FAIR has a new Action Alert reacting to reports that PBS's replacement for the retiring Bill Moyers and the canceled Now series will be headed by Newsweek editor Jon "Center-Right Nation" Meacham. To learn more or to send a message to PBS ombud Michael Getler, click here. Feel free to leave copies of your responses in the comments thread here.
About Jim NaureckasExtra! Magazine Editor Since 1990, Jim Naureckas has been the editor of Extra!, FAIR's bimonthly journal of media criticism. He is the co-author of The Way Things Aren't: Rush Limbaugh's Reign of Error, and co-editor of The FAIR Reader: An Extra! Review of Press and Politics in the '90s. He is also the co-manager of FAIR's website. He has worked as an investigative reporter for the newspaper In These Times, where he covered the Iran-Contra scandal, and was managing editor of the Washington Report on the Hemisphere, a newsletter on Latin America. Jim was born in Libertyville, Illinois, in 1964, and graduated from Stanford University in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in political science. Since 1997 he has been married to Janine Jackson, FAIR's program director. You can follow Jim on Twitter at @JNaureckas.
I was dismayed to learn PBS is choosing Jon Meacham to host Need to Know. He is an unsuitable replacement for the network's premier journalistic efforts, Now and Bill Moyers Journal. You must continue the search. The best television journalist working today, in my opinion as a working photojournalist, is Amy Goodman, who produces a daily show. You might interview James Fallows or Frank Rich or Matt Taibbi.
Bill Moyers Journal is the only reason I watch or contribute to PBS. Replacing a real journalist like Moyers with a corporate hack like Jon Meacham is not only a sure way to shed viewers like myself, but it will confirm our doubts about the commitment to journalistic integrity at PBS. I am not interested in what Jon Meacham thinks I "Need to Know." Please–if you think this is actually going to be some kind of replacement you are wrong–this is an insult.
I understand you are in final talks with John Meacham to co-host a new show Need to Know, which would replace NOW and Bill Moyers Journal. I find this totally unacceptable and contrary to what these former shows stand for and the message they deliver. If Mr. Meacham is on PBS, I might as well any other cable network which is what he represents. I know that I will not hear the truth as I do now with NOW and Bill Moyers Journal. As a long-time supporter of PBS, I fear that my future donations will be nil if this is the direction that PBS decides to take.
Dear Mr. Getler:
Please tell me it isn't true! I have watched Bill Moyers programs on public TV for something like 25 years. If he is taken off the air for a rightwing middle-of-the-roader corporate spokesperson, I will never forgive KCET or BPS.
William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.
http://ssrn.com/author=1053589
InternetVoting@gmail.com
My letter to PBS' Omsbudsman:
From earlier scuttlebutt and now, today, from FAIR, I see that PBS is replacing Bill Moyers Journal and Brancaccio & Hinojosa's NOW with something new hosted by Jon Meacham. Although I occasionally see Meacham and don't find him offensive, he is just another type telling us what we already know. I know PBS had to drop Moyers previously when some sponsors probably were loosing $$$ here and there,but if PBS continues to go down the same drain where ABC, CBS and NBC can already take us, then I see no reason for further support of Oregon Public Broadcast, my PBS station.
It is frightening when nothing in the US but more dollars into the pockets of the oligarchy is all we see for the future.
Of course, don't waste your time listening to writers like me: we could never overcome the lobby that finally has broken PBS and is working hard to do the same to NPR. Sad, sad, sad.
A decades long listener and PBS/NPR supporter in Eugene, Oregon
My letter to PBS:
I was saddened to learn that Bill Moyers would be retiring from PBS. His program is a final frontier of good journalism, covering the important issues of today with courage, honesty and probing investigative questions of the key decision makers. Now I am distressed to learn that PBS is considering replacing him with editor Jon Meacham, not know for impartiality or decent journalism or investigative reporting. This move snuffs out another small light of hope for a civilization based on an informed populace and opens more doors for a new Dark Ages of ignorance, fear, inequality and violence. My money and support will no longer go to this kind of PBS. I do not consider this move as one in the PUBLIC's benefit, and doubt PBS's role as a Public Broadcasting system.
Sent the following:
I understand that PBS considering replacment of Bill Moyers with establishment wonk Jon Meacham. I strongly feel that this is not in the interest of the public which PBS was established to serve. In a media landscape that consistently pushes the corporate viewpoint, Bill Moyers brings compelling and important stories not covered anywhere else in the press. Replacing Bill with an establishment shill like Jon Meacham leaves the public out of any real independent, hard-hitting journalism for which we depend on the Public Broadcasting System. I am a loyal public media consumer and would never deem to tell you how to run PBS, but this move appears to mean that public television has decided not to find any suitable replacement for the hard-hitting, independent journalism of Now and Bill Moyers Journal. That would indeed be bitterly disappointing.
I forgot to copy my letter before I sent it, but I echoed many of the sentiments in the letters above, and closed with the statement that I will no longer support or watch PBS if Meacham (an establishment stenographer and conservative ideologue) is hired.
I sent the following to PBS:
PBS has a long history of producing and airing programs and voices unheard and unseen on commercial networks. Due to political and cultural pressures from the Right, PBS has diminished its left-leaning voices and programming which is critical of the status quo. Particularly missing are programs which do investigative reporting on a regular basis.
The loss of NOW and Bill Moyers will leave a gaping hole in PBS' essential role as a voice for the disenfranchised and powerless. Their replacement with a mainstream conservative such as Jon Meacham (or anyone else with his perspective) would remove alternative voices and visions from our collective consciousness, and permit the powers-that-be to operate without critical analysis or oversight.
Please reconsider, and bring back Bill Moyers/NOW or replace them with more critical, analytical and investigative shows in the great tradition of Edward R. Murrow.
Thanks in advance for your assistance–
The following is what I posted to the PBS ombudsman:
It would be quite inappropriate to appoint Jon Meacham to replace Bill Moyers and/or Mr. Bronccachio(?). Please readjust your priorities and find someone who is more like the two gentlemen you will be replacing. Otherwise, PBS will lose it's credibility, as well as thousands, if not millions, of viewers and monetary supporters.
I do not "Need to Know" what the establlishment inside-the-beltway pundits are saying. I see and hear it all the time, and usually those people are completely out of touch with what Americans really think.
Replacing Bill Moyers and NOW with Jon Meacham to give us more of the same old same old blinkered congratulatory "analysis" is a sick joke.
Moyers and NOW did what I thought PBS was created to do: they gave us real news stories we wouldn't have heard from corporate media. I am a former journalist, and I know the difference between pompous pontification dismissing opinions held by a majority of Americans as "the left-wing fringe" and the kind of real information and knowledgeable analysis we need to participate in democracy.
PBS, be PBS. We already have "Me,too," and we don't need more of it.
wrote to :PBS….If you replace Bill Moyers with Jon Meacham you will not get one more red cent from me EVER…..Consider Amy Goodman, Jeremy Scahill, Norman Solomon,. Jeff Cohen, Bill Mahr, Laura Flanders, Joe Conason, Katrina vandenHeuvel, BUT PARTICULARLY ,CHRIS HEDGES…..IF YOU REALLY WANT YOUR LISTENERSHIP TO RISE! as if you had the guts!!!
Posted at PBS:
The choice of Jon Meacham to host "Need to Know" is a great disappointment.
public television still needs to find suitable replacements for the hard-hitting, independent journalism of Now and Bill Moyers Journal.
Replacements for the independent journalism of Now and Bill Moyers Journal.
We don't need more cheer leading for the failed status quo. The popular pundits bear great responsibility for where we find ourselves now. They had a voice and failed in using it. They don't deserve to be broadly heard anymore.They pander to the popular ill informed opinion, it seems to be viewed as correct to the majority.
All we have now from anybody is cliché, and the obvious.
We need those who tell uncomfortable truths, who question, and are skeptical. Not those who pass on the lie told for so long, that for them it has become the truth.
Please replace the aforementioned shows with something other than "McMedia" Your future audience depends on it.
I am a member of Public Broadcasting Atlanta and get Georgia Public Broadcasting so that I can watch hard hitting independent journalism like Now and Bill Moyers Journal. If I wanted to watch a news program with with a journalist like Jon Meacham, I would subscribe to cable or satellite TV and watch Fox news. I am interested in news not propaganda and I do not expect PBS to to be a provider of that kind of television news.
My 3/12/10 updated letter to PBS Getler":
Bill Moyer's replacement"+Jon Meachum..just won't do!!! Instead ask Naomi Klein,Chris Hedges,Glenn Greenwald and Amy Goodman to take over Moyer's Hour each month, either in single rotation, as a pair, or in any number. Each is a seasoned print, radio, or Internet- TV journalist ,well-respected and with a large core following. Such a coup will ensure PBS tv channels across the nation will be watched and supported like never before. Do you and your overseers have the vision and courage to promote and realize such a influencial quadruple truthteller powerhouse in place at 9pm each and every Friday Night? I dread to answer this hypothetical!
