Bill Moyers
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Bill D. Moyers (born June 5, 1934) is an American journalist and public commentator.
He was born in Hugo, Oklahoma and was raised in Texas. Moyers began his journalism career at age 16 as a cub reporter at the Marshall News Messenger in Marshall, Texas. He and his wife, Judith Davidson Moyers, have three grown children.
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Public service
During the Kennedy Administration, Moyers was appointed as Deputy Director of the Peace Corps (1961–63). When Lyndon Baines Johnson took office after the Kennedy assassination, Moyers became special Assistant to President Johnson and also served as White House Press Secretary from 1965 to 1967.
Journalism
Best known for his work as a journalist, Moyers served as publisher for the Long Island, New York daily Newsday from 1967–1970. In 1986, Moyers and his wife Judith Davidson formed Public Affairs Television. One of their first productions was the popular PBS series Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth (1988).
Moyers hosted the TV newsjournal, NOW with Bill Moyers, on PBS for three years. He retired from the program on December 17, 2004.
Criticism of Bill Moyers
In addition, Moyers is also a major donor to FAIR, a group which analyzes the American media for instances of bias; an organization which has often been of accused of a liberal bias. Moyers' involvement with this group has led many critics, mostly conservative, to label him a liberal commentator rather than an objective journalist 1 (http://www.townhall.com/columnists/brentbozell/bb20041229.shtml). During coverage of the 2004 presidential election, 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 coup, quite frankly. I mean that the right-wing is not going to accept it." He later said, "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."
External links
- NOW with Bill Moyers (http://www.pbs.org/now/)
- On Receiving Harvard Medical School's 2004 Global Environment Citizen Award (http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1206-10.htm) official pdf version (http://www.med.harvard.edu/chge/april.html#bill)
- Peace Corps biography of Bill Moyers (http://peacecorpsonline.org/messages/messages/467/2021407.html)
- Moyers' retirement from NOW announced (http://www.boston.com/ae/tv/articles/2004/12/10/citizen_journalist_moyers_signs_off/)
- Audio of Bill Moyers Speech at 2005 National Conference for Media Reform in St. Louis (http://www.freepress.net/conference/audio05/moyers.mp3)
- Quicktime video of Moyers Speech at 2005 National Conference for Media Reform (http://www.freepress.net/conference/audio05/freepress-closing40515.mov)
- Talk at Paramount Theater in Seattle on April 2005 as part of Foolproof's American Voices series & KUOW Speakers Forum (http://www.kuow.org/defaultProgram.asp?ID=8792)
| Preceded by: George E. Reedy | White House Press Secretary 1965 – 1966 | Succeeded by: George E. Christian |