MACNEIL / LEHRER NEWSHOUR, THE {SUMMIT IN GENEVA/INTERVIEW WITH GATSHA BUTHELEZI OF THE ZULU TRIBE} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of nightly news analysis programs. Hosted by Robert MacNeil with Jim Lehrer, this program focuses on the the opening day of the summit between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Geneva. Reporting from Geneva, Lehrer summarizes the summit highlights, including the initial meeting between the two world leaders; Gorbachev's brief visit with Jesse Jackson and a delegation of U.S. citizens; and a statement issued by White House spokesperson Larry Speakes. Also featured is a report from Tim Sebastian of Visnews on the meeting between Nancy Reagan and Raisa Gorbachev. Providing analysis of the day's events are Sergei Plekhanov of the U.S.-Canada Institute in Moscow, and Malcolm Toon, former U.S. ambassador to Moscow. In a discussion with Lehrer, the two men raise the following issues: Jackson's plea for peace during the meeting with Gorbachev; divergent views on Jews in the Soviet Union; speculations on the course of the arms-control negotiations between Reagan and Gorbachev; and the important role of interpreters in the summit talks. In a related essay, columnist Jim Fisher of the the Kansas City Times provides his opinions about the summit, speaking from the Minuteman missile sites located in the deceptively bucolic fields of western Missouri. In the segment "Another Voice," Charlayne Hunter-Gault interviews Gatsha Buthelezi, the chief of the Zulu tribe, which is the largest ethnic group in South Africa. The following topics are addressed: the division between anti-apartheid factions that favor violence and those that favor peaceful negotiations; the destructive potential of the competition for power among black leaders; Buthelezi's criticism of the economic sanctions that the international community has imposed on South Africa; and his bleak assessment for any resolution to the situation in the near future. In the documentary segment entitled, "Packed Prisons," Kwame Holman reports on overcrowding in Tennessee prisons. Convicts and prison officials address the following issues during interviews: the lack of available space to incarcerate prisoners; inadequate facilities for temporary incarceration; the search for a long-term solution to the current problem, including sentence reductions or earlier parole dates; and the possibility of turning prison system management over to a private corporation. Those interviewed include Gov. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee; Terry Ashe, president of the Tennessee Sheriff's Association; attorney Gordon Bonnyman; and Tom Beasley of the Corrections Corporation of America. Other stories include the Senate committee's rejection of Reagan's nominee for the National Endowment for the Humanities; and a Houston court's decision ordering Texaco to pay an estimated $10.2 million in damages to Pennzoil, which asserted that Texaco sabotaged the corporation's merger with Getty Oil.
Cataloging of this program was made possible by a grant from the Times Mirror Foundation.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: November 19, 1985 7:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:57:48
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: T:29263
- GENRE: News; Talk/Interviews
- SUBJECT HEADING: Summit meetings - Switzerland; Cold War; U S - Foreign relations - U S S R; Jews - Soviet Union; South Africa, Republic of - Corporate divestiture; South Africa, Republic of - Civil rights; Prisons - U S; African-American Collection - News/Talk
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 1983-1995
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Lester M. Crystal … Executive Producer
- Linda Winslow … Deputy Executive Producer
- Dan Werner … Associate Executive Producer
- Patti Parson … Producer
- Susan Mills … Producer
- Kwame Holman … Producer, Correspondent
- Lewis Silverman … Managing Producer
- Tony Marshall … Director
- David Deutsch … Director
- Robert MacNeil … Host
- Jim Lehrer … Host
- Charlayne Hunter-Gault … Correspondent
- Jeff Scott Goldman … Correspondent
- Tim Sebastian … Correspondent
- Kwame Holman … Correspondent
- Jim Fisher … Correspondent, Writer
- Sergei Plekhanov … Guest
- Malcolm Toon … Guest
- Gatsha Buthelezi … Guest
- Lamar Alexander
- Terry Ashe
- Tom Beasley
- Gordon Bonnyman
- Mikhail Gorbachev
- Raisa Gorbachev
- Jesse Jackson
- Nancy Reagan
- Ronald Reagan
- Larry Speakes