E-Mail From Bill Moyers NOW ! - Democratic Underground

stewert

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Mon Jul-19-04 11:58 PM
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E-Mail From Bill Moyers NOW !

I sent this e-mail to Bill Moyers NOW:

From: Steve
To: Now@thirteen.org
Posted: Wednesday, July 07, 2004 12:38 PM
Subject: Question About Now !

My name is Steve Senti, I own and run this
website:

http://www.oreilly-sucks.com

You may or may not know that Bill O'Reilly said
nobody is watching PBS or Bill Moyers NOW. I
thought I read that Bill Moyers NOW gets a 3.0
rating for his friday night show. Can you tell me
what his ratings are. I plan to quote O'Reilly's
lie and then post the real numbers.

I know PBS had 87 million viewers a week in 2003,
that's a hell of a lot more than FOX or the factor
get.

He also said PBS was bankrupt and that Moyers was
fired, any info on that would be helpful too. Just
give me what you can.

Thanks,

Steve

--------

I got this reply:

Dear Mr. Senti,

Thank you for your interest in NOW. It is indeed correct that our
most recent rating for the Friday night airing is 3.0. Mr. Moyers was not fired by PBS. (PBS does not have that power, because Public Affairs Television, which produces NOW with Bill Moyers and some other documentaries, is a separate organization. And even if they did, they would not exercise it.) Mr. Moyers chose to retire and take that opportunity to write a book on his years working for Lyndon Johnson.

PBS is far, far from being bankrupt.

Sincerely,

Marshall I. xxxxxxxxx
NOW with Bill Moyers

--------

Here is what O'Reilly said:

During the June 30 broadcast of The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly, O'Reilly and co-host E.D. Hill had the following exchange:

O'REILLY: Joan Kroc, the McDonald's babe, died and left her -- all her money to PBS, right?

HILL: That's right.

O'REILLY: And they're still going bankrupt over there, because nobody will watch it. Did you know that? PBS is going bankrupt.

O'REILLY: Nobody'll watch them. Gee, I wonder why nobody'll watch Bill Moyers. Whoa, I wonder why. Anyway. He got fired, Moyers, so we don't worry about that.

The truth is that Joan B. Kroc, widow of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc, left the bulk of her fortune -- more than $200 million -- to National Public Radio, not PBS, she left the $200 million to NPR O'Reilly you dumb ass.

Plenty of people watch PBS. Citing the Nielsen Television Index; "Over 87 million people in 51 million households watched public television during an average week of the 2002-2003 television season." They also note that "Americans continued to watch public television in greater numbers than any cable network during the 2002-2003 season," which means more Americans watch PBS than the FOX News Channel.

PBS is not going bankrupt either. According to its website, "PBS' operating revenue has grown from $262 million in FY98 to a projected $324 million in FY03, a 24 percent increase in just five years, largely from non-member revenue sources."

So Bill Moyers NOW gets a 3.0 rating, O'Reilly got a 1.9 for June. It looks like a lot of people watch NOW compared to the people who watch the factor.

http://www.cablenewser.com/original/q2chart.doc

And Moyers was not fired, he decided to retire after the november elections.