''Bill Moyers Journal'' was an American television

current affairs Current affairs may refer to: News * Current Affairs (magazine), ''Current Affairs'' (magazine) a bimonthly magazine of culture and politics. * Current affairs (news format): a genre of broadcast journalism * Current Affairs, former name for Behi ...

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 The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

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 Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

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and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. In addition, among its

pop-culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as, popular art or mass art) and objects that are dominant or prevalent in a ...

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. The debut episode was "Buying The War", 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 {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

was legitimate and necessary. On November 20, 2009, Moyers announced that he would retire from the ''Journal'' effective April 30, 2010. The April 30, 2010, 90-minute special series finale reported on Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement and featured an interview with

community organizer Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other or share some common problem come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. Unlike those who promote more-consensual community bui ...

Jim Hightower James Allen Hightower (born January 11, 1943) is an American syndicated columnist, Progressivism in the United States, progressive political activist, and author. From 1983 to 1991 he served as the elected commissioner of the Texas Department of ...

. Moyers concluded with an interview with writer Barry Lopez and a personal reflection on his relationship to journalism. ''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.''

Kathleen Hughes

Kathleen Hughes directed episodes of ''Bill Moyers Journal'' (2007-2010). In 1985, Hughes received a master’s in journalism from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. Hughes was an assistant film editor for '' Vladimir Horowitz:

The Last Romantic ''The Last Romantic'' is a documentary filmed within the home of concert pianist Vladimir Horowitz. The film contains mainly performances of classical works, but also provides an intimate look into Horowitz's private life. Description ''The Last ...

'' (1985) by

Albert and David Maysles Albert Maysles (November 26, 1926 – March 5, 2015) and his brother David Maysles (January 10, 1931 – January 3, 1987; ) were an American documentary filmmaking team known for their work in the Direct Cinema style. Their best-known films i ...

. Hughes has produced, directed, and written documentaries for Bill Moyers (with cinematographer

Maryse Alberti Maryse Alberti (born March 10, 1954) is a French cinematographer who mainly works in the United States on independent fiction films and vérité, observational documentaries. Alberti has won awards from the Sundance Film Festival and the Spiri ...

PBS Frontline ''Frontline'' (stylized as FRONTLINE) is an investigative documentary program distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Episodes are produced at WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. The series has covered a variety ...

and '' ABC News' Turning Point''. Her works have won

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s, a New York Emmy, the DuPont-Columbia Gold Baton, the Wilbur Award, the Gracie Award, the Sidney Hillman Prize, the

Society of Professional Journalists The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...

First Amendment Award, the Harry Chapin Media Award, and the

Christopher Award The Christopher Award (established 1949) is presented to the producers, directors, and writers of books, films and television specials that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit". It is given by The Christophers, a Christian organization ...

. Hughes and

Abigail Disney Abigail Edna Disney (born January 24, 1960) is an American documentary film producer, philanthropist, and social activist. She produced the 2008 documentary ''Pray the Devil Back to Hell''. Disney and Kathleen Hughes are producers and directors ...

directed ''The Armor of Light'' (2015) and '' The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales'' (2022).

References

External links

''Bill Moyers Journal'' official site
* {{US Newsmagazine 1972 American television series debuts 1980s American television news shows 2000s American television news shows PBS original programming Television series by WNET