The written and spoken words will come together like never before for a New York Times podcast as the newspaper launches what it says will be a new flagship interview series. Appropriately called The Interview, the show is a joint production of the New York Times Magazine and the Times Audio team. Interviews will be published as a podcast for those who want to listen, and as a writer question-and-answer feature for those who prefer to read.
“The long-form interview is as intimate — and engaging — a format of journalism as there is, and being able to share these conversations in both audio and text versions is incredibly exciting,” cohost David Marchese said.
Launching Saturday (April 27) and dropping weekly, The Interview will feature in-depth conversations from figures in culture, politics, business, sports and beyond — illuminating who they are, why they do what they do, and how they impact the rest of us.
“Some of the people we are interviewing will be household names, others are people who are incredibly influential in surprising parts of our culture. All of them will be fascinating and will have the space to reveal themselves with nuance,” cohost Lulu Garcia-Navarro said.
There are plenty of interview podcasts, but the Times says it is hoping for a more in-depth approach by conducting the interviews with its subjects on two separate occasions. It’s a model long used by journalists and shows like “60 Minutes” when profiling a subject, since it not only allows for follow-up questions, but frequently brings out a different side of a conversation. Few, if any, podcasts use that model on a regular basis.
“We’re creating a new platform for people to hear directly from many of the world’s most important and interesting public figures in their own words,” said Sam Dolnick, Deputy Managing Editor. “David and Lulu are masters of the art of the interview, each with a distinctive style and approach, and we’re excited to showcase their work both as a podcast and in text so we can reach as many people as possible.”
Garcia-Navarro jumped from NPR, where she was one of the hosts of “Weekend Edition,” to the New York Times in 2021. She most recently hosted the First Person podcast for the Times, but that show has apparently been killed off. It published its last episode in May, one year after it had been launched by the Times Opinion Audio team.
Marchese took over the Magazine’s Talk column in 2018. Since then he has conducted more than 130 interviews, most recently with Jann Wenner, who made controversial headlines around the world that led to the “Rolling Stone” founder being removed from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
First announced in November, the Times said earlier that the new franchise will be overseen by Allison Benedikt, formerly the editorial director at Opinion. Audio editor Anabel Bacon and producer Wyatt Orme will also be part of the show’s team.
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