Arutz Sheva journalist Walter Bingham, who last month was named the world’s oldest journalist by the Guinness World Records, recently sat down with Arutz Sheva for a special interview where the 97-year old host of Walter’s World spoke about his life and the knowledge he can impart to today’s young people.

Bingham’s message to today’s up and coming generation is to find your passion and follow it through.

“Whatever you undertake in life, finish it. Don’t jump from one ting to another. Don’t try to be a jack of all trades,” Bingham said. “If you believe in something, follow it up, go to the end of it, and your convictions, whether political or religious, don’t be swayed, stay with it.”

Bingham, who already had a certificate for being the oldest radio talk show host, is now the proud holder of a Guinness certificate that says, “"The oldest journalist is Walter Bingham (Israel, b. 5 January 1924) who is 97 years and 90 days old, as verified in Jerusalem, Israel, on 5 April 2021."

“It’s very satisfying, particularly because I’m working,” he said. “At 97-plus years old, if you have all your faculties and your mobility then that’s good. The brain is a muscle. You have to exercise your muscles otherwise they decay. And that’s what I’m doing.”

Bingham has hosted weekly Arutz Sheva show Walter’s World for the last 17 years.

“That keeps me going,” said Bingham, who has been a journalist for over 50 years.

When asked about bringing his many years of experience to the shows he produces and the articles he writes, Bingham remarked on how different it is today putting together a talk show with modern digital technology versus the old days of manually splicing tape when editing recordings.

“Today, journalists don’t realize when they edit how easy it is. You can in fact make somebody sound exactly the opposite from what he wants to say by juggling the pieces,” Bingham said.

The Walter’s World host certainly doesn’t miss the “good old days.”

“People talk about the ‘good old days.’ Those were not the good old days. Today is much better. Young people can enjoy technology and all those things.”

Not everything in media is perfect today, however. With social media, everyone thinks they are a journalist. And opinion has replaced fact in reporting.

“The problem with journalism is there’s no reporting anymore,” he said. “Everything is biased. Even (someone) who wants to be an objective reporter when you analyze what he’s saying or how he says it, you find the bias.”

Media personalities should be clearly defined as to whether they are reporting or commenting on the news.

Bingham identifies himself as a “commentator” and a “storyteller.”

“When I go out on a location to report from some place, I want to paint pictures in sounds. I want you to feel that you are with me when I’m talking about the place I’m describing,” he said.

It’s not everyday that people encounter a 97-year old journalist. Bingham, who doesn’t look anywhere near his age, has had nothing but positive experiences as an older journalist on location.

“Everybody has great respect. They help me or do things for me,” he said.

Born in 1924 in Germany, and later escaping the Nazis on the Kindertransport to the UK when he was a teenager, Bingham eventually made Aliyah to Israel, a decision he calls “the best thing I ever did in my life other than marrying my wife and having my daughter.”

Of his memories of the era of his youth, the period just after WWI and then into WWII, Bingham said, “I take those lessons and apply them today.”

One of those applications is a warning that history is repeating itself.

“Politically, in Europe we’re living in the 1930s and people don’t realize it,” he said. “I talk about these things and I remember the development of Nazism… How did it happen? Why did this man come to power?”

There is not enough awareness of the present danger. “It could happen today. People don’t realize it. There’s not enough being done to stop it.”

The major difference compared to the 1930s is that today Jews have their own country.

“We are very fortunate. Finally, we have a country and we have to make sure that we keep it and we develop it in the way that has a Jewish flavour,” said Bingham.