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{{Short description|American journalist (born 1934)}}
{{Infobox Politician
{{for|the co-founder of the Movement for a New Society|William Moyer}}
| name = Bill Moyers
{{Paid contributions|date=April 2022}}
| image = Bill Moyers 24 May 2005.jpg
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2017}}
| image_size = 150px
{{Infobox officeholder
| caption = Bill Moyers, 2005
| office = ] |name = Bill Moyers
|image = Bill Moyers by Gage Skidmore.jpg
| term_start = 1965
| term_end = 1967 |caption = Moyers in 2017
|office = 11th ]
| predecessor = ]
| successor = ] |president = ]
|term_start = July 8, 1965
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1934|6|5}}
|term_end = February 1, 1967
| birth_place = ], ]
|predecessor = ]
| death_date =
|successor = ]
| death_place =
| party = ] |office1 = ]
| relations = |status1 = De facto
|president1 = ]
|spouse = Judith Suzanne Davidson-Moyers
|term_start1 = October 14, 1964
| children = William Cope, Alice Suzanne, and John Davidson
|term_end1 = July 8, 1965
| residence =]
|predecessor1 = ] (de facto)
| occupation =]
|successor1 = ] (de facto)
| religion =]
|birth_name = Billy Don Moyers
| signature =
|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1934|06|05}}
| website =
|birth_place = ], U.S.
| footnotes =
|death_date =
|death_place =
|party = ]
|spouse = {{marriage|Judith Suzanne Davidson|1954}}
|children = 3
|education = {{Unbulleted list|]|] (])|]|] (])}}
}} }}
'''Bill Moyers''' (born '''Billy Don Moyers'''; June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the ] he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh ]. He was a director of the ], from 1967 to 1974. He also worked as a network TV news commentator for ten years. Moyers has been extensively involved with ], producing documentaries and news journal programs, and has won many awards and honorary degrees for his investigative journalism and civic activities. He has become well known as a trenchant critic of the corporately structured ].


==Early years and education==
'''Bill Moyers''' (born ], ], as '''William Donald "Billy Don" Moyers''') is an ] ] and public commentator. He served as ] from 1965-7. He lives in ].
] ], 1963]]
Born Billy Don Moyers<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.texasmonthly.com/content/mythic-rise-billy-don-moyers|title=Mimi Swartz, " The Mythic Rise of Billy Don Moyers: From Marshall, Texas, he set off on a heroic journey: to become LBJ's protégé, the conscience of TV news, and the prophet of a brand-new faith," November 1989|magazine=]|access-date=March 7, 2014}}</ref> in ] in ] in southeastern ], he is the son of John Henry Moyers, a laborer, and Ruby Johnson Moyers. Moyers was reared in ].<ref name="MBC">{{cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/moyesrbill/moyersbill.htm|title=Bill Moyers|access-date=May 15, 2008|publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517085456/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/moyesrbill/moyersbill.htm|archive-date=May 17, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>


Moyers began his journalism career at 16 as a cub reporter at the '']''. In college, he studied journalism at the ] in ], Texas. In 1954, ] employed him as a summer intern and eventually promoted him to manage Johnson's personal mail. Soon after, Moyers transferred to the ], where he wrote for '']'' newspaper. In 1956, he graduated with a ] degree in Journalism. While in Austin, Moyers served as assistant news editor for KTBC ] and ] stations, owned by ], wife of Senator Johnson. During the academic year 1956–1957, he studied issues of church and state at the ] in ] as a ]. In 1959, he completed a ] degree at the ] in ], Texas.<ref name="MBC" /> Moyers served as Director of Information while attending SWBTS. He was also a Baptist pastor in ] in ], near Austin.
==Career==
===Early years and education===
Born in ], and raised in ], Bill Moyers was born to father John Henry Moyers, a laborer, and mother Ruby (nee Johnson).<ref name="MBC">{{Cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/moyesrbill/moyersbill.htm|title=Bill Moyers|accessdate=2008-05-15|publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications}}</ref>


Moyers was ] in 1954. Moyers planned to enter a ] program in American Studies at the University of Texas. During Senator Johnson's unsuccessful bid for the ], Moyers served as a top aide, and in the general campaign he acted as liaison between ] ] candidate Johnson and the Democratic ], U.S. Senator ].<ref name="library">{{cite web|title=Bill Moyers Biographical Note |publisher=LBJ Library and Museum |url=http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/holdings/Findingaids/Aides/Moyers/MoyersBio.asp |access-date=June 7, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070713202932/http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/holdings/Findingaids/Aides/Moyers/MoyersBio.asp |archive-date=July 13, 2007 }}</ref>
Moyers began his ] career at the age of sixteen as a cub ] at the '']'' in ]. Bill Moyers studied ] at the ]. In 1954, he worked as a summer ] for Senator ], eventually being in charge of Johnson's personal mail before his internship was finished. Moyers soon transferred to the ], where he wrote for ] newspaper and graduated in 1956 with a ] in journalism. While in Austin, Moyers worked as an assistant to the news editor for ] Radio and Television, a station owned by ]. During the academic year 1956-1957 he studied at the ] as a ] Fellow. In 1959,<ref name="MBC" /> he received a ] degree from ] in ]. He was ordained two years later after working as a minister. He planned to enter a PhD program at the University of Texas and briefly accepted a lectureship in Christian ethics at ]. During Lyndon Johnson's unsuccessful bid for the 1960 Democratic presidential nomination Moyers served as a top aide, and in the general campaign he acted as liaison between Democratic vice presidential candidate Johnson and the Democratic presidential hopeful, ].<ref name="library">{{cite web
| title =Bill Moyers Biographical Note
| publisher = LBJ Library and Museum
| url =http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/holdings/Findingaids/Aides/Moyers/MoyersBio.asp
| accessdate = 2007-06-07 }}</ref>


===Kennedy and Johnson administrations=== ==Kennedy and Johnson administrations==
]]]
During the ], Moyers was first appointed as associate director of public affairs for the newly created ] in 1961. He served as Deputy Director from 1962-63. When ] took office after the ], Moyers became a special assistant to Johnson, serving from 1963&ndash;1967. He played a key role in organizing and supervising the 1964 ] legislative task forces and was a principal architect of Johnson's 1964 presidential campaign. Moyers acted as the President's informal chief of staff from October 1964 until 1966. From July 1965 to February 1967, he also served as ].<ref name="library"/> In the ] on April 3, 1966, Moyers offered this insight on his stint as press secretary to President Johnson: "I work for him despite his faults and he lets me work for him despite my deficiencies."<ref name="numbertwotexan">{{cite news
| last =Anderson
| first =Patrick
| title =No. 2 Texan in the White House
| pages =SM1
| publisher =NY Times
| date =1966-04-03
| url =http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10F16FE3A5411708DDDAA0894DC405B868AF1D3
| accessdate = }}</ref><ref name="simpsonsquotations">{{cite book
| last =Simpson
| first =James B.
| title =Simpson's Contemporary Quotations, No. 848
| publisher =Houghton Mifflin
| date =1988
| pages =
| url =http://www.bartleby.com/63/48/848.html
| id = ISBN 0-39543-085-2 }}</ref> The details of his rift with Johnson have not been made public, but may be discussed in a forthcoming memoir.<ref name="pulpitwithsermons">{{cite news
| last =Carr
| first =David
| title =Moyers Leaves a Public Affairs Pulpit With Sermons to Spare
| publisher =NY Times
| date =2004-12-17
| url =http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/arts/television/17moye.html?ex=1261026000&en=e634685e55090435&ei=5090
| accessdate = 2007-06-04 }}</ref>


===The Peace Corps===
Before the ], ] ordered Moyers to request ] on 15 members of ] staff.<ref name="fbi">{{Cite web|url=http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/vol6/html/ChurchV6_0275a.htm|title=US Dept Justice FBI Investigation 1975|accessdate=2008-05-10|publisher=USDOJ|year=1975}}</ref> The ] stated in 1975 that "Moyers has publicly recounted his role in the incident, and his account is confirmed by FBI documents."<ref name="aarclib1">{{Cite web|url=http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/vol6/pdf/ChurchV6_5_Elliff.pdf|title=US Senate Select Committee To Study Governmental Operations, With Respect To Intelligence Activities|accessdate=2008-05-14}}</ref> In 2005, conservative federal judge ] claimed that Moyers denied writing the memo in a 1975 phone call, an unverified claim that Moyers disputes.<ref>Silberman, Acting Deputy Attorney General in 1975, says Moyers called his office and claimed the document was a "phony ] memo", but that he declined Silberman's offer to conduct an investigation to clear his name. "" Moyers responded that Silberman's account of the conversation was at odds with his. ""</ref>


] was established by President Kennedy by Executive Order in March 1961, but it was up to top aide ] and Bill Moyers<ref>{{Citation|title=Mark the Moment! Peace Corps anniversary discussion, marking the 60th anniversary down to the minute|date=2021-09-22|url=https://open.spotify.com/episode/0RybtHXl2Py06qb9PbjJDS|language=en|access-date=2022-01-08}}</ref> to find the funding to actually establish the organization. was signed by President Kennedy on September 22, 1961. In ''Sarge,'' ] reports that "Peace Corps legend has it that between them Moyers and Shriver personally called on every single member of Congress."
===Journalism===
====Newsday====
His journalistic career began in earnest when he served as ] for the ] daily newspaper '']'' from 1967 to 1970. Moyers left when the paper was fully acquired by the ], publisher of the ].<ref name="pulpitwithsermons"/>
====PBS — Bill Moyers Journal====
In 1971 he began working for the Public Broadcasting System (]), hosting a ] called '']'', which ran until 1981 with a hiatus from 1976-1977.<ref name="mbcprofile">{{cite web
| title =Moyers, Bill: U.S. Broadcast Journalist
| publisher =Museum of Broadcast Communications
| url =http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/moyesrbill/moyersbill.htm
| accessdate = 2007-06-07 }}</ref>
====CBS News====
In 1976 he moved to ], where he worked as editor and chief correspondent for ''CBS Reports'' until 1980, then as senior news analyst and commentator for the ''] with ]'' from 1981-1986. He was the last regular commentator for the network broadcast.<ref name="opinionsdifferoncbs">{{cite news
| last =Shister
| first =Gail
| title =Opinions Differ on CBS News’ Commentary Plan
| publisher =Philadelphia Inquirer
| date =2006-04-18
| url =http://www.freepress.net/news/15028
| accessdate = 2007-06-07 }}</ref> During his last year at CBS, Moyers made public statements about declining news standards at the network, and declined to renew his contract with CBS, citing commitments with PBS.


