Bill Moyers on Democracy Now!

Legendary journalist Bill Moyers was the host of NOW with Bill Moyers for three years, until he came under tremendous pressure by CPB chair Kenneth Tomlinson. Over the past three decades he has become an icon of American journalism. He was one of the organizers of the Peace Corps, a special assistant for Lyndon Johnson, a publisher of Newsday, senior correspondent for CBS News and a producer of many groundbreaking series on public television. He is the winner of more than 30 Emmys, nine Peabodys, three George Polk awards and is the author of three best-selling books.

June 09, 2008: Broadcast Legend Bill Moyers on Media Reform: ‘Democracy Only Works When Ordinary People Claim It as Their Own’
More than 3,500 people gathered in Minneapolis this weekend for the fourth annual National Conference for Media Reform, organized by the group Free Press. The thousands of participants took part in panel discussions and strategized on efforts to fight media consolidation and democratize the airwaves. We play the electrifying keynote address by legendary journalist Bill Moyers.

June 09, 2008: Bill Moyers Takes on Fox News Producer Sent by Bill O’Reilly to Media Reform Conference
Before the National Conference for Media Reform began, Bill O’Reilly of Fox News attacked it on the air as a gathering of “crazy” people. O’Reilly also sent a producer to confront Moyers in what became an animated confrontation.

May 07, 2008: Broadcasting Legend Bill Moyers on the 2008 Elections, the Rev. Wright Controversy, the Media, Vietnam and More
Legendary broadcaster Bill Moyers helped organize the Peace Corps and served under President Johnson before going on to a distinguished career in journalism that continues today with the PBS series Bill Moyers Journal. His latest book, just published, is Moyers on Democracy. Moyers joins us to talk about the 2008 elections, the media and war. He addresses the controversy over Barack Obama’s former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. It was nearly two weeks ago on Bill Moyers Journal where Wright first spoke out since his criticism of US government policies became a major issue in the 2008 Democratic presidential race.

April 25, 2007 Legendary Broadcaster Bill Moyers Returns to Airwaves With Critical Look at How U.S. News Media Helped Bush Admin Sell the Case for War
The debut episode of his new series Bill Moyers Journal is titled “Buying the War.” Moyers makes the case that the press has yet to come to terms with its role in enabling the Bush Administration to go to war on false pretenses. Moyers joins us to play excerpts of “Buying the War” and talk about the media, the late journalist David Halberstam, corporate consolidation of the airwaves, and the hope he sees from the grassroots.

January 16, 2007 Bill Moyers: Big Media is Ravenous. It Never Gets Enough. Always Wants More. And it Will Stop at Nothing to Get It. These Conglomerates are an Empire, and they are Imperial.

May 16, 2005 Bill Moyers Responds to CPB’s Tomlinson Charges of Liberal Bias: "We Were Getting it Right, But Not Right Wing
In his first public address since leaving PBS six months ago, journalist Bill Moyers responds to charges by Kenneth Tomlinson–the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting–of liberal bias and revelations that Tomlinson hired a consultant to monitor the political content of Moyers’ PBS show “Now.”

November 28, 2003 Journalist Bill Moyers: Our Democracy Is In Danger of Being Paralyzed
Bill Moyers has retired from his weekly public affairs show “Now” on PBS. Over the past three decades, he became an icon of American journalism. He recently gave the keynote address before 2,000 people at the first ever National Conference on Media Reform where he warned, “What we’re talking about is nothing less than rescuing a democracy that is so polarized it is in danger of being paralyzed and pulverized. Alarming words, I know. But the realities we face should trigger alarms. Free and responsible government by popular consent just can’t exist without an informed public.”