Dialogue with Marcia Franklin

Dialogue presents a discussion with the anchor for PBS's The Newshour With Jim Lehrer. Marcia Franklin sat down with Lehrer when he visited Boise as the featured speaker for the Idaho Humanities Council's 10th Annual Distinguished Humanities Lecture and Dinner.

In his conversation with Franklin, the NewsHour anchor and executive editor talks about the influences that have helped shape him as a journalist and his passion for writing. Lehrer is the author of 16 novels, an award-winning journalist, moderator for 10 nationally televised presidential debates, and winner of the 1999 Presidential Humanities Medal.

Originally aired: 11/23/2006

Mr. Lehrer's Journalistic Guidelines:

• Do nothing I cannot defend.
• Cover, write and present every story with the care I would want if the story were about me.
• Assume there is at least one other side or version to every story.
• Assume the viewer is as smart and as caring and as good a person as I am.
• Assume the same about all people on whom I report.
• Assume personal lives are a private matter until a legitimate turn in the story absolutely mandates otherwise.
• Carefully separate opinion and analysis from straight news stories and clearly label everything.
• Do not use anonymous sources or blind quotes except on rare and monumental occasions. No one should ever be allowed to attack another anonymously.
• I am not in the entertainment business.

His sonorous voice has kept millions of National Public Radio listeners company for more than two decades. NPR senior correspondent Bob Edwards talks with Marcia Franklin about his career and his book "Edward R. Murrow and the Birth of Broadcast Journalism."

Originally aired: 07/22/2004

On this edition of Dialogue, host Marcia Franklin talks with New York Times bestselling author Mark Kurlansky. Kurlansky, who is known for his "microhistories" of objects and events we often take for granted, will speak about some of his works, including "Salt: A World History," "Cod, A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World," "1968: The Year that Rocked the World," "The Basque History of the World," and "Non-Violence: 25 Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea."

Originally aired: 03/27/2008

The author of "The Rise of the Creative Class and How It's Transforming Work" talks with Marcia Franklin about what he sees are key ingredients for vibrant, economically successful cities. Richard Florida is professor of regional economic development at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Crunching numbers, combing focus groups, interviewing recruiters and those being recruited, Florida sees a high correlation between tolerance and diversity and the attraction of creative people. The creative class — visionaries, creative professionals, technicians — now total about 30 percent of the entire U.S. workforce, up from less than 20 percent in 1980. The rules of recruitment are changing, Florida says, with the increased need for people who can originate new forms, creatively problem-solve, and develop unique ways to do a job.

Originally aired: 06/27/2002

Marcia Franklin interviews USA Today founder Al Neuharth. Neuharth is also founder of the Freedom Forum, a non-partisan international foundation promoting the ideals of free speech and free press. The Freedom Forum operates the Newseum, the world's only museum dedicated to the history of media.

Originally aired: 08/10/2000

Journalist and author David Halberstam won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting from Vietnam and has witnessed and researched many of the major events of the last half of the 20th century. He brings his insight, experience and wit to this discussion with Marcia Franklin.

Originally aired: 10/04/2001

For decades, Russian poets have preserved both the suffering and the joy of their people - but for their honesty, some writers paid with their lives. World-renowned Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko talks with host Marcia Franklin about his life and work.

Originally aired: 05/27/1999

These two Idaho writers, Kim Barnes and Robert Wrigley, are married to each other. They talk about and read from their works with host Marcia Franklin, and recommend some of their favorite books.

Originally aired: 02/24/2000

Host Marcia Franklin speaks with author Samantha Power, who in her book "A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide" decries U.S. complacency about mass murder and ethnic cleansing in other countries.

Originally aired: 04/18/2002

Marcia Franklin talks with Idaho filmmakers Heather Rae and Russell Friedenberg. The two produced and wrote "Trudell," a documentary about Native American poet and activist John Trudell. The documentary aired on Idaho Public Television as part of the "Independent Lens" series.

Rae and Friedenberg discuss their film, which premiered at Sundance and has been screened around the world. They also talk about their upcoming works, the state of documentary filmmaking, and their plans to buy a building in Boise that will be a filmmaking center.

Originally aired: 06/22/2006