Moyers: We're Gonna Miss You

Bill Moyers signed off tonight from
Now with Bill Moyers.
and I really find that disturbing. There's no Moyers II waiting in the wings to take over. David Brancacio is great, but he's not Moyers.

Moyers was like no other. Despite decades of living in NYC, his East Texas drawl still drips honeysuckle. After having seen a dozen or show of his TV documentaries, as well as about 2/3 of his Now programs for the last three years, I've come to see him as a very exacting writer, and when he's reading a prompter, a speaker who caresses every syllable. Like any good writer, he knows that some of the best writing happens when the writer simply takes out everything that doesn't absolutely have to be there, leaving the core thought.

Moyers didn't get credit for his bravery. As a liberal in times where conservatives rule--literally--he stood up proud and tall and said what was unpopular, but what he had to say. There are powerful folks arrayed against him, pressuring PBS and and congressmen to get him off the air. The DID succeed in getting Sucker Tarlson his own show right after Moyers, but they didn't succeed in killing Now.

This is an era of extremely ambitious journalists. Lots of the people popular now, and those on the rise, aren't folks who were raised to love the written word. I think they were raised to think of journalism as the path to the riches they seek.

So I mourn for Moyers' departure. And I mourn for journalism. And I mourn for the world my daughter will inherit. But I won't mourn so much that I can't thank Moyers for his highly polished craft. Thank you Bill Moyers. You will be missed. You will be missed.