Our Debt to Bill Moyers

[Robbien]

A few days after the commercial television networks' laudatory "news" reports on George W. Bush's nomination of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to serve as Secretary of State, PBS's Bill Moyers countered with something rarely seen on broadcast television these days: serious journalism. Moyers devoted a substantial portion of NOW, the public broadcasting program he has hosted for the past three years, to an analysis of Rice's failure to take seriously warnings about terrorist threats before the September 11 attacks as well as her misguided response to those attacks, her role in the campaign for war on Iraq and her scheming to avoid cooperating with the 9/11 Commission. The devastating report brought to mind Edward R. Murrow's See It Now dissection of Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Unfortunately, PBS in 2004 can't influence public opinion the way CBS did in 1954. Moyers recognized that fact when he launched NOW in January 2002; the former spokesman for Lyndon Johnson, senior correspondent for CBS, groundbreaking public television producer and winner of ten Peabody Awards and more than thirty Emmy Awards understood that the best he could do in these difficult times was to barter a bit of his prestige for the chance to erect an outpost of quality reporting in the increasingly corporatized broadcast television wilderness. Week after week, NOW has offered consistently bold and revealing examinations of issues ranging from the threat to environmental protections posed by international trade agreements, to the damage done to basic liberties by the Patriot Act, to the abuses of politics by special interests. Moyers, who is 70 and wants to turn his attention to writing, has every reason to be proud as he prepares for his last broadcast on December 17. At a time when TV networks--including PBS--were bowing to commercial and ideological pressures that were antithetical to journalism, Moyers created a program that many viewers recognized as the only reason to turn on the TV in the Bush era.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20041227&s=editors2

[knowbody0]

1. clap clap

[ooglymoogly]

6. i will from this day forward only donate to pbs in support of

bill moyers now since that is all i watch

[knowbody0]

7. you solved a dilema for me. thanks

[IrateCitizen]

2. He certainly is a hero to me...

NOW is like an oasis of sanity for me on a weekly basis. I can completely understand why Bill wants to leave, and I would only wish him the best -- but I am sure as hell going to miss him when he isn't visiting my home every Friday night (or whenever I watch the week's episode on video).

[rurallib]

4. Heard that there was a push

from the right to have Newt Gingerich installed as co-host after Moyer left. Don't know if that is true or not. I don't know if David Broncaccio can carry NOW on his own.
Moyer's leaving puts Broncaccio in the position of being about the only liberal voice on any network. Maybe I am wrong on that. I have been dreading the day Moyer leaves. There has been some incredible reporting done on NOW over the years.

[IrateCitizen]

5. Brancaccio is hardly a "liberal voice"...

His big gig before NOW was that he was host of NPR's "Marketplace". If you listen to his interviews and the questions he asks, it becomes quite clear that he is approaching issues from a decidedly centrist perspective. He NEVER challenges the status quo in the way that Moyers isn't afraid to.

That being said, there is a pretty big team behind NOW. I can only hope that, collectively, they can carry on Moyers' tradition and make him (and us) proud.

[nine23]

3. I didn't even have to read the article...

"Moyers created a program that many viewers recognized as the only reason to turn on the TV in the Bush era."

As a Canadian, I view CNN/MSNBC et al for a few minutes a day MAX if only to "check the pulse" of Bushwhacked America. For the serious business of US news reporting, I've always considered Moyers as "appointment" TV news in getting an impartial, fair and balanced (sorry for using that now-bastardized term) broadcast.

"Unfortunately, PBS in 2004 can't influence public opinion the way CBS did in 1954"...