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Bill Moyers Retiring From Weekly Television

Nov 22, 2009  •  Post A Comment

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.

Mr. Moyers, who produced and reported the popular six-part  "Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth" series that aired on PBS in 1988, became embroiled in controversy in 2005 over his PBS show "NOW with Bill Moyers." 

The then head of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Kenneth Tomlinson, claimed "NOW" had a "left wing" bias. He had paid someone $10,000 of CPB funds to watch the show and report to him on political bias. This "study" was never made public. 

An internal CPB investigation later discredited Tomlinson, saying that he had violated his office’s code of ethics as he sought to bring political change to the organization.

To read TVWeek Open Mike blogger Chuck Ross’ comments about Moyers’ legacy and importance to journalism, click here.

One Comment

  1. Aided me a lot, just what I was looking for : D.

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