SAY IT AIN'T SO, PBS… I've followed every Bill Moyers show for about 25 years now, and started my son watching it at age 9. He could talk a blue streak about politics by 6th grade!
PBS, How could you disrespect us, our intelligence, so much? What about your appeals during fundraising, toting how great PBS is for its NON compromising shows … you appeal to us for money, because we are intelligent viewers who know how great Moyers is …. and you replace him with essentially the same old crap. Forget it, you are sell outs.
Moyers fans, DO NOT GIVE A DIME AND WRITE LETTERS OF PROTEST.
So how about AMY GOODMAN as a replacement? Don't you realize that people WANT HARD HITTING INVESTIGATIVE, SMART JOURNALISM?
Thanks for the Action Alert. I sent off this quickie to the PBS ombudsperson:
Hello. I've just learned of PBS' decision to have Jon Meacham co-host the new Need to Know program. Please tell me that this program is not intended to replace Bill Moyers' Journal and Now. The excellent, independent, hard-hitting journalism exemplified by these two programs will not be easily replaced, but PBS is going to try, isn't it?
I just discovered, to my horror, that Bill Moyers will no longer be on by beloved PBS television. And then, to compound that horror, I see that PBS wants to bring the "polar opposite" of Mr. Moyers into my living. I am speaking of John Meacham. If I wanted to watch and listen to reporters of his ilk, I would simply tune into Fox news each night. I don't, and never will. I will now have to seriosly consider any future financial contribution to PBS. I am very disappointed.
My submission to the ombudsman:
How can the mediocre Jon Meacham possibly replace the brilliant and thoughtful Bill Moyers and David Brancaccio in a new â┚¬Ã…“newsâ┚¬Ã‚ program? This looks to be a move to scratch progressive investigative reporting from PBS, one of the last places in the media world where such reporting has been provided.
My submission:
I am deeply saddened by the retirement of Bill Moyers. His "Journal" is one of a handful of quality, thoughtful news shows that still exist in the U.S.
Too many journalists are too quick to pander to the elites that run this country. John Meacham and Newsweek are representative of this bland, thoughtless, sound-bite driven news.
John Meacham is not a replacement for Bill Moyers. Please help keep alive what little is left of serious, thoughtful public discourse in this country. Please replace "Now" and "Bill Moyers Journal" with programs of equal substance.
My letter:
THIS PROGRAM WAS THE LAST BASTION OF HOPE FOR CITIZENS IN THIS WRETCHED NATION IN DESPERATE NEED FOR ACTUAL INFORMATION — NOT OPINIOTAINMENT.
I WILL MISS IT DESPERATELY. PLEASE KEEP THE ARCHIVES OF THE PROGRAMS ON YOUR WEBSITE.
HIS PROGRAM WAS THE ONLY REASON WE USED TO SEND DONATIONS. I THINK I'M GOING TO CRY.
I am extremely troubled by your choice of Jon Meacham for a show that would replace the only hard-hitting independent programs Now and the Bill Moyers Journal. This choice sends a clear and troubling message about PBS's priorities.
In addition to his duties as editor of NEWSWEEK, Meacham is a fixture on commercial pundit shows offering nothing more than middle-of-the-road conventional wisdom with a very definite conservative slant. While Now and Bill Moyers Journal are notable for holding politicians feet to the fire, Meacham\'s views are biased as when he determined after the â┚¬Ã‹Å“08 elections that the U.S. is a centerâ┚¬“right nation ignoring entirely the actual result of the elections and cherry-picking information that would support his views while casting aside evidence that would undermine his conclusions. In November 09, he cheered on a Dick Cheney presidential run as "good for the Republicans and good for the country" despite the actual facts of his remarkably low approval ratings amongst the country. Meacham's approach to journalism is completely antithetical to the hard-hitting approach of Moyers and Now. Meacham believes in a â┚¬Ã…“Golden Ruleâ┚¬Ã‚ approach to news which was illustrated when he intervened in a Newsweek online story about Joe Scarborough, a personal friend, where he didn\'t mention the fact that Scarborough had served as the defense attorney for the murderer of an abortion provider. You decision to choose Jon Meacham to host Need to Know would mean that public television still needs to find suitable replacements for the hard-hitting, independent journalism of Now and Bill Moyers Journal. It leaves PBS with no one in any way comparable to Moyers, and therefore with a lineup that avoids any outspoken voice from the left. As a public television station supported in part by viewers and the US government, you owe us something more. Progressives are also citizens, in case you hadn't noticed, and there are a lot of us, despite how the press in general tries to pretend we don\'t exist. You will satisfy no one with this choice. Conservatives won\'t believe that a public television program is anything but liberally biased, and Meacham's mealy middle-of-the-road conservatism will not assuage them. Meanwhile, your actual viewers, the sizable majority of the population who agree with center-left policies and perspectives, the people who put President Obama in office, will likely be alienated by Meacham's rightward slant and insider protectionism. Why should we bother to support PBS â┚¬Ã…“with contributions like yoursâ┚¬Ã‚ if you continue to ignore the preferences of those who have supported you.
This is what send to PBS:
"Why Jon Meacham? I am puzzle. We need fair minded independent Journalists tell it as it is and not afraid to speak the truth. I would like to see Glenn Greenwald or even Amy Goodman hosting a weekly show in PBS. Please do not email me for donation. We just walk out from our home from Union City, CA."
As sent to PBS:
I will certainly NOT be donating again to public tv now that you have demonstrated your stupidity by canceling two of the few remaining investigative reports in media. You are consciously contributing to the continued dumbing-down of America. I'm turning off my pbs stations and encouraging anyone I know to do the same. You have sold out. Maybe you can air more re-runs of Bob Ross or another 2 useless hours of how to barbecue spare ribs. Incredible!
Dear PBS Ombudsman,
With the dramatic sea change at PBS — simultaneous removal of NOW, Moyers and World Focus (and previously Foreign Exchange) from your lineup — I can only assume PBS was recently infected by the same virus that destroyed NBC, CBS, ABC and several other 'once worthy' news programs.
It is a shame that the quiet majority no longer has a place to call home. I don't know who sold out PBS, but whatever Corporate interests are behind this coup, I doubt they could ever understand anything except winner takes all.
PBS never had that mindset, and so they were a sitting duck. Call it a hostile takeover, "poison pill"(that's corporate language — not danger speak), or simply a slow forced de-evolution into the lowest common denominator abyss; PBS has been successfully morphed from watchdog to lapdog.
Just as predators previously found their way to the top of charities like the Red Cross and the United Way; it would be naive of me to think that a kind, brave and loyal group known as PBS would not be seen as low hanging fruit ripe for the picking.
PBS looked out for the common good, now it is falling into the familiar role of milk-toast mouth-piece for powerful unseen interests.
We are left with the News Hour, which timidly produces "broadcast" and not "investigative" journalism. While I respect the genius intellect of almost all their reporters, they are not digging. They do not investigate. They just report and explain. That's it. I know this is harsh, but they are a castrated form of news.
Everything I read about your new program, "Need to Know", makes me "not want to watch." It sounds like more highly intelligent reporters just doing Broadcast, and not Investigative Journalism.
What did Steven Colbert say at Bush's Roast?
"The President makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration? You know, fiction!"
Well — I can't simply fund Frontline, so my money will go to Democracy Now!, and anything else decent I can find.
By the way, my wife is somewhat more succinct, she wants to tell you that, a healthy democracy needs quality investigative reporting in order for people to have an informed voice. Big Corporations are already trying to suppress or take our voice away. NOW and the Journal were two programs that shared the voice of the powerless, and often the minority; and simultaneously, through investigative journalism, connected the dots to show how powerful interests exploit and ill-treat the public.
It is a sad day for Democracy and the media.
Ok… now I'm just plain depressed about both Bill Moyers and Now going off the air on PBS. So that's it? The far right dominates the airwaves and continue to brainwash viewers into thinking that their truth twisting and disinformation spreading IS the truth?!
There are so many people in this country that can be easily swayed into believing something, just because they read it or saw it somewhere. Now there will be less voices of reason and real truth seeking on the air. I used to trust PBS. However, with this move, I will no longer send them money.
Into the hands of evil we go.
The letter I just sent to PBS:
Dear Sir,
When I heard that NOW was cancelled, I was saddened. When I heard that Bill Moyers was leaving, I despaired. Where would we get real news? Who would continue the PBS tradition of "make your blood boil" journalism? So many turn to PBS for independent journalism, for a view other than Fox and the GOP/(Tea Party) party line; for sane reporting.
Please, not Jon Meachem! For a few years now, those of us who have loved PBS, it's felt like a dear, honest, valued friend is on life support. This latest change will feel like death. We need more reporting like that of NOW and Moyers-not the same old propaganda and revisionism from outlets like Fox and the mainstream.
