost leaped out of my pores and skin. The owl was the dimensions of a terrier, however languidly buoyant in the best way of a day-old Mylar balloon, and to my ears silent. Within the pin-drop quiet, it bounced alongside the balustrade. I by no means heard its talons contact the steel. The owl itself, I knew, had such sharp listening to that it may make out a possum’s coronary heart pounding beneath its fur. Unseen, a second owl—mate to the primary, I thought—loosed a deep, woodwind hoot that carried.
Owl calls typically appear ghostlike or inchoate. A twofold sorcery: Owls can lead us to doubt our personal schools whereas drawing us to surprise on the mysteries of theirs.
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Katherine Hu contributed to this text.
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