Bill Moyers Journal was an American television
current affairs program that covered an array of current affairs and human issues, including economics, history, literature, religion, philosophy, science, and most frequently politics.
Bill Moyers executive produced, wrote and hosted the Journal when it was created.
WNET in New York produced it and
PBS aired it from 1972 to 1976.
In 1979, following a nearly three-year hiatus, PBS announced that Bill Moyers Journal would return for a second series, which would cover a broader range of issues in depth. This included election coverage and documentary footage from several U.S. states, among them Florida,
Texas,
Illinois,
Washington, D.C., and
Nevada. In addition, among its
pop-culture coverage, the Journal reported on the 25th anniversary of the premiere of the long-running
NBC talk program The Tonight Show. Like the first installment, the second one was produced by WNET in New York City, and was aired on PBS. The second installment ended in 1981.
For the second time, Bill Moyers Journal returned to television on April 25, 2007.[2][3] The debut episode was "Buying The War",[4] which demonstrated how the commercial U.S. media served as an unwitting partner to the Bush administration in convincing the American people that the
Iraq War was legitimate and necessary.[5]
On November 20, 2009, Moyers announced that he would retire from the Journal effective April 30, 2010.[6] The April 30, 2010, 90-minute special series finale reported on
Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and featured an interview with
community organizerJim Hightower. Moyers concluded with an interview with writer
Barry Lopez and a personal reflection on his relationship to journalism.[7]
Bill Moyers Journal's website provides an extensive video, blog, and transcript archive dating back to 1974, and includes NOW on PBS, the program Moyers hosted from 2002 to 2004, during his hiatus from the Journal.[8]