Part of the Series
Moyers and Company
Mike Wallace was one tough s.o.b. — or so he wanted you to think of him on air. Off camera he could be as charming as Rhett Butler.
We were colleagues during my seven years at CBS News and our offices were on the same floor. He was always polite, attentive, encouraging. Competitive, yes, but not ruthless. Nobody could beat him at quick banter; once, when I produced a series for PBS on the stories of Genesis, he said, “Moyers, you’re the only guy still standing who can make money selling the Bible.”
But he took a serious interest in the reporting I did for the old Edward R. Murrow documentary series See It Now, and as he had undertaken assignments for that series, too, he would come around and compare notes on different techniques of interviewing. He was kidding, I’m sure, when he said that in another life he would have stayed with what we call “long form” reporting, because he would have missed out on the fame and fortune that came when his tough-guy interrogations helped the scrappy and classy 60 Minutes climb to the top of the broadcast heap.
He relished the pursuit of a story, and his many personal challenges — from depression to family tragedies — never diminished his ardor for the chase. I was trying to make a journalist out of myself after several years in politics and government; he had already made a journalist out of himself after several years as an entertainer. And he was generous toward the new kid on the block, as to so many others. He put spine into broadcast reporting, and by his example mentored the lot of us.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
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We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
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With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy