PBS has cancelled Bill Moyers Journal & Now

[clear eye]

Tell PBS: Don't Abandon Hard-Hitting Journalism
Now, Bill Moyers Journal need worthy replacements

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3962

12/15/09

Click here to sign FAIR's petition

Bad news for PBS viewers: Now and the Bill Moyers Journal will be taken off the air in April 2010. Both programs stood out as all-too-rare examples of the hard-hitting, independent programming that should thrive on public television--which is why PBS should replace these programs with similarly thoughtful shows that continue this tradition.

From FAIR's action alert:

PBS has offered very little explanation of what will replace these shows, saying only that they will announce changes sometime this month. But one line-up change many PBS viewers will see this February is the addition of Ideas in Action--a show produced by the George W. Bush Institute, part of the new presidential library in Dallas.

~snip~

Glassman, a longtime fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, is perhaps best known for his remarkably optimistic--and wrong--book Dow 36,000. He also regularly penned op-eds for major U.S. newspapers that pushed views and policies that would directly benefit sponsors of his online news site, TechCentralStation.com

The purpose of the petition is to ask PBS to continue w/ similar programming, not to force Moyers to continue.
It deserves to go viral. We need these in-depth explorations of issues the rest of TV blacks out.

[msongs]

1. actually, bill moyers is retiring and ending his show deliberately nt

[dsc]

4. honestly you can't begrudge the man a retirement

I will sorely miss him but he has been working nearly non stop for closing in on 50 years. He has earned retirement.

[clear eye]

5. He says nothing about that on his website

but I searched and found a corroborating story.

At any rate, the Journal could have continued w/ another hard-hitting host offering the stories the rest of TV blacks out, but PBS has made no such plans.

I do hope you will be signing the petition to continue such programming. :hi:

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. News about three months ago

It was even posted here on DU

[napi21]

11. I heard it on one of Bill Moyer's shows. It was several weeks

ago. He said it at the very end of the show.

[napi21]

12. Here'/s a link.

http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/tvbizwire/2009/11/bill-moyers-retiring-from-week.php

Bill Moyers, who received the highest award bestowed by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2006--it's Lifetime Achievement Emmy--is retiring from weekly TV, TVWeek Contributor Elizabeth Jensen reports in the New York Times.

His weekly show on PBS, "Bill Moyers Journal," will end on April 30, 2010.

According to the report, "Mr. Moyers said he had been planning for some time to retire the program on Dec. 25, but was asked by PBS to raise the funds to continue through April, which he did.

“ 'I am 75 years old,' he said of the decision to end the series, which began in April 2007. The program has recently been having a 'good run of it,' he added in a telephone interview on Friday, 'so I feel it’s time.' He said he was not quitting television work, although he has no new projects planned.

[clear eye]

13. Thanks. I edited my reply to say that the Journal is being discontinued

which could, of course, be continued w/ another talented host from the part of the political spectrum mostly blacklisted on TV, such as Glenn Greenwald.

[robinlynne]

10. But Broncoccio, from NOw was taught by Moyers and just started. he's not retiring.

[truedelphi]

41. Will he have a show of his own?

Any info appreciated.

[clear eye]

59. Brancaccio has been host of NOW since 2004. His show has been cancelled.

I've been watching the show since back when it was hosted by Moyers. Brancaccio will not have a show after this March. He did not give it up voluntarily.

PBS ombudsman, Michael Getler, early last December had some choice words about how the show was cancelled w/o explanation. http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2009/12/the_mailbag_20.html Mr. Getler is finding it impossible to explain to the many viewers who have asked him about it in their emails.

Sorry folks, there does seem to be some agenda in operation, since PBS management said both NOW and the Journal (for which they could have found a new host) were not being cancelled for financial reasons. They declined to offer any other explanation.

[Captain Hilts]

14. Yes, that's what I've heard. nt

[varelse]

56. Thanks for clarifying

There is a world of difference. :)

[clear eye]

57. Not so much.

NOW has been cancelled w/ no stated reason, and BMJ could have been continued w/ another host. PBS has dropped all its programming that examines issues in depth from a populist point of view and added a program by a rw ideologue. Wish I could agree w/ you, but it does seem to indicate an agenda, whether or not Moyers retired voluntarily.

