Imagining PBS After Bill Moyers

As host of public radio’s award-winning “Marketplace,” David Brancaccio demonstrated that a West Coast news show can air more serious concerns than botox injections and box-office grosses. He also hosted the statewide newsmagazine “California Connected” on public television. Last year, the 44-year-old Maine native left our shores to join PBS’ newsmagazine show, “Now with Bill Moyers.” Except the “with Bill Moyers” era is drawing to a close: The program’s venerable host has announced this season as his last, passing the mantle to Brancaccio, who promises to keep asking the tough questions. But first we have a few of our own.

OK, cliches first. New York versus L.A.: Where do you stand?

I miss L.A. horribly. I was back recently and only spent six hours on the ground. Didn’t have time to see friends, to go to the burrito place, La Taquiza, or to Versailles, the Cuban place with the garlic chicken. We settled in New Jersey, and I go into the city each day. New Jersey is a foreign country after Southern California. In New Jersey, it is required by law that someone else pumps your gas. You may not do self-service. That is just unfathomable, if you spend any time in California.

You are stepping into a big pair of shoes. How does it feel to follow Bill Moyers?

Moyers is like a face on Mt. Rushmore. Apparently my outlook on journalism is enough in keeping with Bill’s approach. I’m of a different generation and my language is different. I’m looking to chew on key public policy issues but in a way that you or I would talk if you were at my house. Bill says it all the time, “We look in our interviews to find truth tellers.” This means, find people with the courage of their convictions who will say firmly on television what they would tell you in private.

There’s been commentary about the so-called “right-wing tilt at PBS,” which just added some conservative commentators. Was your hiring part of that trend?

I haven’t seen it at PBS. There’s some pretty edgy documentaries on “POV.” But the culture has shifted to the right. I was covering the Republican convention. We were talking about endangered moderates, RINOS--Republican in Name Only. Hard-line Republicans go hunting to get them knocked off on election day. A politician who’s moderate on the issue of choice but pretty hard-line on fiscal issues, [gave] an impassioned speech about Barry Goldwater. The country has moved so far to the right you can invoke Barry Goldwater as sort of a centrist figure.

Does public TV’s mandate differ from the networks or cable?

Fox, in particular, but also MSNBC and CNBC, they’re trying to prove that you have to have a very bold point of view, and then the people who share your point of view will gravitate toward you. If that is successful, it can be difficult for the network newscasts, and tougher for PBS. Ultimately, my show is nonpartisan. I may care who gets elected, but my show does not. I’m trying to get a dialogue going.

Does the blog phenomenon change how you put together a show like “Now”?

If you want your news first, there are places you’re going to go for that information. We’re trying to uncover stuff everybody’s missed, or take something that we think we know about and spend a lot of time going deeper, and the blogs haven’t been doing that.

The recent blowup at “60 Minutes” over unauthenticated documents pertaining to President Bush’s National Guard service follows a slew of scandals for the established media. How do you stay credible?

Not inventing the story. Not screwing the story up. We have a process where we try to engage critically with all our stories, and we’ve killed stories fairly close to deadline. There’s an investment in the journalism, the hiring of the crews, all that stuff. To kill a story late in the game is lots of money down the drain, but you have to have the courage to do it .

Where are you on the political spectrum? How do you see government’s role?

I’m not a libertarian. I think there is a role for government. I think journalism can be part of that role. There’s gotta be a better way to do a lot of this, and government makes horrible mistakes and is incredibly inefficient. I’m not a believer in any particular doctrine, but the notion that the only good government is a tiny government is something I have questions about. When people ask, “Are you a Democrat or Republican?” I say, “You can’t tell?” They say, “No, we always wondered about that.” Well, good, because my politics don’t enter into it. The question is, am I opening your eyes to an important story? Then you can draw your own conclusions.

Who else is out there asking the tough questions?

Ted Koppel does that magic thing that a lot of TV people can’t, which is listen. Lou Dobbs knows the world of business. He’s been asking tough questions about outsourcing. What an interesting character, and one of the most compelling shows on CNN. But there’s no one other than Moyers that I would have left California for.