Reflecting 25 years later on the creation of the program Moyers said: ”We knew from the beginning that the Peace Corps was not an agency, program, or mission. Now we know—from those who lived and died for it—that it is a way of being in the world."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bill Moyers Says It All At The 25th Anniversary Conference {{!}} Peace Corps Worldwide|url=https://peacecorpsworldwide.org/bill-moyers-says-it-all-at-the-25th-anniversary-conference/|access-date=2022-01-08|website=peacecorpsworldwide.org}}</ref> At the 50th Anniversary “Salute to Peace Corps Giants,” hosted by the ], Moyers said, "The years we spent at the Peace Corps were the best years of our lives.”<ref>{{Cite web|title=Salute to Peace Corps Giants {{!}} C-SPAN.org|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?170805-1/salute-peace-corps-giants|access-date=2022-01-08|website=www.c-span.org|language=en-us}}</ref> Moyers gave the same answer in the famed '']'' ] in 2011.<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=2011-06-01|title=Proust Questionnaire: Bill Moyers|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2011/07/proust-bill-moyers-201107|access-date=2022-01-08|magazine=Vanity Fair|language=en-US}}</ref>
====''The Power of Myth'' series====
In 1986 Moyers and his wife Judith Davidson Moyers formed ''Public Affairs Television''. Among their first productions was the popular ] 1988 documentary series '']'', consisting of six one-hour interviews between Moyers and mythologist ]. The documentary covers Campbell's exploration of the ] and the ], or the story of the hero, as they manifest in various cultures. Campbell's influence is clearly seen in the work of ] '']'' saga. In the first interview, filmed at George Lucas' "],"<ref name="herosadventure">{{cite web
| title =The Hero's Adventure
| publisher =TV.com
| url =http://www.tv.com/joseph-campbell-and-the-power-of-myth/the-heros-adventure/episode/432756/summary.html
| accessdate = 2007-06-07 }}</ref> Moyers and Campbell discuss the relationship between Campbell's theories and Lucas' creative work. Twelve years after the making of ''The Power of Myth'', Moyers and Lucas met again for the 1999 interview, the ''Mythology of Star Wars with George Lucas & Bill Moyers'', to further discuss the impact of Campbell's work on Lucas' films.<ref name="dvdlucas">{{cite book
| title =DVD: The Mythology of Star Wars with George Lucas and Bill Moyers
| date =1999
| id = ISBN 978-0-7365-7936-0 }}</ref>


Moyers served first as associate director of public affairs and then as Sargent Shriver's deputy director before becoming special assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson in November 1963.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Coverdell|first=Paul D.|date=June 2003|title=Voices From the Field|url=https://files.peacecorps.gov/wws/pdf/VoicesFromtheField.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231210616/http://files.peacecorps.gov/wws/pdf/VoicesFromtheField.pdf |archive-date=December 31, 2015 }}</ref>
====NBC News====

===Corporation for Public Broadcasting===

Moyers was a key player in the creation of the public broadcasting system.<ref>{{Cite web|last=York|first=Carnegie Corporation of New|title=Public Broadcasting Turns 50|url=https://www.carnegie.org/news/articles/public-broadcasting-turns-50/|access-date=2022-02-03|website=Carnegie Corporation of New York|language=en}}</ref>  When, in 1961, FCC Chairman ] labeled television "]” and called for programming in the public interest, the Johnson Administration instituted a study of the issue. to study the value of and need for noncommercial educational television. Bill Moyers served on this committee, which released its report 'Public Television: A Program for Action,' in 1967. of the endeavor: “We became a central part of the American consciousness and a valuable institution within our culture."

Moyers was influential in creating the legislation that would fulfill the committee's recommendations. In 1967, President Johnson<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-01-14|title=President Johnson's Remarks|url=https://www.cpb.org/aboutpb/act/remarks|access-date=2022-02-03|website=www.cpb.org|language=en}}</ref> signed ], which states: "it is in the public interest to encourage the growth and development of public radio and television broadcasting, including the use of such media for instructional, educational, and cultural purposes."

On the 50th anniversary of the Public Broadcasting Act, Moyers and ] with ].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Preserving Public Broadcasting at 50 Years|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-8208/|access-date=2022-02-03|website=Library of Congress}}</ref>

===Johnson Administration===

When ] took office after the ], Moyers became a special assistant to Johnson, serving from 1963 to 1967. Moyers is the last surviving person identifiable in the photograph taken of Johnson's ].<ref>{{cite book|first1=Jerald|last1=terHorst|first2=Col. Ralph|last2=Albertazzie|title=The Flying White House|location=New York|publisher=Coward, McCann & Geoghegan|year=1979|isbn=0-698-10930-9|author-link=Jerald terHorst|page=|url=https://archive.org/details/flyingwhitehouse00ter_evv/page/225}}</ref> He played a key role in organizing and supervising the 1964 ] legislative task forces and was a principal architect of Johnson's 1964 presidential campaign. Moyers acted as the President's informal chief of staff from October 1964 until July 1965. From July 1965 to February 1967, he also served as ].<ref name="library" />

After the resignation of White House Chief of Staff ] because of a sexual misdemeanor in the run up to the ], President ], alarmed that the opposition was framing the issue as a security breach,<ref name="lavender">{{cite book|title=The Lavender Scare |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gbfOrkS5ziAC&pg=PA19 |last=Johnson|first=David K.|year=2004|page=197 |publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|isbn=0-226-40481-1}}</ref> ordered Moyers to request ] on 15 members of ] staff to find "derogatory" material on their personal lives.<ref name="fbi">{{cite web|url=http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/vol6/html/ChurchV6_0275a.htm|title=US Dept Justice FBI Investigation 1975|access-date=May 10, 2008|publisher=USDOJ|year=1975}}</ref><ref>Hoover's men ran name checks on 15 of them, producing derogatory information on two (a traffic violation on one and a love affair on another) " "</ref> Goldwater himself only referred to the Jenkins incident off the record.<ref name="LBJportrait">{{cite book|title=Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JIGcq0RXspMC&pg=PA188|last=Dallek|first=Robert|year=2005|page=188|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=UK|isbn=0-19-515921-7|quote=When reporters on his campaign plane pressed him for a comment, he would only speak 'off the record.' 'What a way to win an election,' he said, 'Communists and cocksuckers.'}}</ref> The ] stated in 1975 that "Moyers has publicly recounted his role in the incident, and his account is confirmed by FBI documents."<ref name="aarclib1">{{cite web|url=http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/vol6/pdf/ChurchV6_5_Elliff.pdf|title=US Senate Select Committee To Study Governmental Operations, With Respect To Intelligence Activities|access-date=May 14, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528030856/http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/vol6/pdf/ChurchV6_5_Elliff.pdf|archive-date=May 28, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2005, ] wrote that Moyers denied writing the memo in a 1975 phone call, telling him the FBI had fabricated it.<ref>Silberman, Acting Deputy Attorney General in 1975, says Moyers called his office and said the document was a "phony ] memo" but declined Silberman's offer to conduct an investigation to clear his name. " {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090227075854/http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110006987 |date=February 27, 2009 }}" Moyers responded that Silberman's account of the conversation was at odds with his. " {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303190916/http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/01/novak.hoover/index.html |date=March 3, 2016 }}"</ref> Moyers said he had a different recollection of the telephone conversation.<ref>{{cite news|author=Robert Novak|url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/12/01/novak.hoover/index.html|title=Removing J. Edgar's name|date=December 1, 2005|publisher=CNN|access-date=February 23, 2009}}</ref>

Moyers also sought information from the FBI on the sexual preferences of White House staff members, most notably ].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/investigations/documents/Moyers.pdf|title=Letter to Bill Moyers from FBI – December 2, 1964|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=February 23, 2009|archive-date=March 26, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090326034737/http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/investigations/documents/Moyers.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref> Moyers indicated his memory was unclear on why Johnson directed him to request such information, "but that he may have been simply looking for details of allegations first brought to the president by ]."<ref name="ValentiInvestigation">{{cite news|last=Stephens|first=Joe|title=Valenti's Sexuality Was Topic For FBI: Under Pressure, LBJ Let Hoover's Agents Investigate Top Aide|pages=A01|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=February 19, 2009|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/18/AR2009021803819.html?hpid=topnews|access-date=February 20, 2009 }}</ref>

Under the direction of President Johnson, Moyers gave ] the go-ahead to discredit ], played a part in the wiretapping of King, discouraged the American embassy in Oslo from assisting King on his Nobel Peace Prize trip, and worked to prevent King from challenging the all-white Mississippi delegation to the 1964 Democratic National Convention.<ref>{{cite book|first1=Nikc|last1=Kotz|title=Judgment days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the laws that changed America|location=New York|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|year=2005|isbn=|author-link=Nick Kotz|page=}}</ref>

Moyers approved (but had nothing to do with the production) of the infamous "]" against ] in the 1964 presidential campaign.<ref name="GoldwaterObit">{{cite news|last=Barnes|first=Bart|title=Barry Goldwater, GOP Hero, Dies|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=May 30, 1998|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/daily/may98/goldwater30.htm|access-date=January 17, 2010}}</ref> Goldwater blamed him for it, and once said of Moyers, "Every time I see him, I get sick to my stomach and want to throw up."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/62651/the-power-myth |title=The Power of Myth |magazine=The New Republic |date=August 19, 1991}}</ref> The ad is considered the starting point of the modern-day harshly negative campaign ad.<ref name="SchwartzObit">{{cite news|last=Fox|first=Margalit|title=Tony Schwartz, Father of 'Daisy Ad' for the Johnson Campaign, Dies at 84|work=The New York Times|date=June 17, 2008|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/business/media/17schwartz-tony.html?fta=y|access-date=January 17, 2010 }}</ref>

] in 1965]]
Journalist ] in his 1990 book "Flashbacks" wrote that Moyers and President Johnson met with and "harangued" Safer's boss, ] president ], about Safer's coverage of the Marines torching ] village in the ].<ref name="safer1">{{cite book|title=The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War: Executive and Legislative Roles and Relationships|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W3fy6AABBXsC&pg=PA69|last=Gibbons|first=William Conrad|year=1995|pages=69pp|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-00635-0}}</ref>
During the meeting, Safer alleges, Johnson threatened to expose Safer's "communist ties". This was a bluff, according to Safer. Safer says that Moyers was "if not a key player, certainly a key bystander" in the incident.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.booknotes.org/Watch/12151-1/Morley+Safer.aspx|title=Booknotes: Flashbacks On Returning to Vietnam|publisher=booknotes.org|access-date=February 28, 2009|quote=And Moyers was present during some of this showdown stuff about me being a Communist, clearly knew it was a bluff. As I say, there are limits, I think, even to being a good soldier. And even if one does, I think there is a time to come clean.|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101116231600/http://booknotes.org/Watch/12151-1/Morley+Safer.aspx|archive-date=November 16, 2010|df=mdy-all}}</ref> Moyers stated that his hard-hitting coverage of conservative presidents ] and ] was behind Safer's 1990 allegations.<ref>{{cite news|last=Gunther|first=Marc|date=May 29, 1992|title=Is ill will behind piece '60 Minutes' plans to do on PBS' Bill Moyers?|website=The Baltimore Sun|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1992-05-29-1992150017-story.html|access-date=February 28, 2009|quote=Mr. Moyers wonders aloud whether his hard-hitting coverage of presidents Reagan and Bush has vexed Mr. Wallace and Mr. Safer, who, friends say, have become more politically conservative as they've grown older and wealthier.}}</ref>

In '']'' on April 3, 1966, Moyers offered this insight on his stint as press secretary to President Johnson: "I work for him despite his faults and he lets me work for him despite my deficiencies."<ref name="numbertwotexan">{{cite news|last=Anderson|first=Patrick |title=No. 2 Texan in the White House|pages=SM1|newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 3, 1966 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1966/04/03/archives/no-2-texan-in-the-white-house-no-2-texan-in-the-white-house.html?nytmobile=0 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="simpsonsquotations">{{cite book|last=Simpson |first=James B. |title=Simpson's Contemporary Quotations, No. 848 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=1988 |url=http://www.bartleby.com/63/48/848.html |isbn=0-395-43085-2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205105522/http://www.bartleby.com/63/48/848.html |archive-date=December 5, 2008 }}</ref> On October 17, 1967, he told an audience in Cambridge that Johnson saw the war in Vietnam as his major legacy and, as a result, was insisting on victory at all costs, even in the face of public opposition. Moyers felt such a continuation of the conflict would tear the country apart. "I never thought the situation could arise when I would wish for the defeat of LBJ, and that makes my current state of mind all the more painful to me," he told them. "I would have to say now: It would depend on who his opponent is."<ref>], ''Secrets'', 197f</ref>

The full details of his rift with Johnson were not made public.<ref name="pulpitwithsermons">{{cite news|last=Carr|first=David|title=Moyers Leaves a Public Affairs Pulpit With Sermons to Spare|work=The New York Times|date=December 17, 2004|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/17/arts/television/17moye.html?ex=1261026000&en=e634685e55090435&ei=5090|access-date=June 4, 2007}}</ref> However, an Oval Office tape which was recorded following Johnson's public announcement that he would not seek re-election on March 31, 1968, suggested that Moyers and Johnson were still in contact after Moyers left the White House, with Moyers even encouraging the President to change his mind about running.<ref> ], YouTube, Accessed October 29, 2020</ref>

==Journalism==
===''Newsday''===
Moyers served as publisher for the ], daily newspaper '']'' from 1967 to 1970. The conservative publication had been unsuccessful,<ref name="CHAH">"Bill Moyers." Contemporary Heroes and Heroines, Book IV. Gale Group, 2000. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2010.</ref> but Moyers led the paper in a progressive direction,<ref name="encyc">{{cite book|title=Encyclopedia of World Biography|page=|author=Gale Research|isbn=0-7876-2551-5|year=1998|publisher=Gale Research|location=University of Michigan|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofwo11gale/page/215}}</ref> bringing in leading writers such as ], ], and ], and adding new features and more investigative reporting and analysis. Circulation increased and the publication won 33 major journalism awards, including two ]s.<ref name="CHAH"/><ref>"Bill Moyers." Newsmakers 1991, Issue Cumulation. Gale Research, 1991. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2010.</ref><ref>Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2010. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2010.</ref> But the owner of the paper, ], a conservative, was disappointed by the liberal drift of the newspaper under Moyers, criticizing the "left-wing" coverage of Vietnam War protests.<ref name="time42770">{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909136,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101030152452/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909136,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 30, 2010|title=The Press: How Much Independence?
|date=April 27, 1970|magazine=]|access-date=February 15, 2010}}</ref><ref name="keeler">{{cite book|last=Keeler|first=Robert F.|title=Newsday: a candid history of the respectable tabloid|publisher=Morrow|year=1990|pages=|isbn=1-55710-053-5|url=https://archive.org/details/newsdaycandidhis00keel_0/page/460}}</ref> The two split over the 1968 presidential election, with Guggenheim signing an editorial supporting ], when Moyers supported ].<ref>{{cite news|date=October 17, 1968|title=Newsday Goes For Nixon, But Moyers Balks|work=Chicago Tribune|url=https://www.newspapers.com/search/#query=Newsday+Goes+For+Nixon+But+Moyers+Balks&t=4351|access-date=February 15, 2010}}</ref> Guggenheim sold his majority share to the then-conservative ] over the attempt of newspaper employees to block the sale, even though Moyers offered $10 million more than the Times-Mirror purchase price; Moyers resigned a few days later.<ref name="pulpitwithsermons"/><ref name="time42770"/><ref name="nyt51370">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/05/13/archives/moyers-resigns-post-at-newsday.html|title=Moyers Resigns Post at Newsday|date=May 13, 1970|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 15, 2010}}</ref><ref name="raymont313">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/13/archives/newsday-employes-seek-to-block-sale-of-the-paper.html|title=Newsday Employes Seek to Block Sale of the Paper|last=Raymont|first=Henry|date=March 13, 1970|work=The New York Times|access-date=February 15, 2010}}</ref>

===CBS News===
In 1976 Moyers joined ], where he worked as editor and chief correspondent for '']'' until 1981, then as senior news analyst and commentator for the ''] with ]'' from 1981 to 1986. He was the last regular commentator for the network broadcast.<ref name="opinionsdifferoncbs">{{cite news|last=Shister |first=Gail |title=Opinions Differ on CBS News' Commentary Plan |via=] |newspaper=] |date=April 18, 2006 |url=http://www.freepress.net/news/15028 |access-date=June 7, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927190512/http://www.freepress.net/news/15028 |archive-date=September 27, 2007 }}</ref> During his last year at CBS, Moyers made public statements about declining news standards at the network<ref>{{cite news |last=Boyer |first=Peter J. |title=Bill Moyers Is Expected to Keep Tie to CBS News |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/07/movies/bill-moyers-is-expected-to-keep-tie-to-cbs-news.html |newspaper=] |date=November 7, 1986 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180203051719/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/07/movies/bill-moyers-is-expected-to-keep-tie-to-cbs-news.html |archive-date=February 3, 2018 |access-date=March 1, 2022 }}{{cbignore}}</ref> and declined to renew his contract with CBS, citing commitments with PBS.<ref>{{cite news |last=Boyer |first=Peter J. |title=Moyers Will Sever CBS Tie |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/21/arts/moyers-will-sever-cbs-tie.html |newspaper=] |date=November 21, 1986 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170812141017/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/07/movies/bill-moyers-is-expected-to-keep-tie-to-cbs-news.html |archive-date=August 12, 2017 |access-date=March 1, 2022 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>

===NBC News===
Moyers briefly joined ] in 1995 as a senior analyst and commentator, and the following year he became the first host of sister cable network ]'s ''Insight'' program. He was the last regular commentator on the '']''.<ref name="opinionsdifferoncbs"/> Moyers briefly joined ] in 1995 as a senior analyst and commentator, and the following year he became the first host of sister cable network ]'s ''Insight'' program. He was the last regular commentator on the '']''.<ref name="opinionsdifferoncbs"/>
====PBS====
The latest of Moyers' PBS programs are available for viewing online at .
=====NOW with Bill Moyers=====
Moyers hosted the TV news journal, '']'', on PBS for three years. He retired from the program on ], ] but returned to PBS soon after to host '']'' in 2005. When he left ''NOW'', he announced that he wished to finish writing a memoir of ].<ref name="toleavepbs">{{cite news
| title =Bill Moyers to leave PBS
| publisher =AP/USA Today
| date =2004-02-19
| url =http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2004-02-19-bill-moyer_x.htm
| accessdate = 2007-06-07 }}</ref>
=====Bill Moyers on Faith and Reason=====
In 2006 he presented two public television series. , a series of conversations with esteemed writers of various faiths and of no faith, explored the question, "In a world in which religion is poison to some and salvation to others, how do we live together?"
=====Bill Moyers on America=====
The other recent series, , analyzed in depth the ramifications of three important issues: the ] scandal (), evangelical religion and ] (), and threats to open public access of the Internet ().
=====Bill Moyers Journal=====
On ], ], Moyers returned to PBS with '']''. The first episode, entitled , had Moyers investigating the general media's shortcomings in the run-up to the ].
====Awards====
Recipient of the ], "Bill Moyers has devoted his lifetime to the exploration of the major issues and ideas of our time and our country, giving television viewers an informed perspective on political and societal concerns," according to the official announcement, which also noted, "the scope of and quality of his broadcasts have been honored time and again. It is fitting that the ] honor him with our highest honor – the Lifetime Achievement Award."<ref name="lifetimeemmy">{{cite press release
| title =Bill Moyers to receive Lifetime Achievement Award at News & Documentary Emmy Awards
| publisher =National Television Academy
| date =2006-08-01
| url =http://www.emmyonline.org/emmy/27_news_moyers.html
| accessdate = 2007-06-07 }}</ref> He has received well over thirty Emmys and virtually every other major television journalism prize, including a gold baton from the ], a lifetime ], and a ] (his third George Polk Award) for contributions to journalistic integrity and investigative reporting. He is a member of the ] and has been the recipient of numerous ]s, including a ] from the ].<ref name="MBC" />


==Commentary== ===PBS===
====''Bill Moyers Journal'' (1972–1981)====
===Regarding the U.S. media===
In 1971 Moyers began working for the Public Broadcasting Service (]). His first PBS series, titled ''This Week with Bill Moyers'', aired in 1971 and 1972.
====On the media and class warfare====
In a 2003 interview with BuzzFlash.com,<ref name="BuzzFlash">{{cite news
| title = Bill Moyers is Insightful, Erudite, Impassioned, Brilliant and the Host of PBS' "NOW"
| url = http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/10/int03281.html
| work =interview
| publisher = BuzzFlash.com | date = 2003-10-28 | accessdate = 2006-12-18
}}</ref>
Moyers said, "The corporate right and the political right declared ] on working people a quarter of a century ago and they've won." He noted that "The rich are getting richer, which arguably wouldn't matter if the rising tide lifted all boats." Instead, however, "The inequality gap is the widest it's been since 1929; the middle class is besieged and the working poor are barely keeping their heads above water." He added that as "the corporate and governing elites are helping themselves to the spoils of victory," access to political power has become "who gets what and who pays for it."


'']'' ran on PBS from 1972 until 1981 with a hiatus from 1976 to 1977. He later hosted a show with this title from 2007 to 2010.<ref name="mbcprofile">{{cite web|title=Moyers, Bill: U.S. Broadcast Journalist|publisher=Museum of Broadcast Communications|url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/moyesrbill/moyersbill.htm|access-date=June 7, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070608195913/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/M/htmlM/moyesrbill/moyersbill.htm|archive-date=June 8, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Meanwhile, the public has failed to react because it is, in his words, "distracted by the media circus and news has been neutered or politicized for partisan purposes." In support of this he referred to "the paradox of ], ensconced in a ] mansion massaging the resentments across the country of white-knuckled wage earners, who are barely making ends meet in no small part because of the corporate and ideological forces for whom Rush has been a hero... As ] reports in his recent book &mdash; a book that I'm proud to have helped make happen &mdash; part of the red meat strategy is to attack mainstream media relentlessly, knowing that if the press is effectively intimidated, either by the accusation of liberal bias or by a reporter's own mistaken belief in the charge's validity, the institutions that conservatives revere &mdash; corporate America, the military, organized religion, and their own ideological bastions of influence &mdash; will be able to escape scrutiny and increase their influence over American public life with relatively no challenge."<ref name="BuzzFlash"/>


In 1975, Bill Moyers Journal aired ''Rosedale: The Way It Is,''<ref>{{Cite web|title=Rosedale: The Way It Is|url=https://vimeo.com/moyersandcompany|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160109095256/https://vimeo.com/moyersandcompany |archive-date=January 9, 2016 }}</ref> documenting the furor after the first Black family moved into Rosedale, Queens — including a rash of fire bombings. Forty-five years later a graduate student drew attention to a short segment recording the reactions of a group of black girls trying to make sense of the virulent racist attack they'd just experienced. ''The New York Times'' picked up on the story and found the children and others featured in the documentary and produced its own reported feature: " A Racist Attack on Children Was Taped in 1975. We Found Them."<ref>{{Cite news|last=Nir|first=Sarah Maslin|date=June 21, 2020|title=A Racist Attack on Children Was Taped in 1975. We Found Them.|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/21/nyregion/racist-video-rosedale-queens.html|access-date=December 8, 2020}}</ref>
====On media bias====
When he retired in December 2004, the AP News Service quoted Moyers, "I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee. We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Moyers said: Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people."<ref name="retire">{{Cite web|url=http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/headlines04/1210-11.htm|title= Bill Moyers Retiring From TV Journalism|accessdate=2007-07-25|publisher=Associated Press|year=2004|author=Frazier Moore|format=html}}</ref>


====Individual programs (1982–2006)====
===On Karl Rove and U.S. politics===
During his speech at the "Take Back America" Conference, Moyers defined what he considered to be ]'s influence on George W. Bush's administration. Moyers asserted that, from his reading of Rove, the mid to late 1800s were to Rove a "cherished period of American history." He further states, "From his own public comments and my reading of the record, it is apparent that Karl Rove has modeled the Bush presidency on that of ]...and modeled himself on ], the man who virtually manufactured McKinley."<ref name="harvard">{{cite speech
| title = This is Your Story - The Progressive Story of America. Pass It On.
| first = Bill | last = Moyers
| date = 2003-06-10 | accessdate = 2006-12-18 | location = 'Take Back America' Conference
| url = http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~wjs/BillMoyersSpeech.htm
}} ''The venue and date of the speech are not clear from the source cited here; the date provided is the publication date.''</ref>


From 1982 through 2006, 70 different documentaries, interviews or limited series produced and hosted by Moyers ran on PBS stations.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://billmoyers.com/series/?date=asc | title=Series Archive }}</ref>
He stipulated that Hanna's primary "passion" was attending to corporate and imperial power.


Individuals interviewed and profiled included:
Furthermore, Moyers indicates that Hanna gathered support for McKinley's presidential campaign from "the corporate interests of the day" and was responsible for Ohio and Washington coming under the rule of "bankers, railroads and public utility corporations." He submitted that political opponents of this transfer of power were "smeared as disturbers of the peace, socialists, anarchists, or worse."<ref name="harvard"/>
*] (''Six Great Ideas'', 1982)
*] ('']'', 1988)
*] (''A Gathering of Men'', 1990)
*] (''The Man who Beat the Blacklist'', 1990)
*] (''The Songs are Free'', 1991)
*] (''Your Mythic Journey'', 1991)
*] (''The Faithkeeper'', 1991)
*] (''Facing Hate'', 1991)
*] and ] (''A Life Together'', 1993)
*] (''Attorney General Janet Reno'', 1993)
*] (''Poet Laureate Rita Dove'', 1994)
*] (''Pure Pete Seeger'', 1994)
*] (''The Wisdom of Faith'', 1996)
*] ('']'', 1997)
*] (''Archbishop Tutu'', 1999)
*] (''The Mythology of Star Wars'', 1999)
*] (''About the Lathe of Heaven'', 2000)


Moyers also hosted a 6-part interview series called ''Creativity'' in 1982 and a 42-part interview series ''A World of Ideas'' from 1988–1990 which featured a companion book.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/12/movies/reviews-television-bill-moyers-examines-public-issues.html|title=Reviews/Television - Bill Moyers Examines Public Issues - NYTimes.com|newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 12, 1988|access-date=February 13, 2015|last1=O'Connor |first1=John J.}}</ref>
Lastly, he refers to what historian Clinton Rossiter called the period of "the great train robbery of American intellectual history," when "conservatives--or better, pro-corporate apologists" began using terms such as "progress", "opportunity", and "individualism" in order to make "the plunder of America sound like divine right." He added that ]'s theory of evolution was also used by conservative politicians, judges, and publicists to justify the idea of a "natural order of things" as well as "the notion that progress resulted from the elimination of the weak and the 'survival of the fittest.'"<ref name="harvard"/>


Topics of Moyers broadcasts included:
He concludes, "This 'degenerate and unlovely age', as one historian calls it, exists in the mind of Karl Rove, the reputed brain of George W. Bush, as the seminal age of inspiration for the politics and governance of America today."<ref name="harvard"/>
*History – ''A Walk Through the 20th Century'' (1982–1984), ''From D-Day to the Rhine'' (1990), ''The Power of the Past: Florence'' (1990), ''The Arab World'' (1991), ''Presenting Mr. Frederick Douglass'' (1994)
*Religion – ''Heritage Conversations'' (1986), ''God and Politics'' (1987), ''Amazing Grace'' (1990), ''The New Holy War'' (1993), ''Genesis: A Living Conversation'' (1996),<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kemenetz|first=Rodger|date=October 20, 1996|title=In the Beginning There Was a Bible Discussion Group. And Then PBS Came Calling|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/10/20/magazine/in-the-beginning-there-was-a-bible-discussion-group-and-then-pbs-came-calling.html|access-date=December 8, 2021}}</ref> ''Faith and Reason'' (2006)
*Morality – ''Facing Evil'' (1988), ''Beyond Hate'' (1991), ''Hate on Trial'' (1992), ''Facing the Truth'' (1999)
*Politics – ''In Search of the Constitution'' (1987), ''The Home Front'' (1991), ''Money Talks'' (1994), ''Trading Democracy'' (2002), ''Capitol Crimes'' (2006)
*The media – ''The Public Mind'' (1989), ''Project Censored'' (1991), ''Free Speech for Sale'' (1999), ''The Net at Risk'' (2006)
*Contemporary events such as the ] (''The Secret Government'', 1987), ] (''Election '88''), ] (''Listening to America'') and the ] (''Moyers in Conversation'')
*Healthcare – ''Circle of Recovery'' (1991), ''Healing and the Mind'' (1993), ''The Great Healthcare debate'' (1994), ''Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home'' (1998),<ref>{{Cite news|last=Brennan|first=Patricia|date=March 28, 1998|title=From the Moyers Family to Yours|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/tv/1998/03/29/from-the-moyers-family-to-yours/a73d7b31-e5d0-4f1f-8cef-64d4f74e35fc/|access-date=December 8, 2021}}</ref> ''On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying'' (2000)<ref>{{Cite news|last=Rosenfeld|first=Megan|date=September 9, 2000|title='Moyers on Dying': Potent Medicine|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/09/09/moyers-on-dying-potent-medicine/196819b7-a02e-4eac-bae6-41cd27f84271/|access-date=December 8, 2021}}</ref>
*Poetry<ref>{{Cite news|last=Barber|first=David|title=What Makes Poetry 'Poetic'?|work=The Atlantic|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1999/03/what-makes-poetry-poetic/377508/|access-date=December 8, 2021}}</ref> – ''The Power of the Word'' (1989), ''The Language of Life'' (1995), ''Fooling with Words'' (1999), ''Sounds of Poetry'' (1999)
*The environment – ''Spirit and Nature'' (1991), ''Trade Secrets'' (2001), ''Earth on Edge'' (2001), ''America's First River'' (2003), ''Is God Green?'' (2006)
*Money – ''Sports for sale'' (1991), ''Minimum Wages: The New Economy'' (1992), ''Bullish on America'' (1993), ''Surviving the Good Times'' (2000)<ref>{{Cite news|last=Goodman|first=Walter|date=March 28, 2000|title=Tracking the Toll After 2 Breadwinners Lose Jobs|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/28/arts/television-review-tracking-the-toll-after-2-breadwinners-lose-jobs.html|access-date=December 7, 2021}}</ref>
*Youth issues – ''All Our Children'' (1991), ''Families First'' (1992), ''Solutions to Violence'' (1995), ''Children in America's Schools'' (1996)
*Immigration – ''Becoming American'' (2003)


These were often produced by Moyers and his wife, Judith Suzanne Davidson Moyers, through '''Public Affairs Television''', a company they formed in 1986. Other collaborators included filmmaker ] and producer ]<ref name=variety>{{cite news|title=Madeline Amgott Dead: Pioneering Female TV News Producer Dies at 92 |url=https://variety.com/2014/tv/people-news/madeline-amgott-dead-pioneering-female-tv-news-producer-dies-at-92-1201266910/ |work=] |date=July 22, 2014 |access-date=August 14, 2014}}</ref>
During coverage of the ], Moyers stated, "I think that if Kerry were to win this in a tight race, I think that there would be an effort to mount a ], quite frankly. I mean that the right wing is not going to accept it."<ref name="hownottowin">{{cite news

| last =Will
====''Frontline'' (1990–1999)====
| first = George
Between 1990 and 1999, Moyers produced and hosted 7 episodes of the PBS journalism program '']'':
| title =How Not To Win Red America
*''Global Dumping Ground'' (1990) on toxic waste
| publisher =Jewish World Review
*''Springfield Goes to War'' (1990) on the debate around the ]
| date =2004-11-09
*''High Crimes and Misdemeanors'' (1990) on the ]
| url =http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/will110904.asp
*''In Our Children's Food'' (1993) on pesticides
| accessdate = 2007-06-09 }}</ref><ref name="kochcoup">{{cite news
*''Living on the Edge'' (1995) on the economy
| last =Koch
*''Washington's Other Scandal'' (1998) on campaign finance
| first =Edward I.
*''Justice for Sale'' (1999) on judicial elections
| title =Shocked by Bill Moyers' 'Coup' Comment and Radical Media

| publisher =NewsMax.com
====''NOW with Bill Moyers'' and ''Wide Angle'' (2002–2005)====
| date =2004-11-18
Moyers hosted the TV news journal '']'' on PBS for three years, starting in January 2002. He retired from the program on December 17, 2004, but returned to PBS soon after to host '']'' in 2005. When he left ''NOW'', he announced that he wished to finish writing a biography of ].<ref name="toleavepbs">{{cite news|title=Bill Moyers to leave PBS|agency=AP|website=USA Today|date=February 19, 2004|url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2004-02-19-bill-moyer_x.htm|access-date=June 7, 2007 }}</ref>
| url =http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/11/17/142900.shtml

| accessdate = 2007-06-09 }}</ref>
====''Bill Moyers Journal'' (2007–2010)====
On April 25, 2007, Moyers returned to PBS with '']''. In the first episode, "Buying the War", Moyers investigated what he called the general media's shortcomings in the runup to the ].<ref>{{cite news|last=Lowry|first=Brian|date=April 20, 2007|title=Bill Moyers Journal: Buying the War|work=Variety|url=https://variety.com/2007/tv/reviews/bill-moyers-journal-buying-the-war-1200560009/|url-status=live|access-date=May 20, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100509182725/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117933394.html?categoryid=32&cs=1|archive-date=May 9, 2010}}</ref> "Buying the War" won an Emmy at the (2008) for Best Report in a News Magazine.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Buying the War: How Big Media Failed Us in Iraq|url=https://billmoyers.com/content/buying-the-war/|access-date=2021-11-23|website=]|language=en-US}}</ref>

On November 20, 2009, Moyers announced that he would be retiring from his weekly show on April 30, 2010.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/bill-moyers-to-leave-weekly-television/?src=twt&twt=nytimestv|title=Bill Moyers to Leave Weekly Television |first=Elizabeth |last=Jensen|date=November 20, 2009|access-date=November 21, 2009|work=The New York Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091123020919/http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/bill-moyers-to-leave-weekly-television/?src=twt&twt=nytimestv|archive-date=November 23, 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

====''Moyers & Company'' (2012–2015)====
In August 2011 Moyers announced a new hour-long weekly interview show, '']'', which premiered in January 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/22/bill-moyers-returns-to-public-television-but-not-pbs/|title= Bill Moyers Returns to Public Television, but Not PBS|author= Elizabeth Jensen |work=The New York Times|date= August 22, 2011|access-date=February 13, 2015}}</ref> In that same month, Moyers also launched . Later reduced to a half hour, ''Moyers & Company'' was produced by Public Affairs Television and distributed by ].<ref>{{dead link|date=November 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The show has been heralded as a renewed fulfillment of public media's stated mission to air news and views unrepresented or underrepresented in commercial media.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4381|title=Bill Moyers Is Back|work=FAIR|access-date=February 13, 2015}}</ref>

The program concluded on January 2, 2015.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Jensen|first1=Elizabeth|title=Moyers Says Show Really Is Ending This Time|url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/09/18/moyers-show-really-ending-this-time/|access-date=September 18, 2014|work=]|date=September 18, 2014}}</ref>

===''Moyers on Democracy'' podcast===
In 2020, Moyers started a series of podcasts named ''Moyers on Democracy''. Conversations included Lisa Graves on the ] conflict; ] on ''How the South Won the Civil War;'' ] on racism's pernicious effect on American society and ] on his newest project — a retelling of '']'' from the viewpoint of a Black cabin boy. The series ended in early 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Moyers on Democracy Podcast|url=https://billmoyers.com/spotlight/bill-moyers-on-democracy-podcast/|url-status=live|access-date=December 10, 2021|website=]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200415065428/https://billmoyers.com/spotlight/bill-moyers-on-democracy-podcast/ |archive-date=April 15, 2020 }}</ref>

=== Awards ===
In 1995, Bill Moyers was inducted into the ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.emmys.com/awards/hall-of-fame-honorees|title=Television Hall of Fame Honorees: Complete List}}</ref> The same year, he also won the ].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Arizona State University|title=Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication|url=https://cronkite.asu.edu/about/walter-cronkite-and-asu/walter-cronkite-award|access-date=November 23, 2016}}</ref> When he became a recipient of the 2006 Lifetime ], the official announcement noted that “Bill Moyers has devoted his lifetime to the exploration of the major issues and ideas of our time and our country, giving television viewers an informed perspective on political and societal concerns," and that "The scope of and quality of his broadcasts have been honored time and again. It is fitting that the ] honor him with our highest honor—the Lifetime Achievement Award."<ref name="lifetimeemmy">{{cite press release|title=Bill Moyers to receive Lifetime Achievement Award at News & Documentary Emmy Awards |publisher=National Television Academy |date=August 1, 2006 |url=http://www.emmyonline.org/emmy/27_news_moyers.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927021916/http://www.emmyonline.org/emmy/27_news_moyers.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 27, 2007 |access-date=June 7, 2007 }}</ref> He has received well over thirty Emmys and virtually every other major television journalism prize, including a gold baton from the ]s, a lifetime ],<ref> {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820174415/http://www.peabodyawards.com/award-profile/personal-award-bill-moyers |date=August 20, 2016 }}, May 2004.</ref> and a ] (his third George Polk Award) for contributions to journalistic integrity and investigative reporting. He is a member of the ], the ],<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Bill+D.+Moyers&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|access-date=2021-12-21|website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> and has been the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, including a doctorate from the ].<ref name="MBC" /> In 2011, Moyers received the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) from ].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.whittier.edu/alumni/poetnation/honorary|title=Honorary Degrees {{!}} Whittier College|website=www.whittier.edu|access-date=2019-12-06}}</ref>

==Media criticism==

In a 2003 interview with BuzzFlash.com,<ref name="BuzzFlash">{{cite news|title=Bill Moyers is Insightful, Erudite, Impassioned, Brilliant and the Host of PBS' "NOW"|url=http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/10/int03281.html|work=interview|publisher=BuzzFlash.com|date=October 28, 2003|access-date=December 18, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206125054/http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/10/int03281.html|archive-date=December 6, 2006|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
Moyers said, "The corporate right and the political right declared class warfare on working people a quarter of a century ago and they've won." He noted, "The rich are getting richer, which arguably wouldn't matter if the rising tide lifted all boats." Instead, however, "he inequality gap is the widest it's been since 1929; the middle class is besieged and the working poor are barely keeping their heads above water." He added that as "the corporate and governing elites are helping themselves to the spoils of victory," access to political power has become "who gets what and who pays for it."

Meanwhile, the public has failed to react because it is, in his words, "distracted by the media circus and news has been neutered or politicized for partisan purposes." In support of this, he referred to "the paradox of ], ensconced in a Palm Beach mansion massaging the resentments across the country of white-knuckled wage earners, who are barely making ends meet in no small part because of the corporate and ideological forces for whom Rush has been a hero. ... As Eric Alterman reports in his recent book—a book that I'm proud to have helped make happen—part of the red-meat strategy is to attack mainstream media relentlessly, knowing that if the press is effectively intimidated, either by the accusation of liberal bias or by a reporter's own mistaken belief in the charge's validity, the institutions that conservatives revere—corporate America, the military, organized religion, and their own ideological bastions of influence—will be able to escape scrutiny and increase their influence over American public life with relatively no challenge."<ref name="BuzzFlash"/>

When he briefly retired in December 2004, the AP News Service quoted Moyers as saying, "I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the ]. We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of ], and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people."<ref name="retire">{{cite news |url=http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/headlines04/1210-11.htm |title=Bill Moyers Retiring From TV Journalism |access-date=July 25, 2007 |agency=Associated Press |year=2004 |author=Frazier Moore |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612003856/http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=%2Fheadlines04%2F1210-11.htm |archive-date=June 12, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>


==Presidential draft initiative== ==Presidential draft initiative==
On July 24, 2006, liberal political commentator ] published an article entitled ''Run Bill Moyers for President, Seriously'', urging a symbolic candidacy, on the progressive website ].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/07/25/ivins.candidates/|title=Ivins: Reality-based candidate – Jul 25, 2006|publisher=CNN|access-date=February 16, 2010 }}</ref><ref name="ivinstruthdig">{{cite web|last=Ivins|first=Molly|title=Run Bill Moyers for President, Seriously|publisher=truthdig.com|date=July 24, 2006|url=http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060724_molly_ivins_bill_moyers/|access-date=June 9, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-moyers-for-president-absolutely/|title=Bill Moyers For President? Absolutely|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729090515/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bill-moyers-for-president-absolutely/|archive-date=July 29, 2020|publisher=cbsnews.com|last=Nichols|first=John|access-date=November 24, 2021|url-status=live|date=July 28, 2006}}</ref> The call was taken up in October 2006 by ].<ref name="nadercommondreams">{{cite web|last=Nader |first=Ralph |title=Bill Moyers For President |website=] |date=October 28, 2006 |url=http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1028-24.htm |access-date=June 9, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070613013458/http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1028-24.htm |archive-date=June 13, 2007 |df=mdy }}</ref> Moyers did not run.


==Conflict with CPB over content==
In late 2005 an attempt was begun to draft Moyers for a 2008 run at the Democratic presidential nomination. The founder of this initiative, Scott Beckman, circulated an article on the Internet entitled ''You Are Not Alone'',<ref name="youarenotalone">{{cite web
In 2003, ] chairman ] wrote to ], the president of PBS, that '']'' "does not contain anything approaching the balance the law requires for public broadcasting."<ref name="lehrer05">{{cite web |url= https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june05/cpb_6-21.html |title= Public Broadcasting Under Fire |date=June 21, 2005 |work=] |publisher= ] |access-date=February 14, 2010}}</ref> In 2005, Tomlinson commissioned a study of the show, without informing or getting authorization from the CPB board.<ref>Labaton, Stephen (November 16, 2005). {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113155138/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/16/politics/16broadcast.html |date=January 13, 2015 }}. '']''.</ref> The study was conducted by Fred Mann, Tomlinson's choice, a 20-year veteran of the American Conservative Union and a conservative columnist. Like the study itself, Mann's appointment was not disclosed to the CPB.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Labaton|first=Stephen|date=2005-06-21|title=Public Broadcasting Monitor Had Worked at Center Founded by Conservatives|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/21/politics/public-broadcasting-monitor-had-worked-at-center-founded-by.html|access-date=February 22, 2022|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
| last =Beckman
| first =Scott
| title =You Are Not Alone
| publisher =OpEdNews.com
| date =2005-12-13
| url =http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_scott_be_051213_you_are_not_alone.htm
| accessdate = 2007-06-09 }}</ref> laying out his reasoning and establishing a website. Although the effort was popular on the Internet, it was not supported by Moyers, who, according to his attorneys, would "not under any circumstances" run for president.<ref name="alpwhy">{{cite web
| last =Brett
| first =James R.
| title =Why I Took Down the Draft Bill Moyers Website and Petition
| work =self-published
| publisher =American Liberalism Project
| date =2006-07-27
| url =http://americanliberalism.org/showDiary.do?diaryId=76
| accessdate = 2007-06-09 }}</ref> The petition drive to gain 100,000 signatures by the end of the year garnered less than one percent of the total the few months it was in operation. The website was taken down at Moyers' request, but on ], ], ] ] published an article entitled ''Run Bill Moyers for President, Seriously''<ref name="ivinstruthdig">{{cite web
| last =Ivins
| first =Molly
| title =Run Bill Moyers for President, Seriously
| publisher =truthdig.com
| date =2006-07-24
| url =http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060724_molly_ivins_bill_moyers/
| accessdate = 2007-06-09 }}</ref> on the progressive website ]. A follow-up was published two days later by ] on his ] on '']'' magazine's website.<ref name="absolutely">{{cite web
| last =Nichols
| first =John
| title =Bill Moyers for President? Absolutely!
| publisher =The Nation blog
| date =2006-07-25
| url =http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=105621
| accessdate = 2007-06-09 }}</ref> However, this effort too failed to garner the extensive grassroots support envisioned. Then in October of 2006 an article<ref name="nadercommondreams">{{cite web
| last =Nader
| first =Ralph
| title =Bill Moyers For President
| publisher =CommonDreams.org
| date =2006-10-28
| url =http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1028-24.htm
| accessdate = 2007-06-09 }}</ref> was published on Common Dreams NewsCenter by ] in which he supported the Moyers candidacy. "With his deep sense of history relating to the great economic struggles in American history between workers and large companies and industries," Nader added, "Moyers today is a leading spokesman on the need to deconcentrate the manifold concentrations of political and economic power by global corporations. He is especially keen on doing something about media concentration about which he knows from recurrent personal experience as a television commentator, investigator, anchor and newspaper editor." Nader's effort was seconded by Nichols.<ref name="newtwist">{{cite web
| last =Nichols
| first =John
| title =A New 'Moyers for President' Twist
| publisher =The Nation blog
| date =2006-10-31
| url =http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?mm=10&yr=2006
| accessdate = 2007-06-09 }}</ref> There are also two new websites promoting the effort: Draft Bill Moyers For President Blog<ref name="draftblogspot">{{cite web
| last =
| first =
| title = Very Active Bill Moyers for President Blog?
| work =blog
| publisher = Draft Bill Moyers for President
| date =2006-11-15
| url =http://draftbillmoyers.blogspot.com/
| accessdate = 2007-06-09 }}</ref> and Draft Bill Moyers For President Activist Center.<ref name="irregulartimes">{{cite web
| last =
| first =
| title =Draft Bill Moyers for President Activist Center
| work =self-published?
| publisher =Irreguar Times
| date =
| url =http://irregulartimes.com/draftmoyers.html
| accessdate = 2007-06-09 }}</ref>


Tomlinson said that the study supported what he characterized as "the image of the left-wing bias of NOW".<ref name="cpbbode">{{cite web |last=Bode |first=Ken A. |title=CPB Ombudsmen Reports: The Question Of "Balance"|date=September 1, 2005 |url= http://www.cpb.org/ombudsmen/display.php?id=6 |access-date=June 17, 2010 }}</ref> ], the executive editor of '']'', a conservative magazine, told the '']'' that "PBS looks like a liberal monopoly to me, and Bill Moyers is Exhibit A of that very strident, left-wing bias... uses his show as a platform from which to attack conservatives and Republicans."<ref name="lehrer05" />
==Allegations of bias==
In 2005 former ] chairman ] commissioned a study of the show '']''. Tomlinson claimed that the study supported what he characterized as "the image of the left-wing bias of NOW".<ref name="cpbbode">{{cite web
| last =Bode
| first =Ken A.
| title =CPB Ombudsmen Reports: The Question Of "Balance"
| date =2005-09-01
| url =http://web.archive.org/web/20060213111433/http://www.cpb.org/ombudsmen/050901bode.html
| accessdate = 2007-06-09 }}</ref> Moyers replied to this by saying that his journalism showed "the actual experience of regular people is the missing link in a nation wired for everything but the truth." Moyers characterized Tomlinson as "an ally of Karl Rove and the right-wing monopoly's point man to keep tabs on public broadcasting." Tomlinson, he said, "found kindred spirits at the right-wing editorial board of the Wall Street Journal where the 'animal spirits of business' are routinely celebrated."<ref name="cpbbode" /> Moyers also responded to these accusations in a speech given to the National Conference for Media Reform, pointing out that he had repeatedly invited Tomlinson to debate him on the subject, and had repeatedly been ignored.<ref name="speechtoncmr">{{cite web
| last =Moyers
| first =Bill
| title =Bill Moyers’ speech to the National Conference for Media Reform
| publisher =FreePress.net
| date =2005-05-15
| url =http://www.freepress.net/news/8120
| accessdate = 2007-06-09 }}</ref> Tomlinson subsequently resigned on 4 November 2005 after a CPB inquiry found improprieties in the commissioning of the study. Investigators at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting said on 15 November 2005 "that they had uncovered evidence that (Tomlinson) had repeatedly broken federal law and the organization's own regulations in a campaign to combat what he saw as liberal bias."


The Reporters Committee on the Freedom of the Press was vocal about the danger of the CPB chairman interfering with programming independence.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Screening for bias|url=https://www.rcfp.org/journals/the-news-media-and-the-law-summer-2005/screening-bias/|access-date=February 22, 2022|website=The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press|language=en-US}}</ref> The PBS Ombudsman and the Free Press noted that a poll taken in 2003 by the CPB itself found that 80 percent of Americans believe PBS to be "fair and balanced."<ref>{{Cite press release|title=Bill Moyers to Address PBS Controversy at National Conference for Media Reform in St. Louis|url=https://www.freepress.net/news/press-releases/bill-moyers-address-pbs-controversy-national-conference-media-reform-st-louis|date=May 12, 2005|access-date=February 22, 2022|website=]|language=en}}</ref> In a speech given to ], Moyers said that he had repeatedly invited Tomlinson to have a televised conversation with him on the subject but had been ignored.<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 15, 2005 |title=Bill Moyers' speech to the National Conference for Media Reform |url=http://www.freepress.net/news/8120 |access-date=February 22, 2022 |website=] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704160613/http://www.freepress.net/news/8120 |archive-date=4 July 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
Referring to a ] edition of ''Bill Moyers Journal'', discussing the possible ] of President ], and featuring guests from opposing ends of the political spectrum, both in favor of impeachment,<ref name="bmj">{{Cite web|url=http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07132007/transcript4.html|title=Bill Moyers Journal|accessdate=2007-08-11|publisher=PBS|year=2007-07-13|author=Bill Moyers|format=html}}</ref> ] ] ] praised Moyers for his initiative in highlighting different topics, but felt he could have used a more balanced approach.<ref>{{cite web
| title =The Ombudsman Column
| date =2007-07-20
| url =http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2007/07/the_ombudsmans_mailbag_13.html
| accessdate = 2007-08-09 }}</ref> Moyers disagreed, saying:


On November 3, 2005, Tomlinson resigned from the board, prompted by a report of his tenure by the CPB Inspector General Kenneth Konz, requested by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The report, which found that Tomlinson violated the Director's Code of Ethics and the statutory provisions of the CPB and PBS, was made public on November 15. It states:<blockquote>We found evidence that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) former Chairman violated statutory provisions and the Director's Code of Ethics by dealing directly with one of the creators of a new public affairs program during negotiations with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the CPB over creating the show. Our review also found evidence that suggests "political tests" were a major criteria ]''] used by the former Chairman in recruiting a President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for CPB, which violated statutory prohibitions against such practices.</blockquote>In 2006, the PBS Ombudsman, whose role was reinvigorated by the controversy published a column entitled "He's Back: Moyers, not Tomlinson." Reflecting on the conflict, Moyers told ''The Boston Globe'': "It's a place where if you fight you can survive, but it's not easy. The fact of the matter is that Kenneth Tomlinson had a chilling effect down the line."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Moyers: "Tomlinson had a chilling effect" |url=https://current.org/2006/10/moyers-tomlinson-had-a-chilling-effect/ |date=October 16, 2006 |access-date=February 22, 2022 |website=Current (publication of ])|language=en-US}}</ref>
<blockquote>"The journalist's job is not to achieve some mythical state of equilibrium between two opposing opinions out of some misshapen respect — sometimes, alas, reverence — for the prevailing consensus among the powers-that-be. The journalist's job is to seek out and offer the public the best thinking on an issue, event, or story."</blockquote>


==Organizations==
Getler responded by saying that <blockquote>"On the broad issue of balance, I don't disagree with Moyers ... It can create a false sense of equivalence among readers or viewers in cases where that is not justified.... while conventional, equal-time balance is frequently a false measure, the absence of any balance can undermine any program."<ref>{{cite web
Moyers is a former director of the ]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cfr.org/about/history/cfr/appendix.html |title=History of CFR |work=] |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120722132932/http://www.cfr.org/about/history/cfr/appendix.html |archive-date=July 22, 2012 |url-status=unfit |access-date=March 1, 2022}}</ref> (1967–1974), and a member of the ]<ref name="Former steering Committee Members - Bilderberg Group">{{cite web|url=http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/former-steering-committee-members.html |title=Former steering Committee Members – Bilderberg Group |access-date=November 19, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202095633/http://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/former-steering-committee-members.html |archive-date=February 2, 2014 |df=mdy }}</ref> and since 1990 has been president of the ].
| title =On Balance: Bill Moyers Responds
| date =2007-07-26
| url = http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2007/07/on_balance_bill_moyers_responds.html
| accessdate = 2007-08-09 }}</ref> </blockquote>


==Personal life== ==Personal life==
] in 2018]]
Moyers married the late Judith Suzanne Davidson (a producer), December 18, 1954. They had three children and five grandchildren. His son, William Cope Moyers (] producer, ] spokesman), struggled to overcome alcoholism as detailed in the book ''Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption''. He includes letters from Bill Moyers in his book which he says are "a testament to a father's love for his son, a father's confusion with his son, and ultimately, a father's satisfaction with his son."<ref name="cope">{{Cite web|url=http://www.hazelden.org/web/public/ade60904.page|title= Moyers' memoir serves as a voice for recovery|accessdate=2008-05-15}}</ref>
Moyers married Judith Suzanne Davidson (a producer) on December 18, 1954. They have three children and five grandchildren.


His daughter, Suzanne Moyers, a former teacher and editor, is the author of the historical novel, ‘''Til All These Things Be Done'' (She Writes Press; September 13, 2022'').''
==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}


His son William Cope Moyers (] producer, ] spokesman for addiction recovery) struggled to overcome ] and ] as detailed in the book ''Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption''. He includes letters from Bill Moyers in his book, which he says are "a testament to a father's love for his son, a father's confusion with his son, and ultimately, a father's satisfaction with his son."<ref name="cope">{{cite web|url=http://www.hazelden.org/web/public/ade60904.page|title=Moyers's memoir serves as a voice for recovery|access-date=May 15, 2008}}</ref> Later, he struggled with prescription ] and his use of both ] medication and traditional addiction recovery methods such as prayer and ] meetings, as he described in a second book, ''Broken Open: What Painkillers Taught Me About Life and Recovery''.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Richtel |first=Matt |date=7 September 2024 |title=Broken Again. A National Advocate for Drug Recovery Relapses |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/07/health/addiction-opiates-moyers.html |work=]}}</ref>
==Books==

*''The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis : With Excerpts from an Essay on Watergate'' (1988), coauthor ], Seven Locks Press, hardcover: ISBN 0932020615, 1990 reprint: ISBN 0932020852, 2000 paperback: ISBN 0932020607; examines the ] affair
His other son, John Moyers, assisted in the foundation of ], "an online public affairs journal of progressive analysis and commentary."<ref name="john">{{cite web|url=http://www.tompaine.com/about/|title=TomPaine.common sense: About Us|access-date=July 15, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100710130118/http://www.tompaine.com/about/|archive-date=July 10, 2010|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}}</ref>
*''The Power of Myth'' (1988), host: Bill Moyers, author: Joseph Campbell, Doubleday, ISBN 0385247737

*''A World of Ideas : Conversations With Thoughtful Men and Women About American Life Today and the Ideas Shaping Our Future'' (1989), Doubleday, hardcover: ISBN 0385262787, paperback: ISBN 0385263465
==Published works==
*''A World of Ideas II: Public Opinions from Private Citizens'' (1990), Doubleday, hardcover: ISBN 0385416644, paperback: ISBN 0385416652, 1994 Random House values edition: ISBN 0517114704
*''Listening to America: A Traveler Rediscovers His Country'' (1971), ], {{ISBN|0-06-126400-8}}
*''Healing and the Mind'' (1993), Doubleday hardcover: ISBN 0385468709, 1995 paperback: ISBN 0385476876
*''The Secret Government: The Constitution in Crisis : With Excerpts from an Essay on Watergate'' (1988), coauthor ], Seven Locks Press, hardcover: {{ISBN|0-932020-61-5}}, 1990 reprint: {{ISBN|0-932020-85-2}}, 2000 paperback: {{ISBN|0-932020-60-7}}; examines the ] affair
*''The Language of Life'' (1995), Doubleday hardcover: ISBN 0385479174, 1996 paperback: ISBN 0385484100, conversations with 34 poets
*''The Power of Myth'' (1988), host: Bill Moyers, author: Joseph Campbell, Doubleday, {{ISBN|0-385-24773-7}}
*''Genesis: A Living Conversation'' (1996), Doubleday hardcover: ISBN 0385483457, 1997 paperback: ISBN 0385490437
*'']'' (1989), Doubleday, hardcover: {{ISBN|0-385-26278-7}}, paperback: {{ISBN|0-385-26346-5}}
*''Sister Wendy in Conversation With Bill Moyers: The Complete Conversation'' (1997), WGBH Educational Foundation, ISBN 1578070775
*''Fooling with Words: A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft'' (1999), William Morrow, hardcover: ISBN 0688173462, 2000 Harper paperback: ISBN 0688177921 *''A World of Ideas II: Public Opinions from Private Citizens'' (1990), Doubleday, hardcover: {{ISBN|0-385-41664-4}}, paperback: {{ISBN|0-385-41665-2}}, 1994 Random House values edition: {{ISBN|0-517-11470-4}}
*''Moyers on America: A Journalist and His Times'' (2004), New Press, ISBN 1565848926, 2005 Anchor paperback: ISBN 1400095360; twenty selected speeches and commentaries *''Healing and the Mind'' (1993), Doubleday hardcover: {{ISBN|0-385-46870-9}}, 1995 paperback: {{ISBN|0-385-47687-6}}
*''The Language of Life: A Festival of Poets'' (1995), Doubleday hardcover: {{ISBN|0-385-47917-4}}, 1996 paperback: {{ISBN|0-385-48410-0}}, conversations with 34 poets
*''Genesis: A Living Conversation'' (1996), Doubleday hardcover: {{ISBN|0-385-48345-7}}, 1997 paperback: {{ISBN|0-385-49043-7}}
*''Sister Wendy in Conversation with Bill Moyers: The Complete Conversation'' (1997), WGBH Educational Foundation, {{ISBN|1-57807-077-5}}
*''Fooling with Words: A Celebration of Poets and Their Craft'' (1999), William Morrow, hardcover: {{ISBN|0-688-17346-2}}, 2000 Harper paperback: {{ISBN|0-688-17792-1}}
*''Moyers on America: A Journalist and His Times'' (2004), ], {{ISBN|1-56584-892-6}}, 2005 Anchor paperback: {{ISBN|1-4000-9536-0}}; twenty selected speeches and commentaries, Interview with Terri Gross on ''Fresh Air''.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Journalist Bill Moyers|language=en|work=NPR.org|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1895389|access-date=2022-01-08}}</ref>
*''Moyers on Democracy'' (2008), Doubleday, {{ISBN|978-0-385-52380-6}}
* ] (2011), New Press

==See also==
*'']''

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Commonscat}}
{{Wikiquote}} {{Wikiquote}}
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* Reading from his 2004 book ''Moyers on America: A Journalist and His Times''
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{{s-start}}
===Television productions===
{{s-off}}
* (1987) two ] clips from the PBS documentary on the Iran-Contra affair
{{s-bef|before=]<br>De facto}}
* (1989) A four part series examining image and reality in America
{{s-ttl|title=]<br>De facto|years=1964–1965}}
* (1996)
{{s-aft|after=]<br>De facto}}
* (1999) poetry brought to life
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Latest revision as of 03:35, 17 November 2024

American journalist (born 1934) For the co-founder of the Movement for a New Society, see William Moyer.
This article contains paid contributions. It may require cleanup to comply with Misplaced Pages's content policies, particularly neutral point of view. Please discuss further on the talk page.

Bill Moyers
Moyers in 2017
11th White House Press Secretary
In office
July 8, 1965 – February 1, 1967
PresidentLyndon B. Johnson
Preceded byGeorge Reedy
Succeeded byGeorge Christian
White House Chief of Staff
De facto
In office
October 14, 1964 – July 8, 1965
PresidentLyndon B. Johnson
Preceded byWalter Jenkins (de facto)
Succeeded byJack Valenti (de facto)
Personal details
BornBilly Don Moyers
(1934-06-05) June 5, 1934 (age 90)
Hugo, Oklahoma, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse Judith Suzanne Davidson ​ ​(m. 1954)
Children3
Education

Bill Moyers (born Billy Don Moyers; June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and political commentator. Under the Johnson administration he served from 1965 to 1967 as the eleventh White House Press Secretary. He was a director of the Council on Foreign Relations, from 1967 to 1974. He also worked as a network TV news commentator for ten years. Moyers has been extensively involved with public broadcasting, producing documentaries and news journal programs, and has won many awards and honorary degrees for his investigative journalism and civic activities. He has become well known as a trenchant critic of the corporately structured U.S. news media.

Early years and education

President Johnson (right) meets with special assistant Moyers in the White House Oval Office, 1963

Born Billy Don Moyers in Hugo in Choctaw County in southeastern Oklahoma, he is the son of John Henry Moyers, a laborer, and Ruby Johnson Moyers. Moyers was reared in Marshall, Texas.

