Latest news with #Moyers
USA Today
2 hours ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Bill Moyers, legendary PBS journalist, 'Power of Myth' host, dies at 91
Bill Moyers, a former White House press secretary to Lyndon B. Johnson who became the thoughtful voice of public television, has died. He was 91. Moyers died in a New York City hospital on June 26 following a "long illness" and complications from prostate cancer, his longtime friend Tom Johnson, the former CEO of CNN, confirmed. Tom Johnson was an assistant to Moyers during Lyndon Johnson's administration and said his former boss deserved a spot on the "Mount Rushmore of splendid journalists," with the likes of CBS's legendary Edward R. Murrow. "In five decades of broadcast journalism, Bill reached the very highest standards of excellence in journalism. I believe he reached the same stature as Edward R. Murrow," Johnson tells USA TODAY. "He was one of President Johnson's most trusted advisors and in many ways was the son that LBJ never had." Moyers won 35 Emmy Awards in his storied career, primarily for his work on PBS as host of "Frontline" and "Bill Moyers Journal." His career was punctuated by the 1988 landmark series, "Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth,' a series of six one-hour interviews with Campbell, the prominent mythologist and religious scholar. The accompanying book became a national bestseller, with both series popularizing Campbell's phrase, "Follow your bliss." 'Not only was Bill a journalist of the highest caliber, he played an essential role in the creation of PBS as a trusted aide to President Johnson," PBS chief Paula Kerger said in a statement. "It was my privilege to work closely with him for over three decades, and I was always inspired by the clarity of his vision and his unwavering commitment to the ideals that continue to inspire public media. Bill was always of service: as a journalist, a mentor, and a fierce champion for PBS. He fought for excellence and honesty in our public discourse and was always willing to take on the most important issues of the day with curiosity and compassion. While he will be greatly missed, we will continue to carry his legacy forward in service to the American people.' Born Billy Don Moyers in Hugo, Oklahoma, on June 5, 1934, the son of a dirt farmer and truck driver, Moyers dropped the "y" from his first name when he took his first journalism job as a cub reporter at 16 in Marshall, Texas. Moyers' career veered from Baptist minister to deputy director of the Peace Corps to Johnson's press secretary, a role he filled from 1965-67. Tom Johnson said Moyers played a pivotal role in shaping President Johnson's "Great Society" task forces and historic legislation. Moyers left Johnson's administration after growing disagreements with the President over America's escalating involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1967, Moyers was a member of the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television that recommended the creation of a public broadcasting system. The report's recommendations led to the passage of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, which authorized the establishment of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. As the publisher of the Long Island-based newspaper Newsday from 1967 to 1970, Moyers recruited legendary journalists such as Pete Hamill, Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Saul Bellow, and led the paper to win two Pulitzer Prizes. "His time at 'Newsday' was quite remarkable," says Johnson. Moyers was a senior news analyst and commentator for the "CBS Evening News" and chief correspondent for "CBS Reports." Along with his Emmy wins, Moyers won two Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia University Awards, nine Peabody Awards and three George Polk Awards. Moyers also received the first-ever Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the American Film Institute. In 2013, Moyers officiated at the wedding of "Star Wars" creator George Lucas and CBS News reporter Mellody Hobson. Moyers is survived by his wife and frequent producer, Judith Davidson Moyers, the president of their production company, and three children, among them the author Suzanne Moyers and author and TV producer William Cope Moyers.