[rurallib]

2. I so hate to see these guys leave.

Maybe they would give Amy Goodman a spot. Or Laura Flanders.
Or maybe it would be time for Jon Stewart to take some comedy to PBS.

You know with all the other depressing news these days, this just seems to fit in.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. Excellent suggestions. Goodman and/or Flanders would be wonderful

additions to PBS.

[clear eye]

15. Glenn Greenwald?

That's what the petition is for--to continue hardhitting programs on issues blacked out in the rest of TV.

[intheflow]

18. Goodman's already on my local PBS station.

Channel 12, every week night at 5:30. Also on Colorado Public Broadcasting at least twice a day.

[clear eye]

20. Remarkable.

Not even NYC area PBS (Channel 13) carries Goodman.

[intheflow]

22. That's bizarre, especially since she's based in NYC!

:wow: I'm sorry I doubted your word, but I just couldn't believe it and checked the DN! web site. That's really incredible! And incredibly fucked up!

[Raineyb]

23. You can catch her on Link TV or WBAI radio. I've been listening to her for years on WBAI

before she went to television.

[GoCubsGo]

29. Free Speech TV, too

Channel 9415, if you have Dish TV. Don't know which cable companies carry it. They also air "The Thom Hartmann Show." You can watch online here: http://www.freespeech.org/

[rurallib]

32. Here's to a fello FreeSpeechTV lover!

:toast:

[BrklynLiberal]

40. Another big fan of FSTV here!!

:hi:

[Webster Green]

3. Moyers gone, but a show from the GWB library being shown?

I'm speechless, and ill. :banghead:

[BrklynLiberal]

7. OMIGAWD! What an obvious slap inthe face to liberal and progressives

who watch Moyers...and love him.

[scipan]

44. I can't find that about GWB Library on Fair's site.

Not sure if that should be believed.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

49. I just found it

and then needed to go back to it to get the link but lost the address. Searched AGAIN in FAIR's search window...and got the dreaded "not available error" box.

So, something's wacked at the website.

[clear eye]

58. Story from HuffPo saying same thing. Link=>

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/22/george-w-bush-institute-t_n_400777.html

[BlancheSplanchnik]

46. huh, I just said the same thing.

didn't see your post.

This is sickening!

[NRaleighLiberal]

6. Moyers was a shining light in a sea of awful "specials" (singing Irish violinists, etc)

, Lawrence Welk reruns, and so much other really boring, outdated and endlessly repeated crap. PBS just continues to render itself nearly as useless as the "commercial" channels (though it is surprising how much blatant advertising they do these days).

[Frank Booth]

16. You read my mind.

I was going to post about the flippin' Irish tenors and Lawrence Welk shows.

I've written so many emails to my local PBS station -- KCET, which must be one of the worst in the country -- that they don't even bother responding anymore.

I can't even remember the last time they aired Frontline. I'm forced to watch it online. Apparently KCET feels that re-running Songs of the Celtic Women for the 132nd time is more compelling tv.

[NRaleighLiberal]

17. When they have pledge week here, you need a vomit bucket.

Just dreadful shows for....God knows who enjoys such cloying, stale matter!

[intheflow]

19. They're courting older folks who have money to donate.

I worked at a PBS station in the 80s and that was how they made much of their pledge weeks' programming decisions, who was likely to pledge? Folks with a nice retirement egg to leave to them, or the 15-45 demographic who haven't yet accumulated enough to donate big? Right. The money wins every time.

Of course in this economy, they may have to rethink this strategy, as more older folks are poorer these days. :(

[Mudoria]

25. My local PBS station must be cooler than yours..

Over the last few years I've seen Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" and The Moody Blues as well as other rock acts during fund drives. Of course you have to put up with those lasses from Ireland too but still, freakin' Pink Floyd! I'll take that!