Sincerely,
Laura Gharazeddine
Bill Moyers has been a rare item on media — an utterly authentic person on television, and fearlessly so. Not easy to replace. Like others have stated, I feel a surge of despair at his exit, though without a doubt, he deserves his retirement or whatever break he ends up taking. Add to that the secondary injury of NOW — David Brancaccio was a decent enough successor to host NOW, though with a bit too much NPR newscaster sheen for me. Unfortunately the show lost a good deal of its punch when it was halved to 30 minutes and lost Moyers' tenor. But the Bill Moyers Journal was back soon enough to follow NOW and pick up the stride. So now those Friday time slots — when a sharply different perspective about this country have been conveyed, and done so in a sharply different way, thoughtful, paced, without the commodification of the mainstream media — those slots without Moyers and NOW are going to seem like a huge gap for me. All that said, I will say this as well: I have watched Jon Meachem on as many web videos as I could find — no, he's not Bill Moyers but he has an inventive and risk-taking side and I'm willing to give him a chance, and not just a quick one, but some time to see how he develops. Even being the editor of Newsweek, I'm hoping he feels the the big shadow of Bill Moyers challenging him to dig deeper and call out what he sees.
And here is what I sent to PBS:
Noam Chomsky was right. The corporate media does control the message with a strict filter. I have no problem with Moyers retiring, but when PBS cancelled NOW and replaced it with Meacham, and as Frontline appears to be caving in to the conservative press, the process is now complete. The mainstream, corporate media has finally completed its mission of censoring all dissent on all airwaves, PBS is now corrupt like the rest. They have won, the people have lost. True journalism is now dead. I came to praise PBS, not to bury it.
Sacramento, CA
I am absolutely broken hearted to lose Bill Moyers on PBS! I hated him in the 60's when he was Johnson's press secretary (I hated anyone associated with Johnson!), found him incredibly bright and interesting in the 70's and have followed him ever since then. What is the deal, anyway? I thought he was "retiring" 5 or so years ago because of W's administration, but to leave us with this Supreme Court and no Moyers seems wrong somehow!
you guys are NUTS! Bill Moyers is as left as they come and worked for several Democrats over the years. Jon Meacham is part of the liberal media, runs liberal Newsweek magazine, called Obama a "centrist", and is a regular at MSNBC.
In no way is Jon Meacham a conservative. It's about time Bill Moyers retired from his propaganda soap box, I'm sick of taxpayers funding his televised op-ed column!
Poor Patriot (questionable title) think the Democratic party is liberal from his statements. Poor misinformed soul.
I was so sorry to see Bill Moyers go. Here was a man with deep love of his country and actually expressed his and our feelings that our country is headed in a disastrous direction. We see it happening, the media in general are only cheer leaders for the status quo. They are useless. PBS has moved to the right as evident in news shows. Washington Week in Review is just a joke. It used to be an informative and interesting program. Now it is just inside the beltway jokers protecting Washington, DC. They are quite pathetic on the program. I watch very little TV these days. Why would I? But I always watched Bill Moyers' Journal and David Brancachio's (spelling not correct) NOW. Now there is the Newshour which is becoming more and more irrelevant and of course the outstanding Frontline. The amusing thing is that as PBS misjudges and moves to the right, the right wing is so distrustful of PBS that they wouldn't watch those programs come hell or highwater. So instead PBS is hastening its own demise by abandoning its core audience. Bad planning, guys.
Not sure what the hubbub is all about these days. The media, all of it is the same. Left-wing, socialist, free-thinking, irresponsible, slanted, skewed and bias at best. It is simple folks, news is business and as a business it must adher to the rule of supply and demand. Both the left and right get a knot in their you know what everytime, all the time about so many things. This is not a political move, it is a buisness move. The political landscape is slowling shifting once again to center (not the right as of yet) and the media is shuffling along with it as a drifting tide on the beach pushing back sand. The media has been hard-left and will continue. They are not really interested in hard hitting facts, nose to the grindstone investigation anymore, it is all about flowery, sentiment, affliliation, "why can't we all just get along" type mentality. If you really want news, get a pencil and paper and go out and cover it, because you not going to find it in American anymore. Everyone has their opinion and until real news is once again practiced, that is only what you will have, so quit taking sides, bashing each other-because the media is sitting on the edge and watching and laughing at your pitiful, pathetic jestures and saying "who cares?"