New Indian Express
3 hours ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Bill Moyers, the former White House press secretary turned acclaimed TV journalist, dead at 91
NEW YORK: Bill Moyers, the former White House press secretary who became one of television's most honored journalists, masterfully using a visual medium to illuminate a world of ideas, died Thursday at age 91. Moyers died in a New York City hospital, according to longtime friend Tom Johnson, the former CEO of CNN and an assistant to Moyers during Lyndon B. Johnson's administration. Moyers' son William said his father died at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York after a 'long illness.' Moyers' career ranged from youthful Baptist minister to deputy director of the Peace Corps, from Johnson's press secretary to newspaper publisher, senior news analyst for 'The CBS Evening News' and chief correspondent for 'CBS Reports.' But it was for public television that Moyers produced some of TV's most cerebral and provocative series. In hundreds of hours of PBS programs, he proved at home with subjects ranging from government corruption to modern dance, from drug addiction to media consolidation, from religion to environmental abuse. In 1988, Moyers produced 'The Secret Government' about the Iran-Contra scandal during the Reagan administration and simultaneously published a book under the same name. Around that time, he galvanized viewers with 'Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth,' a series of six one-hour interviews with the prominent religious scholar. The accompanying book became a best-seller. His televised chats with poet Robert Bly almost single-handedly launched the 1990s Men's Movement, and his 1993 series 'Healing and the Mind' had a profound impact on the medical community and on medical education. In a medium that supposedly abhors 'talking heads' — shots of subject and interviewer talking — Moyers came to specialize in just that. He once explained why: 'The question is, are the talking heads thinking minds and thinking people? Are they interesting to watch? I think the most fascinating production value is the human face.'
Los Angeles Times
5 hours ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Bill Moyers, former White House aide and PBS journalist, dies at 91
Bill Moyers, a soft-spoken former White House aide turned journalist who became a standard bearer of quality in TV news, died Thursday in New York. He was 91. Moyers' son William told the Associated Press his father died at Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital after a long illness. Moyers began his TV career in 1971 during the early years of PBS after serving as a leading advisor and press secretary to President Johnson. He spent 10 years in two stints at CBS News in the 1970s and '80s. He was editor and chief correspondent for 'CBS Reports,' the network's prestigious documentary series, and an analyst for the 'CBS Evening News.' He also did a turn as a commentator on 'NBC Nightly News' and was a host of the MSNBC program 'Insight' in 1996. But Moyers was often frustrated with the restraints of corporate-owned media and returned to non-commercial PBS each time. At PBS, 'Bill Moyers Journal' was the first news program on the service, launched in 1972 just as the Watergate scandal was heating up. His documentaries and series, which included 'Now With Bill Moyers' and the weekly interview show 'Moyers & Company, ' often examined complex issues and offered serious discussion. He earned top prizes in television journalism, including more than 30 Emmy Awards. His final program for PBS aired in 2013. Moyers made a posthumous star out of a literature professor at Sarah Lawrence College with the landmark 1988 PBS series 'Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth,' an exploration of religious and mythological archetypes. The series was watched by 30 million viewers. His 2006 series 'Faith and Reason,' where Moyers interviewed authors about the role of religion in their lives, was the kind of programming that distinguished public television, even as audiences had more viewing options on cable. Moyers also fronted tough investigative programs such as 'The Secret Government,' a deep dive into the Iran-Contra scandal during the Reagan administration. He often focused on the influence of money in the nation's politics. A believer in liberal causes, Moyers aggravated Republican administrations who often cited his programs when they accused PBS of bias and attempted to cut its federal funding. PBS President Paula Kerger, who worked closely with Moyers for decades, said he always embodied the aspirations of public television. 'Bill was always of service: as a journalist, a mentor, and a fierce champion for PBS,' Kerger said in a statement. 'He fought for excellence and honesty in our public discourse, and was always willing to take on the most important issues of the day with curiosity and compassion.' Moyers was born June 5, 1934 in Hugo, Okla., the son of a dirt farmer and day laborer. He attended high school in Marshall, Texas, where he covered sports for the local newspaper. After graduating from the University of Texas, he earned a master's in divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and became an ordained minister. He preached at small rural churches. While in college, he established a relationship with Johnson, who hired him to work on his 1954 reelection campaign for U.S. Senate. He worked as a news editor for KTBC radio and television, the Austin, Texas, outlets owned by Johnson's wife, Lady Bird. Moyers stuck with Johnson when the senator was elected as John F. Kennedy's vice president, becoming his personal assistant and later serving as a deputy director of the Peace Corps. After Johnson was sworn in as president on Nov. 22, 1963, following the assassination of Kennedy, Moyers ascended as well. He was a top Johnson aide with a wide range of duties including press secretary. According to a 1965 profile in Time magazine, Moyers was a key figure in assembling Johnson's ambitious domestic policy initiatives known as the Great Society. He shaped legislation and edited and polished the work of Johnson's speechwriters. When Johnson underwent anesthesia for a gall bladder operation, Moyers was given responsibility to decide whether then-Vice President Hubert Humphrey should take over the president's powers in the event of a crisis. Moyers had a major impact on political communication when in 1964 he signed off on the creation of the 'Daisy' ad for Johnson's presidential election campaign. The ad showing a girl counting petals she pulls from a daisy blends into a countdown for the launch of nuclear missile. Moyers expressed regret for the spot — an attack on Johnson's Republican opponent Barry Goldwater's views on the use of nuclear weapons. He believed the use of visceral imagery harmed the country's politics in the long term. Moyers left the Johnson White House in 1967 as he was disenchanted with the escalation of the Vietnam War. He went on to become publisher of the Long Island, N.Y., daily newspaper Newsday, raising its stature in the journalism industry, before his first tenure at PBS. When he rejoined PBS in 1986, he formed his own production company called Public Affairs Television. Moyers' preacher-like delivery and emphasis on high moral standards in his commentaries led some people to criticize him as being a pious scold. But as cable news brought a more raucous style of current affairs discussions to TV, Moyers' gentler approach was an oasis for many. 'His mission has always been to make things better, not louder,' Neil Gabler wrote in an appreciation of Moyers for The Times in 2009. 'In a world of ego and bombast, he has always been modest and self-effacing.' Moyers is survived by his wife Judith; three children, Suzanne Moyers, John D. Moyers and William Cope Moyers; six grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bill Moyers, former press secretary turned acclaimed journalist, dead at 91
Bill Moyers, a former press secretary to President Lyndon B. Johnson who turned into a longtime broadcast journalist and champion of public media, has died at age 91, his family confirmed to CNN. The acclaimed journalist's son, William Moyers, said he died of complications from a long illness. His wife of nearly 71 years, Judith Davidson Moyers, was by his side. Moyers, who was once described by Walter Cronkite as 'the conscience' of the country, was a public television pioneer, leading multiple installments of 'Bill Moyers' Journal' on PBS stations in the 1970s and again in the late 2000s. His storied career also included chapters as the publisher of Newsday; a presidential debate moderator; a correspondent at CBS News; and analyst at NBC News. Through five decades on the air, 'he reached the heights of excellence in journalism,' former CNN president Tom Johnson said, noting that many compared Moyers to 'the Edward R. Murrow of those times.' Johnson was an assistant to Moyers during the Lyndon B. Johnson administration, when Moyers served as press secretary and one of the most trusted advisors to the president. Moyers was instrumental in setting up the task forces that led to Johnson's creation of the Great Society programs of the 1960s. 'At the root of the Great Society was only an idea,' Moyers wrote in his memoir, that 'free men and women can work with their government to make things better.' In a 2019 interview with CNN, Moyers — who was still busy analyzing the news, then at his own website — said that 'for the first time in my long life,' he feared for America. 'I was born in the Depression, lived through World War II, have been a part of politics and government for all these years,' he said, before observing that 'a society, a democracy can die of too many lies. And we're getting close to that terminal moment unless we reverse the obsession with lies that are being fed around the country.' Still, Moyers said, 'do facts matter anymore? I think they do.' Throughout his decades-long career, Moyers received 35 Emmy Awards, two Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia University Awards, nine Peabody Awards and three George Polk Awards. Moyers also received the first-ever Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the American Film Institute.
