Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Kalb Report: Jim Lehrer
























A very interesting Kalb Report which took place last Monday. It was the last for this season. The guest was Jim Lehrer. He was a very interesting and funny guest. Had some very good insights. I didn't know that his written 20 books both fiction and non-fiction.

Here are few:

The hardest questions to ask someone are always the simplest. The example was when Roger Mudd asked Ted Kennedy why he wanted to be president.

Journalism is about the facts; fiction is about the truth.

The Kennedy assassination was the most memorable event for him. He happened to be in Dallas at the time of the assassination. It showed how fragile every thing in is; how things can change in an instant.

Import to make the News Hour available on any and every device.

He's also been the moderate of more presidential debates than any other correspondent. He said as moderator he asked questions to get the candidates to talk. Then the thing to do is step back and let them talk.

Lehrer talked about the Republican debates. He said the problem was that the news organization partnered with a local Republican organization. He said the debates are not entertainment. That the audience is an observer not a participant. As he said the audience sits down and shuts up. He believes that next time around the debates will be set up differently.

He thought it would be a good idea to have mandatory national service. He thought it would make the country less divided. He said something that I've long talked about that only the armed forces are at war; not the public as a whole. He also thought the all volunteer force made it easier for troops to be committed to a war. The reason being that so few people's loved ones are being put in harms way.

It was a very good evening.



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