LA TIMES: Now after Bill Moyers

[ikojo]

http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-crbrancaccio44oct31,1,1540954.story?coll=la-headlines-magazine

There's been commentary about the so-called "right-wing tilt at PBS," which just added some conservative commentators. Was your hiring part of that trend?

I haven't seen it at PBS. There's some pretty edgy documentaries on "POV." But the culture has shifted to the right. I was covering the Republican convention. We were talking about endangered moderates, RINOS—Republican in Name Only. Hard-line Republicans go hunting to get them knocked off on election day. A politician who's moderate on the issue of choice but pretty hard-line on fiscal issues, an impassioned speech about Barry Goldwater. The country has moved so far to the right you can invoke Barry Goldwater as sort of a centrist figure.

Does public TV's mandate differ from the networks or cable?

Fox, in particular, but also MSNBC and CNBC, they're trying to prove that you have to have a very bold point of view, and then the people who share your point of view will gravitate toward you. If that is successful, it can be difficult for the network newscasts, and tougher for PBS. Ultimately, my show is nonpartisan. I may care who gets elected, but my show does not. I'm trying to get a dialogue going.

Where are you on the political spectrum? How do you see government's role?

I'm not a libertarian. I think there is a role for government. I think journalism can be part of that role. There's gotta be a better way to do a lot of this, and government makes horrible mistakes and is incredibly inefficient. I'm not a believer in any particular doctrine, but the notion that the only good government is a tiny government is something I have questions about. When people ask, "Are you a Democrat or Republican?" I say, "You can't tell?" They say, "No, we always wondered about that." Well, good, because my politics don't enter into it. The question is, am I opening your eyes to an important story? Then you can draw your own conclusions.

[Was_Immer]

1. why did people on here insist that Bill was a democrat

Hes a repuke

[Metatron]

2. Probably because he worked for President Johnson

"In addition to broadcasting, Moyers was Deputy Director of the Peace Corps in the Kennedy Administration and special Assistant to President Johnson from 1963-1967."

http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/96jun/moyers.html

[PROGRESSIVE1]

3. He's independent and hard hitting!

He's not a Repuke!!!

[Was_Immer]

4. I retract my previous statement, was not aware of his past n/t

[intheflow]

5. I don't know how you've formed that opinion.

He has condemned the GOP for "imposing a radical ideology": http://www.mrc.org/cyberalerts/2002/cyb20021111.asp#1

He has decried corporate media: http://64.233.167.104/custom?q=cache:eLNJ3n3g3ZcJ:www.commondreams.org/views03/1112-10.htm+Bill+Moyers&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

He has denounced the growing income gap in the US: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0616-09.htm

And on and on. Moyers is about as traditional a liberal democrat as there is.

[anelson]

6. NOW is the best show on TV

that almost no one watches. I discovered it quite by accident one Sunday afternoon here in chicagoland. I hope the quality of the show does not drop off too much with his departure. Bill may or may not be a democrat, but he surely is a Progressive.

[SoCalDem]

7. Brancaccio will continue, but it's geing cut to 1/2 hour.

PBS will probably insist on the same NUMBER of "stories". so the quiet, in-depth coverage will suffer.. The budget will, no doubt, be cut as well (1/2 hr shows shouldn't cost as much)..

They will just fail to nurture it, and then let it die a quiet death.:cry:

I miss Bill already:(..and he isn't even gone yet.