Straits Times
6 hours ago
- Politics
- Straits Times
Bill Moyers, broadcaster and LBJ's White House press secretary, dies at 91
FILE PHOTO: Journalist Bill Moyers delivers the keynote speech at the People for the American Way Foundation's Spirit of Liberty dinner in Beverly Hills September 21, 2004. REUTERS/Fred Prouser FSP/ABP/File Photo Bill Moyers, a key member of Democratic President Lyndon Johnson's inner circle who went on to become a guiding force in American journalism during more than 40 years in public television, died on Thursday aged 91. Moyers, who announced he was "signing off" from internet journalism in December 2017, three years after retiring from the PBS airwaves, died of complications from prostate cancer at a Manhattan hospital, the Washington Post and New York Times reported, citing his son, William Cope Moyers. His death was confirmed to Reuters in a statement from Paula Kerger, president and CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service, who saluted Moyers as a "true giant of public media." "Not only was Bill a journalist of the highest caliber, he played an essential role in the creation of PBS as a trusted aide to President Johnson," Kerger said. At a time when critics said broadcast news was becoming fluffier and shallower, Moyers pursued a thoughtful, in-depth approach, bringing an intellectual perspective delivered in a soothing Texas drawl. He took an activist approach to the job, and The Nation magazine called him a "radical presence" in broadcast news, which his critics said was proof that the Public Broadcasting Service network should not get federal funding. Starting in 1971, Moyers regularly hosted a succession of news and commentary shows on public television, including "Bill Moyers' Journal," "Now With Bill Moyers," "Moyers on America" and "Moyers and Company," as well as limited-run series on the U.S. Constitution, faith and mythology. Among the other topics he explored at length on his programs were poverty, racism, money in politics, climate change, income inequality, the shortcomings of the media and what he called the "pirates and predators of Wall Street." "He used the tools of the documentarian to wield a velvet sledgehammer, bludgeoning corporate polluters and government ne'er-do-wells with precision and grace," New York Times media columnist David Carr wrote in 2004. Billy Don Moyers was born in Hugo, Oklahoma, on June 5, 1934, and grew up mostly in Marshall, Texas. A dutiful, energetic overachiever, he dedicated himself to school, church and work, including a job at the local newspaper. His early adult life would be a tug of war between the pulpit, the press and politics. He was attending North Texas State College when he first went to Washington in 1954 as a summer intern in the office of then-Senate Minority Leader Lyndon Johnson. When he returned to school, transferring to the University of Texas, he worked on the student newspaper, and Johnson made sure he had a job at the Austin television station owned by his wife, "Lady Bird" Johnson. He also pursued a career in the clergy, becoming ordained as a Baptist minister in 1954 and earning a master of divinity degree at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1959. 'YOUNG MAN IN CHARGE OF EVERYTHING' Johnson's legendary powers of persuasion eventually prevailed and Moyers became an aide during Johnson's unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination against John F. Kennedy in 1960. After the election, Kennedy chose Moyers to be assistant director of his newly established Peace Corps. After Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and Johnson became president, Moyers moved to the White House. He was only 30 years old but became one of the most important people in Washington - a duty-bound, deal-making extension of his boss. He served as Johnson's press secretary, adviser, speech writer and congressional go-between. In 1965, he appeared on the covers of Newsweek and Time, which called him "LBJ's Young Man in Charge of Everything." Moyers was a driving force in forging Johnson's Great Society legislation - laws and programs that included the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the "war on poverty," Medicaid and Medicare, conservation and aid to education. "He taught me so much about politics and about what's possible, about human behavior, about the consequences of decisions," Moyers said of Johnson in a 1989 Texas Monthly interview. "At the same time, he was a driven man, a man who could consume you." Critics said Moyers sometimes got his hands dirty on Johnson's behalf. He was known to leak stories and plant questions with the press corps in advance of news conferences. The Washington Post reported that he ordered the FBI to search for gay people in the administration, and CBS correspondent Morley Safer said in his autobiography that Moyers also had a role in the FBI's bugging of civil rights leader Martin Luther King. Moyers left Johnson's service in 1967 - partly because he no longer believed in his boss's war in Vietnam - to become publisher of Newsday, a Long Island, New York daily. The newspaper won two Pulitzer Prizes under his leadership, but he left in 1970 after the publisher deemed him too liberal. Moyers then went on a bus ride around the country that he chronicled in the book "Listening to America: A Traveler Rediscovers His Country." He made his move to PBS in 1971 with "Bill Moyers Journal" and in 1986 he and his wife, Judith, started their own production company to make shows for public television stations. Moyers had stints with the major networks - as a correspondent and commentator with CBS in the 1970s, and with NBC and MSNBC in the 1990s - but greatly preferred the freedom and depth that public television offered. The Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago called him "one of the few broadcast journalists who might be said to approach the stature" of legendary CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow. Moyers' body of work earned him more than 30 Emmys, nine Peabodys, two Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia University Awards and three George Polk Awards, among other accolades. He was elected to the Television Hall of Fame in 1995. Moyers and his wife had three children, William Cope, Alice Suzanne, and John Davidson. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
