David Brooks Launches Podcast About Life's Big Questions

David Brooks spent 22 years writing opinion columns for the New York Times. Now he is starting something new. Beginning this Sunday, he will host a weekly video podcast called The Permanent Questions, which is partly funded by Yale University. The show will explore big topics like morality, the human soul, and how people should live their lives.

Brooks recently left the Times and joined a magazine called The Atlantic as a full-time writer. He says he made the change because he wanted to try something different before his career ended. He told himself that finishing a 32-year run at the same job would leave him a little disappointed. A call from the president of Yale University helped push him to make the move.

The new podcast will not focus on politics or the Trump administration. Brooks says there are already too many shows covering every twist and turn in Washington. Instead, he wants to talk about deeper questions, like how to comfort a friend who has lost a loved one, or whether humans have souls. He recently taped an episode where he and a guest argued about that very topic — and they disagreed.

Brooks believes American culture spends too much time on politics and not enough time on moral questions. He says people used to get big ideas from reading books, going to religious services, and having long conversations with friends. He thinks those habits are fading, and that is a problem. His podcast is meant to bring those kinds of conversations back.

Learning to host a video podcast has not been easy for Brooks. He is used to writing columns and speaking from notes, but on camera that style looks stiff and cold. He is now working on reading from a teleprompter without sounding like a robot — something he admits he has not quite figured out yet. He is also practicing the skill of really listening to guests and pushing back on what they say, instead of just moving to the next question on a list.

Brooks also spoke about the challenge newspapers face when trying to include conservative voices, especially those who support Donald Trump. He said it is hard for news organizations to find people who both support Trump and also meet the basic standards of professional journalism. He believes that if major media outlets have no voices from that side of the political world, they are basically telling about 40 percent of Americans that their views do not matter. He thinks that is bad for the country.