The Corporation for Public Broadcasting is facing a potentially disastrous cut of federal funding in the wake of a Senate hearing last week on a White House proposal to make rescissions to federal spending for foreign aid and public broadcasting. The proposal would cut $1.1 billion in spending for CPB over the next two fiscal years, wiping out the federal support of public radio and television, long sought by conservative critics of public broadcasting. These rescissions are part of a larger piece of legislation aimed at cutting a total of $9.4 billion, mostly devoted to foreign aid focused on global public health, international disaster relief and alleviating hunger. A favorable vote by the full Senate is required by July 18 or the proposed spending reductions will fail to be enacted.
At the same time, one of the most powerful and prominent voices in public broadcasting fell silent last week when Bill Moyers passed away at the age of 91. Moyers had been present at the creation in the Johnson Administration, in the role of Press Secretary and one of Johnson’s closest advisors, as American public media policy was being crafted. And he spent many years in and out of PBS, as television host of some of the system’s most popular and influential public affairs programming, including “Bill Moyers Journal,” “Now, With Bill Moyers” and the surprisingly popular 1988 series “Joseph Campbell and the Power of Myth” and many others.
Over the years, Moyers was an ardent advocate and defender of public and independent media, in the face of increasingly consolidated corporate ownership of commercial media companies and journalism outlets. He was an early and vocal supporter of Free Press, the public interest media advocacy organization, giving barn-burning and stem-winding addresses at the organization’s inaugural conference in Madison, Wisconsin in 2003 and many times thereafter. In Memphis, in 2007, Moyers opened the group’s conference with a rousing and rollicking sermon, drawing on his early training as a Baptists minister, on the critical role and endangered condition of our independent press. As he said, at the time, “Two basic pillars of American society – shared economic prosperity and a public sector capable of serving the common good – are crumbling. The third basic pillar of American democracy – an independent press – is under sustained attack, and the channels of information are choked.” And so it goes still today.
One of the lesser known roles in his long career in public life was his leadership in philanthropy, as President of the Schumann Center for Media and Democracy, a New Jersey-based foundation that supported many of the most important voices in independent journalism, including Mother Jones, Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now and the environmental journalism collaborative Covering Climate Now.
Bill Moyers was especially well-suited for philanthropy, in his combination of extraordinary levels of experience and wisdom in subject matter, coupled with humility and a generosity of spirit that was impossible to miss. One of the things you will see in the myriad testimonials and articles, on random social media posts and even deep in the comments on his obituaries, are the legions of admirers sharing their personal reflection of encounters with Moyers where he would treat them with a seriousness and respect that made them feel like a valued colleague, no matter how fleeting the exchange. Present company included.
