Bill Moyers (June 5, 1934 —) is an acclaimed American television journalist, widely respected for his work at PBS and CBS News. Born in Oklahoma in 1934 and raised in Texas, he began his journalism career at age 16. During his half-century in the media, Moyers has received numerous awards for excellence, including the prestigious "Gold Baton" from the Alfred I. duPont Foundation and more than thirty Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In 1991 Moyers was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Moyers established Public Affairs Television in 1986 as an independent production company, and has produced hundreds of hours of programming, including "In Search of the Constitution," "A Gathering of Men with Robert Bly," "Facing Hate with Elie Wiesel," "Listening to America with Bill Moyers," and "Healing the Mind." Books based on many of his television series have become bestsellers, including "A World Of Ideas," which put outstanding thinkers on the air every night for ten weeks in 1988, and "The Power Of Myth," his televised conversations with the late teacher and mythologist Joseph Campbell. Recent subjects explored by Moyers include 1996's "Genesis: A Living Conversation," an expansive look at the Biblical book of Genesis and its relevance to life today; 1999's "Fooling With Words," which examines poetry and the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival; and 2000's "On Our Own Terms," a study on death and dying.

In March of 2001, a Moyers-produced documentary about the global chemical industry entitled "Trade Secrets" aired on PBS stations in the United States. Two years in the making, most of the material presented in the program came from a lawsuit filed by the widow of a man who died of brain cancer at age 46 after working with the chemical vinyl chloride. The documentary uses this material, over a million pages of documents from chemical companies and their trade association over more than 40 years, to show how the industry participated in a conspiracy to keep the truth about what their chemicals can do to the body from their employees and the public, and how it has campaigned vigorously against government regulation. Disturbing statistics are cited showing increased incidents of breast cancer, brain cancer among children, testicular cancer among teenage boys, infertility and learning disabilities. The evidence presented brings Moyers to the conclusion that there is much that is unknown about the chemicals introduced into society over the past fifty years, chemicals that are coursing through the bloodstreams of millions of people.

In addition to broadcasting, Moyers was Deputy Director of the Peace Corps in the Kennedy Administration and Special Assistant to President Johnson from 1963 to 1967. He was a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation for 12 years, and has served as president of the Florence and John Schumann Foundation since 1990.


Source information:
David Bauder of the Associated Press
Robin Chew of Lucid Interactive
A World Of Ideas by Bill Moyers

I stumbled across Bill Moyers' TV zine "Now" and my first reaction was, "Bill Moyers is a dinosaur, a relic of the liberal Sixties." But I found that much of his message resonated with my convictions. His basic message is that corporate America is running our lives.

In one segment of "Now" he argued compellingly that large corporations are responsible for the epidemic of obesity among young people. There is a vast amount of TV programming aimed at kids and pre-teens, and all of it is intended to condition kids to become consumers at an early age. Many of the commercials are for snack foods and fast food. The TV producers aim to keep kids bolted to the floor in front of the TV so that corporate America can tell to buy, buy, buy, eat, eat, eat.

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