[GoCubsGo]

30. You must be picking up the South Carolina PBS..

Actually, the Pink Floyd concert is frequently run during their fund-raisers. I think most networks show it. That being said, South Carolina has a great PBS network. I also get Georgia's PBS on a good day, and SC's beats it hands-down. I get them via antenna, and now that they've gone digital, each has three stations. The SC PBS carries the "Create" network, which runs all sorts of travel, cooking and crafts shows.

[dixiegrrrrl]

42. PBS got taken over by the Neo-cons some years ago

and began axing all the "good" shows.I noticed it around 2002.
Programming went to hell, with a few exceptions. Which are disappearing.

[onestepforward]

21. Gladly signed. n/t

[dreamnightwind]

24. Signed

Moyers is an absolute hero, one of the greatest examples of what a journalist can do. He more than deserves a nice long rest, but damn I'll miss him.

[Junkdrawer]

26. Done. n/t

[nyc 4 Biden]

27. Done.

[freddie mertz]

28. Signed and K & R.

[vssmith]

31. Absoulutely the best show on television

[earth mom]

33. GRR! Not one more dime to PBS from me!

Love Love Love Moyers and Brancoccio! I get it that Moyers wants to retire, but there is NO reason to cancel Brancoccio!!!

We have a great PBS station here-never do we see Laurence Welk, though they do put on the Irish singers which can get boring after awhile.

But for the most part I love our PBS!

:argh:

:cry:

[lame54]

34. I heard Moyers is going to NBC to fill the 11:35 time slot

[SaveOurDemocracy]

54. LOLLLL...

[SaveOurDemocracy]

55. Signed! K&R

meant for the OP.

[TwilightGardener]

35. That's a shame. I like both Moyers and the Brancaccio guy.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

36. If they remove two of the few left-of-center voices on broadcast TV

AND replace them with a right-winger, then we need to boycott PBS's fund drives and tell them why.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

45. YES! (and, petition signed. KnR)

If we just grumble and turn off PBS without a word to them...well.... who's a schmuck?

goddammit, getting rid of the progressive voices, but they're going to put on a George Bush Institute production?????? GODDAMMIT!!!!!

[progressoid]

37. Fuuuuck! What the hell is wrong with PBS?

:grr:

[pleah]

38. K&R Signed!

[femrap]

39. Shit.

I knew Bill was retiring, but why cancel 'Now?'

Fuck...Friday night was my favorite night to watch TV.

[glinda]

43. done

[BlancheSplanchnik]

47. can't find this in the action alert link

PBS has offered very little explanation of what will replace these shows, saying only that they will announce changes sometime this month. But one line-up change many PBS viewers will see this February is the addition of Ideas in Action--a show produced by the George W. Bush Institute, part of the new presidential library in Dallas.

~snip~

Glassman, a longtime fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, is perhaps best known for his remarkably optimistic--and wrong--book Dow 36,000. He also regularly penned op-eds for major U.S. newspapers that pushed views and policies that would directly benefit sponsors of his online news site, TechCentralStation.com

....


I'm really angry, because we have only recently been ABLE to get PBS here, since the digital switchover.

[clear eye]

51. The link I gave was to their website article, but the other two excerpts

come from an emailed action alert I received, and are not online--so no link.

We got Moyers back on the air by viewer feedback a while back, so maybe the petition will do some good and we'll see another similar program in the PBS lineup in the future. Of course, individual calls and emails to their viewer contacts would work even better than a click and send petition.

I understand your frustration. Other than the occasional nature program, there is precious little I watch on PBS besides Moyers and NOW.

[MichiganVote]

48. And not that windbag with the losers on the McLaughlin Group? Pathetic.

[Jakes Progress]

50. They could continue his show

even if he rarely appears. It is the cache of his honesty and the stamp of his approval that I want from their programming.

But I see little chance. They still ask me for money but they get most from the corporations.

[hippywife]

52. Petition signed and thread recommended.

Two of the best programs on PBS canceled for more right wing ideology? This is such crap.

The George W. Bush Institute should be the name of an establishment for the criminally insane. :mad:

[clear eye]

53. "The George W. Bush Institute should be the name of an establishment for the criminally insane."

Lol. I think it is.