Moyers began his journalism career at 16 as a cub reporter at the Marshall News Messenger. In college, he studied journalism at the North Texas State College in Denton, Texas. In 1954, US Senator Lyndon B. Johnson employed him as a summer intern and eventually promoted him to manage Johnson's personal mail. Soon after, Moyers transferred to the University of Texas at Austin, where he wrote for The Daily Texan newspaper. In 1956, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism. While in Austin, Moyers served as assistant news editor for KTBC radio and television stations, owned by Lady Bird Johnson, wife of Senator Johnson. During the academic year 1956–1957, he studied issues of church and state at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland as a Rotary International Fellow. In 1959, he completed a Master of Divinity degree at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Moyers served as Director of Information while attending SWBTS. He was also a Baptist pastor in Weir in Williamson County, near Austin.

Moyers was ordained in 1954. Moyers planned to enter a Doctor of Philosophy program in American Studies at the University of Texas. During Senator Johnson's unsuccessful bid for the 1960 Democratic U.S. presidential nomination, Moyers served as a top aide, and in the general campaign he acted as liaison between Democratic vice-presidential candidate Johnson and the Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy.

Kennedy and Johnson administrations

The Peace Corps

The Peace Corps was established by President Kennedy by Executive Order in March 1961, but it was up to top aide Sargent Shriver and Bill Moyers to find the funding to actually establish the organization. The Peace Corp Act was signed by President Kennedy on September 22, 1961. In Sarge, Scott Stossel reports that "Peace Corps legend has it that between them Moyers and Shriver personally called on every single member of Congress."

Reflecting 25 years later on the creation of the program Moyers said: ”We knew from the beginning that the Peace Corps was not an agency, program, or mission. Now we know—from those who lived and died for it—that it is a way of being in the world." At the 50th Anniversary “Salute to Peace Corps Giants,” hosted by the National Archives, Moyers said, "The years we spent at the Peace Corps were the best years of our lives.” Moyers gave the same answer in the famed Vanity Fair Proust questionnaire in 2011.

Moyers served first as associate director of public affairs and then as Sargent Shriver's deputy director before becoming special assistant to President Lyndon B. Johnson in November 1963.

Corporation for Public Broadcasting

Moyers was a key player in the creation of the public broadcasting system.  When, in 1961, FCC Chairman Newton Minnow labeled television "a vast wasteland” and called for programming in the public interest, the Johnson Administration instituted a study of the issue. The Carnegie Corporation of New York established a commission to study the value of and need for noncommercial educational television. Bill Moyers served on this committee, which released its report 'Public Television: A Program for Action,' in 1967. Moyers said of the endeavor: “We became a central part of the American consciousness and a valuable institution within our culture."

Moyers was influential in creating the legislation that would fulfill the committee's recommendations. In 1967, President Johnson signed Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which states: "it is in the public interest to encourage the growth and development of public radio and television broadcasting, including the use of such media for instructional, educational, and cultural purposes."

On the 50th anniversary of the Public Broadcasting Act, Moyers and Joseph A. Califano, Jr. spoke about their experience with WNET.

Johnson Administration

When Lyndon B. Johnson took office after the Kennedy assassination, Moyers became a special assistant to Johnson, serving from 1963 to 1967. Moyers is the last surviving person identifiable in the photograph taken of Johnson's swearing in. He played a key role in organizing and supervising the 1964 Great Society legislative task forces and was a principal architect of Johnson's 1964 presidential campaign. Moyers acted as the President's informal chief of staff from October 1964 until July 1965. From July 1965 to February 1967, he also served as White House press secretary.

After the resignation of White House Chief of Staff Walter Jenkins because of a sexual misdemeanor in the run up to the 1964 election, President Lyndon B. Johnson, alarmed that the opposition was framing the issue as a security breach, ordered Moyers to request FBI name checks on 15 members of Goldwater's staff to find "derogatory" material on their personal lives. Goldwater himself only referred to the Jenkins incident off the record. The Church Committee stated in 1975 that "Moyers has publicly recounted his role in the incident, and his account is confirmed by FBI documents." In 2005, Laurence Silberman wrote that Moyers denied writing the memo in a 1975 phone call, telling him the FBI had fabricated it. Moyers said he had a different recollection of the telephone conversation.

Moyers also sought information from the FBI on the sexual preferences of White House staff members, most notably Jack Valenti. Moyers indicated his memory was unclear on why Johnson directed him to request such information, "but that he may have been simply looking for details of allegations first brought to the president by Hoover."

Under the direction of President Johnson, Moyers gave J Edgar Hoover the go-ahead to discredit Martin Luther King, played a part in the wiretapping of King, discouraged the American embassy in Oslo from assisting King on his Nobel Peace Prize trip, and worked to prevent King from challenging the all-white Mississippi delegation to the 1964 Democratic National Convention.

Moyers approved (but had nothing to do with the production) of the infamous "Daisy Ad" against Barry Goldwater in the 1964 presidential campaign. Goldwater blamed him for it, and once said of Moyers, "Every time I see him, I get sick to my stomach and want to throw up." The ad is considered the starting point of the modern-day harshly negative campaign ad.

Moyers giving a press conference at the White House in 1965

Journalist Morley Safer in his 1990 book "Flashbacks" wrote that Moyers and President Johnson met with and "harangued" Safer's boss, CBS president Frank Stanton, about Safer's coverage of the Marines torching Cam Ne village in the Vietnam War. During the meeting, Safer alleges, Johnson threatened to expose Safer's "communist ties". This was a bluff, according to Safer. Safer says that Moyers was "if not a key player, certainly a key bystander" in the incident. Moyers stated that his hard-hitting coverage of conservative presidents Reagan and Bush was behind Safer's 1990 allegations.

In The New York Times on April 3, 1966, Moyers offered this insight on his stint as press secretary to President Johnson: "I work for him despite his faults and he lets me work for him despite my deficiencies." On October 17, 1967, he told an audience in Cambridge that Johnson saw the war in Vietnam as his major legacy and, as a result, was insisting on victory at all costs, even in the face of public opposition. Moyers felt such a continuation of the conflict would tear the country apart. "I never thought the situation could arise when I would wish for the defeat of LBJ, and that makes my current state of mind all the more painful to me," he told them. "I would have to say now: It would depend on who his opponent is."

The full details of his rift with Johnson were not made public. However, an Oval Office tape which was recorded following Johnson's public announcement that he would not seek re-election on March 31, 1968, suggested that Moyers and Johnson were still in contact after Moyers left the White House, with Moyers even encouraging the President to change his mind about running.

Journalism

Newsday

Moyers served as publisher for the Long Island, New York, daily newspaper Newsday from 1967 to 1970. The conservative publication had been unsuccessful, but Moyers led the paper in a progressive direction, bringing in leading writers such as Pete Hamill, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Saul Bellow, and adding new features and more investigative reporting and analysis. Circulation increased and the publication won 33 major journalism awards, including two Pulitzer Prizes. But the owner of the paper, Harry Guggenheim, a conservative, was disappointed by the liberal drift of the newspaper under Moyers, criticizing the "left-wing" coverage of Vietnam War protests. The two split over the 1968 presidential election, with Guggenheim signing an editorial supporting Richard Nixon, when Moyers supported Hubert Humphrey. Guggenheim sold his majority share to the then-conservative Times-Mirror Company over the attempt of newspaper employees to block the sale, even though Moyers offered $10 million more than the Times-Mirror purchase price; Moyers resigned a few days later.

CBS News

In 1976 Moyers joined CBS News, where he worked as editor and chief correspondent for CBS Reports until 1981, then as senior news analyst and commentator for the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather from 1981 to 1986. He was the last regular commentator for the network broadcast. During his last year at CBS, Moyers made public statements about declining news standards at the network and declined to renew his contract with CBS, citing commitments with PBS.

NBC News

Moyers briefly joined NBC News in 1995 as a senior analyst and commentator, and the following year he became the first host of sister cable network MSNBC's Insight program. He was the last regular commentator on the NBC Nightly News.

PBS

Bill Moyers Journal (1972–1981)

In 1971 Moyers began working for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). His first PBS series, titled This Week with Bill Moyers, aired in 1971 and 1972.

Bill Moyers Journal ran on PBS from 1972 until 1981 with a hiatus from 1976 to 1977. He later hosted a show with this title from 2007 to 2010.

In 1975, Bill Moyers Journal aired Rosedale: The Way It Is, documenting the furor after the first Black family moved into Rosedale, Queens — including a rash of fire bombings. Forty-five years later a graduate student drew attention to a short segment recording the reactions of a group of black girls trying to make sense of the virulent racist attack they'd just experienced. The New York Times picked up on the story and found the children and others featured in the documentary and produced its own reported feature: " A Racist Attack on Children Was Taped in 1975. We Found Them."

Individual programs (1982–2006)

From 1982 through 2006, 70 different documentaries, interviews or limited series produced and hosted by Moyers ran on PBS stations.

Individuals interviewed and profiled included:

Moyers also hosted a 6-part interview series called Creativity in 1982 and a 42-part interview series A World of Ideas from 1988–1990 which featured a companion book.

Topics of Moyers broadcasts included:

  • History – A Walk Through the 20th Century (1982–1984), From D-Day to the Rhine (1990), The Power of the Past: Florence (1990), The Arab World (1991), Presenting Mr. Frederick Douglass (1994)
  • Religion – Heritage Conversations (1986), God and Politics (1987), Amazing Grace (1990), The New Holy War (1993), Genesis: A Living Conversation (1996), Faith and Reason (2006)
  • Morality – Facing Evil (1988), Beyond Hate (1991), Hate on Trial (1992), Facing the Truth (1999)
  • Politics – In Search of the Constitution (1987), The Home Front (1991), Money Talks (1994), Trading Democracy (2002), Capitol Crimes (2006)
  • The media – The Public Mind (1989), Project Censored (1991), Free Speech for Sale (1999), The Net at Risk (2006)
  • Contemporary events such as the Iran–Contra affair (The Secret Government, 1987), 1988 presidential election (Election '88), 1992 presidential election (Listening to America) and the 9/11 attacks (Moyers in Conversation)
  • Healthcare – Circle of Recovery (1991), Healing and the Mind (1993), The Great Healthcare debate (1994), Moyers on Addiction: Close to Home (1998), On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying (2000)
  • Poetry – The Power of the Word (1989), The Language of Life (1995), Fooling with Words (1999), Sounds of Poetry (1999)
  • The environment – Spirit and Nature (1991), Trade Secrets (2001), Earth on Edge (2001), America's First River (2003), Is God Green? (2006)
  • Money – Sports for sale (1991), Minimum Wages: The New Economy (1992), Bullish on America (1993), Surviving the Good Times (2000)
  • Youth issues – All Our Children (1991), Families First (1992), Solutions to Violence (1995), Children in America's Schools (1996)
  • Immigration – Becoming American (2003)

These were often produced by Moyers and his wife, Judith Suzanne Davidson Moyers, through Public Affairs Television, a company they formed in 1986. Other collaborators included filmmaker David Grubin and producer Madeline Amgott

Frontline (1990–1999)

Between 1990 and 1999, Moyers produced and hosted 7 episodes of the PBS journalism program Frontline:

  • Global Dumping Ground (1990) on toxic waste
  • Springfield Goes to War (1990) on the debate around the Gulf War
  • High Crimes and Misdemeanors (1990) on the Iran–Contra affair
  • In Our Children's Food (1993) on pesticides
  • Living on the Edge (1995) on the economy
  • Washington's Other Scandal (1998) on campaign finance
  • Justice for Sale (1999) on judicial elections

NOW with Bill Moyers and Wide Angle (2002–2005)

Moyers hosted the TV news journal NOW with Bill Moyers on PBS for three years, starting in January 2002. He retired from the program on December 17, 2004, but returned to PBS soon after to host Wide Angle in 2005. When he left NOW, he announced that he wished to finish writing a biography of Lyndon B. Johnson.

Bill Moyers Journal (2007–2010)

On April 25, 2007, Moyers returned to PBS with Bill Moyers Journal. In the first episode, "Buying the War", Moyers investigated what he called the general media's shortcomings in the runup to the War in Iraq. "Buying the War" won an Emmy at the 29th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards (2008) for Best Report in a News Magazine.

On November 20, 2009, Moyers announced that he would be retiring from his weekly show on April 30, 2010.

