Bill Moyers, PBS. "“Illusions of News” examines the impact of the visual image on news and politics in the electing of Presidents and the governing of America. While projecting a self-serving image has long been a part of American politics, the decade of the 80s produced a marriage of sophisticated news manipulation by political candidates and a willingness of the news media to dance to the candidate’s tune. So successful did the politicos become at manipulation that an exasperated David Burke, president of CBS News, declared during the 1988 campaign, “I fault us for being members of (the) public and not being willing to put on the hair shirt and say, ‘Sit down, we’re going to talk to you about the federal deficit.’” Immediately after the election, the General Accounting Office released a study of the major issues facing the country, and not one had been seriously discussed during the campaign. Many Americans then realized the growing separation between politics and government. This hour looks at changing values in journalism.

Among those interviewed are CBS White House correspondent Leslie Stahl; former Reagan adviser Michael Deaver; Media analyst Ben Bagdikian and political analyst William Schneider.