Selected Interviews
Interview: Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographer of Seton Hall Dorm Fire
Merion West - 06/14/18“It was critically important to me then, and it’s still critically important to me now that I do not take advantage of the subject of any photograph…for my benefits or for my agenda. We saw some really tough things, and it could have become gratuitous.”
Interview: Dan Abrams: Staking Out the Middle Ground
MediaVillage - 08/16/22“Dan Abrams, host of the NewsNation program Dan Abrams Live, joins Erich Prince for a wide-ranging conversation on media bias, how cable news has changed over the past two decades, and how NewsNation has bet its positioning on the belief that there is a large untapped middle of Americans looking for an alternative to the partisan and acrimonious norm when it comes to cable news.”
Holmesburg: Calling for an Apology from the City of Philadelphia
Merion West - 08/03/22“Erich Prince was joined by author Allen Hornblum and activist Adrianne Jones-Alston for a discussion about the legacy of the human experimentation that took place at Holmesburg Prison and at other detention centers in Philadelphia.”
Interview: Vice President Mondale Comments on Today’s Democratic Party
Merion West - 04/11/19“I told one of the other senators, ‘You’re a very pleasant, sweet person. But deep down, the public wants a son-of-a-gun. You’ve got to get stuff done.’”
Rep. Denver Riggleman: Reflecting on His Two Years in D.C.
Merion West - 10/30/20“And I’ll have to say this: This was the worst job I ever had, but it was one of the best things I’ve ever done.”
Interview: The Man Who Photographed Tiananmen Square
Merion West - 06/05/18“To tell you the truth, I am drawn to these dangerous events even though they scare the hell out of me. I am sure a shrink would have a field day with that…I guess there is an adrenaline rush in trying to capture images under dangerous situations and making it out alive.”
Additional Interviews
Will Marshall: Where Are the Moderates?
Merion West - 07/06/22“I don’t see a full, vigorous pivot by this President (and this White House) back toward the themes and approaches that Joe Biden articulated in his 2020 presidential race.”
Sean Spicer: The Steele Dossier and “Radical Nation”
Merion West - 11/26/21“I was never a champion of the First Step Act. I just don’t understand why we keep missing the problem with crime, which is to get at how do we avoid it [and] not how do we lessen a sentence."
Anne Kim: The AP Exam and the Standardized Testing Debate
Merion West - 11/05/21“What I was not prepared for was the tsunami of just hate and pushback and disdain that would come from people I thought were my people: people that believed in enlightenment values, Western values, and liberal values.”
Kay Hymowitz: The Devaluation of Higher Education
Merion West - 07/28/21“Actually, the two things that ex-Muslims let go of—the very last two things that they let go of—are eating pork and anti-Semitism. It’s because both of these things are so ingrained in us from such a young age.”
Interview: Rep. Susan Wild on How Congress Can Respond to the Pandemic
Merion West - 8/15/20“The problem is, though, we can’t rely on volunteerism, donations, and gifts for much longer because—quite frankly—most of these places are getting pretty tapped out.”
Interview: Rep. Jody Hice on “Defund the Police” and Big Tech Censorship
Merion West - 07/22/20“But there is no question that we’ve got some major issues, and free speech is so dependent these days on these big tech companies, so they have to be very careful that free speech is protected. And, of course, there’s a pattern now that shows otherwise …”
Rep. Madeleine Dean: Making Community College a Priority
Merion West - 09/23/19“[Some of my students] couldn’t do all three: commute, work, and schoolwork. So, I saw the affordability problem growing and growing in that setting, but I hear it also from my constituents in every higher education setting.”
Interview: Rep. Jeff Van Drew on Getting the Two Parties to Work Together
Merion West - 09/11/19“America is an experiment in democracy like none other. I do believe in American exceptionalism. They spoke about many things, but one of the things that they spoke about was the fact that we should never be overly reliant on political parties.”
Interview: Jonathan Haidt on What Underlies Polarization in America
Merion West - 01/30/19“In a sense, the Founding Fathers feared democracy because of the tendency of people to be carried away by their passion and easily led astray by demagogues, and I think that our modern polarization, augmented by social media, could well bring their worst fears to reality.”
What is Virtue? A Talk with Professor Christian B. Miller
Merion West - 08/08/18“I have no desire to be president for example. But in that one aspect, I’m motivated or inspired to have my character better reflect [Lincoln’s] character. Not bring him down to my level but bring my character up to his level.”
What Feminism Means Today: Speaking with Dr. Christina Hoff Sommers
Merion West - 07/26/18“[Feminism today sometimes] sees the world as a zero-sum struggle between Venus and Mars. But most women want equality, not war. Men aren’t their adversaries. They are their brothers, sons, husbands, and friends. We are in this together.”