Moyers & Company (2012–2015)

In August 2011 Moyers announced a new hour-long weekly interview show, Moyers & Company, which premiered in January 2012. In that same month, Moyers also launched BillMoyers.com. Later reduced to a half hour, Moyers & Company was produced by Public Affairs Television and distributed by American Public Television. The show has been heralded as a renewed fulfillment of public media's stated mission to air news and views unrepresented or underrepresented in commercial media.

The program concluded on January 2, 2015.

Moyers on Democracy podcast

In 2020, Moyers started a series of podcasts named Moyers on Democracy. Conversations included Lisa Graves on the Post Office conflict; Heather Cox Richardson on How the South Won the Civil War; Heather McGhee on racism's pernicious effect on American society and Bill T. Jones on his newest project — a retelling of Moby Dick from the viewpoint of a Black cabin boy. The series ended in early 2021.

Awards

In 1995, Bill Moyers was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. The same year, he also won the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism. When he became a recipient of the 2006 Lifetime Emmy Award, the official announcement noted that “Bill Moyers has devoted his lifetime to the exploration of the major issues and ideas of our time and our country, giving television viewers an informed perspective on political and societal concerns," and that "The scope of and quality of his broadcasts have been honored time and again. It is fitting that the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honor him with our highest honor—the Lifetime Achievement Award." He has received well over thirty Emmys and virtually every other major television journalism prize, including a gold baton from the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, a lifetime Peabody Award, and a George Polk Career Award (his third George Polk Award) for contributions to journalistic integrity and investigative reporting. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Philosophical Society, and has been the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, including a doctorate from the American Film Institute. In 2011, Moyers received the honorary Doctor of Humane Letters (L.H.D.) from Whittier College.

Media criticism

In a 2003 interview with BuzzFlash.com, Moyers said, "The corporate right and the political right declared class warfare on working people a quarter of a century ago and they've won." He noted, "The rich are getting richer, which arguably wouldn't matter if the rising tide lifted all boats." Instead, however, "he inequality gap is the widest it's been since 1929; the middle class is besieged and the working poor are barely keeping their heads above water." He added that as "the corporate and governing elites are helping themselves to the spoils of victory," access to political power has become "who gets what and who pays for it."

Meanwhile, the public has failed to react because it is, in his words, "distracted by the media circus and news has been neutered or politicized for partisan purposes." In support of this, he referred to "the paradox of Rush Limbaugh, ensconced in a Palm Beach mansion massaging the resentments across the country of white-knuckled wage earners, who are barely making ends meet in no small part because of the corporate and ideological forces for whom Rush has been a hero. ... As Eric Alterman reports in his recent book—a book that I'm proud to have helped make happen—part of the red-meat strategy is to attack mainstream media relentlessly, knowing that if the press is effectively intimidated, either by the accusation of liberal bias or by a reporter's own mistaken belief in the charge's validity, the institutions that conservatives revere—corporate America, the military, organized religion, and their own ideological bastions of influence—will be able to escape scrutiny and increase their influence over American public life with relatively no challenge."

When he briefly retired in December 2004, the AP News Service quoted Moyers as saying, "I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee. We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people."

Presidential draft initiative

On July 24, 2006, liberal political commentator Molly Ivins published an article entitled Run Bill Moyers for President, Seriously, urging a symbolic candidacy, on the progressive website Truthdig. The call was taken up in October 2006 by Ralph Nader. Moyers did not run.

Conflict with CPB over content

In 2003, Corporation for Public Broadcasting chairman Kenneth Tomlinson wrote to Pat Mitchell, the president of PBS, that NOW with Bill Moyers "does not contain anything approaching the balance the law requires for public broadcasting." In 2005, Tomlinson commissioned a study of the show, without informing or getting authorization from the CPB board. The study was conducted by Fred Mann, Tomlinson's choice, a 20-year veteran of the American Conservative Union and a conservative columnist. Like the study itself, Mann's appointment was not disclosed to the CPB.

Tomlinson said that the study supported what he characterized as "the image of the left-wing bias of NOW". George Neumayr, the executive editor of The American Spectator, a conservative magazine, told the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer that "PBS looks like a liberal monopoly to me, and Bill Moyers is Exhibit A of that very strident, left-wing bias... uses his show as a platform from which to attack conservatives and Republicans."

The Reporters Committee on the Freedom of the Press was vocal about the danger of the CPB chairman interfering with programming independence. The PBS Ombudsman and the Free Press noted that a poll taken in 2003 by the CPB itself found that 80 percent of Americans believe PBS to be "fair and balanced." In a speech given to The National Conference for Media Reform, Moyers said that he had repeatedly invited Tomlinson to have a televised conversation with him on the subject but had been ignored.

On November 3, 2005, Tomlinson resigned from the board, prompted by a report of his tenure by the CPB Inspector General Kenneth Konz, requested by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. The report, which found that Tomlinson violated the Director's Code of Ethics and the statutory provisions of the CPB and PBS, was made public on November 15. It states:

We found evidence that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) former Chairman violated statutory provisions and the Director's Code of Ethics by dealing directly with one of the creators of a new public affairs program during negotiations with the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and the CPB over creating the show. Our review also found evidence that suggests "political tests" were a major criteria used by the former Chairman in recruiting a President/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for CPB, which violated statutory prohibitions against such practices.

In 2006, the PBS Ombudsman, whose role was reinvigorated by the controversy published a column entitled "He's Back: Moyers, not Tomlinson." Reflecting on the conflict, Moyers told The Boston Globe: "It's a place where if you fight you can survive, but it's not easy. The fact of the matter is that Kenneth Tomlinson had a chilling effect down the line."

Organizations

Moyers is a former director of the Council on Foreign Relations (1967–1974), and a member of the Bilderberg Group and since 1990 has been president of the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy.

Personal life

Moyers at the LBJ Presidential Library in 2018

Moyers married Judith Suzanne Davidson (a producer) on December 18, 1954. They have three children and five grandchildren.

His daughter, Suzanne Moyers, a former teacher and editor, is the author of the historical novel, ‘Til All These Things Be Done (She Writes Press; September 13, 2022).

His son William Cope Moyers (CNN producer, Hazelden Foundation spokesman for addiction recovery) struggled to overcome alcoholism and crack addiction as detailed in the book Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption. He includes letters from Bill Moyers in his book, which he says are "a testament to a father's love for his son, a father's confusion with his son, and ultimately, a father's satisfaction with his son." Later, he struggled with prescription opioid addiction and his use of both Suboxone medication and traditional addiction recovery methods such as prayer and twelve-step meetings, as he described in a second book, Broken Open: What Painkillers Taught Me About Life and Recovery.

His other son, John Moyers, assisted in the foundation of TomPaine.com, "an online public affairs journal of progressive analysis and commentary."

Published works

See also

References

  1. "Mimi Swartz, " The Mythic Rise of Billy Don Moyers: From Marshall, Texas, he set off on a heroic journey: to become LBJ's protégé, the conscience of TV news, and the prophet of a brand-new faith," November 1989". Texas Monthly. Retrieved March 7, 2014.
  2. ^ "Bill Moyers". The Museum of Broadcast Communications. Archived from the original on May 17, 2008. Retrieved May 15, 2008.
  3. ^ "Bill Moyers Biographical Note". LBJ Library and Museum. Archived from the original on July 13, 2007. Retrieved June 7, 2007.
  4. Mark the Moment! Peace Corps anniversary discussion, marking the 60th anniversary down to the minute, September 22, 2021, retrieved January 8, 2022
  5. "Bill Moyers Says It All At The 25th Anniversary Conference | Peace Corps Worldwide". peacecorpsworldwide.org. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
  6. "Salute to Peace Corps Giants | C-SPAN.org". www.c-span.org. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
  7. "Proust Questionnaire: Bill Moyers". Vanity Fair. June 1, 2011. Retrieved January 8, 2022.
  8. Coverdell, Paul D. (June 2003). "Voices From the Field" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on December 31, 2015.
  9. York, Carnegie Corporation of New. "Public Broadcasting Turns 50". Carnegie Corporation of New York. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  10. "President Johnson's Remarks". www.cpb.org. January 14, 2015. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  11. "Preserving Public Broadcasting at 50 Years". Library of Congress. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  12. terHorst, Jerald; Albertazzie, Col. Ralph (1979). The Flying White House. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan. p. 225. ISBN 0-698-10930-9.
  13. Johnson, David K. (2004). The Lavender Scare. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 197. ISBN 0-226-40481-1.
  14. "US Dept Justice FBI Investigation 1975". USDOJ. 1975. Retrieved May 10, 2008.
  15. Hoover's men ran name checks on 15 of them, producing derogatory information on two (a traffic violation on one and a love affair on another) "Hoover's Political Spying for Presidents, TIME, 1975 "
  16. Dallek, Robert (2005). Lyndon B. Johnson: Portrait of a President. UK: Oxford University Press. p. 188. ISBN 0-19-515921-7. When reporters on his campaign plane pressed him for a comment, he would only speak 'off the record.' 'What a way to win an election,' he said, 'Communists and cocksuckers.'
  17. "US Senate Select Committee To Study Governmental Operations, With Respect To Intelligence Activities" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on May 28, 2008. Retrieved May 14, 2008.
  18. Silberman, Acting Deputy Attorney General in 1975, says Moyers called his office and said the document was a "phony CIA memo" but declined Silberman's offer to conduct an investigation to clear his name. ""Hoover's Institution," The Wall Street Journal, 2005 Archived February 27, 2009, at the Wayback Machine" Moyers responded that Silberman's account of the conversation was at odds with his. "Removing J. Edgar's name, Robert Novak, CNN, 2005 Archived March 3, 2016, at the Wayback Machine"
  19. Robert Novak (December 1, 2005). "Removing J. Edgar's name". CNN. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
  20. "Letter to Bill Moyers from FBI – December 2, 1964" (PDF). The Washington Post. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2009. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
  21. Stephens, Joe (February 19, 2009). "Valenti's Sexuality Was Topic For FBI: Under Pressure, LBJ Let Hoover's Agents Investigate Top Aide". The Washington Post. pp. A01. Retrieved February 20, 2009.
  22. Kotz, Nikc (2005). Judgment days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the laws that changed America. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. .
  23. Barnes, Bart (May 30, 1998). "Barry Goldwater, GOP Hero, Dies". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
  24. "The Power of Myth". The New Republic. August 19, 1991.
  25. Fox, Margalit (June 17, 2008). "Tony Schwartz, Father of 'Daisy Ad' for the Johnson Campaign, Dies at 84". The New York Times. Retrieved January 17, 2010.
  26. Gibbons, William Conrad (1995). The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War: Executive and Legislative Roles and Relationships. Princeton University Press. pp. 69pp. ISBN 0-691-00635-0.
  27. "Booknotes: Flashbacks On Returning to Vietnam". booknotes.org. Archived from the original on November 16, 2010. Retrieved February 28, 2009. And Moyers was present during some of this showdown stuff about me being a Communist, clearly knew it was a bluff. As I say, there are limits, I think, even to being a good soldier. And even if one does, I think there is a time to come clean.
  28. Gunther, Marc (May 29, 1992). "Is ill will behind piece '60 Minutes' plans to do on PBS' Bill Moyers?". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved February 28, 2009. Mr. Moyers wonders aloud whether his hard-hitting coverage of presidents Reagan and Bush has vexed Mr. Wallace and Mr. Safer, who, friends say, have become more politically conservative as they've grown older and wealthier.
  29. Anderson, Patrick (April 3, 1966). "No. 2 Texan in the White House". The New York Times. pp. SM1.
  30. Simpson, James B. (1988). Simpson's Contemporary Quotations, No. 848. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-43085-2. Archived from the original on December 5, 2008.
  31. Daniel Ellsberg, Secrets, 197f
  32. ^ Carr, David (December 17, 2004). "Moyers Leaves a Public Affairs Pulpit With Sermons to Spare". The New York Times. Retrieved June 4, 2007.
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  37. Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2010. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2010.
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  39. Keeler, Robert F. (1990). Newsday: a candid history of the respectable tabloid. Morrow. pp. 460–61. ISBN 1-55710-053-5.
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Preceded byWalter Jenkins
De facto
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1964–1965
Succeeded byJack Valenti
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Preceded byGeorge Reedy White House Press Secretary
1965–1967
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2002–2005
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