Coming from reality:
http://www.willisms.com/archives/2005/05/bill_moyers_com.html
Journalist and fellow University of Texas alumnus Bill Moyers has been
the subject of controversy in recent weeks, after The New York Times
reported (via Cao's Blog) that the chairman of the Corporation for
Public Broadcasting criticized PBS for being too liberal:
Without the knowledge of his board, the chairman, Kenneth Y. Tomlinson,
contracted last year with an outside consultant to keep track of the
guests’ political leanings on one program, “Now With Bill Moyers.â€
On Sunday, Moyers delivered a fiery keynote speech before the left-wing
National Conference For Media Reform, in which, among other things, he
compared himself to Jesus Christ, and Tomlinson to former President Nixon.
Moyers' major thesis is that the "mainstream media" are "right-wing," a
claim he bases on the alleged conservative corporate influence. In
response to those calling him out for being liberal, Moyers derides them
as "radical right-wingers."
Each additional word out of Moyers' mouth only provided that much more
evidence to the case that Moyers is on the far left fringe of the
political spectrum. He called the Iraq a "calamitous occupation" and a
"debacle," arguing that the media coverage has been systematically
biased in the conservative direction.
On the matter of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Moyers asserted:
"What some on its board are now doing today, led by its Chairman Kenneth
Tomlinson, is too important, too disturbing, and, yes, even dangerous..."
For far left journalists like Bill Moyers, Tomlinson's assertion that
PBS be accountable to the American electorate/taxpayer is "disturbing,"
his suggestion that PBS balance its liberal slant is "dangerous."
Moyers told the left-wing audience:
"First let me assure you that I take in stride attacks by the radical
right-wingers who've not given up demonizing me, although I retired over
six months ago. They've been after me for years now, and I suspect they
will be stomping on my grave to make sure I don't come back from the dead."
Continuing, here's where Moyers' speech got interesting:
I should point out to them that one of our boys pulled it off some
two-thousand years ago. [laughter, cheers, clapping]
After the Pharisees, the Sagisees, and Caesar's surrogates thought
they'd shut him up for good. I won't be expecting that kind of miracle,
but I should put my detractors on notice. They might just compel me out
of the rocking chair and into the anchor chair.
[loud, prolonged cheer]
Who are they? I mean the people obsessed with control, using the
government to threaten and intimidate. I mean the people who are
hollowing out middle class security even as they enlist the sons and
daughters of the working class to make sure Ahmed Chalabi winds up
controlling Iraq's oil. I mean the people who turned faith-based
initiatives into Karl Rove's slush fund, who encouraged the pious to
look heavenward and pray so as not to see the long arm of privilege and
power picking their pockets.
[loud cheer]
I mean people who squelch free speech in an effort to obliterate dissent
and consolidate their orthodoxy into the official view of reality from
which any deviation becomes unpatriotic heresy. That's who I mean. And
if that's editorializing, so be it.
Moyers went on to argue that the current political climate resembles
"George Orwell's 1984," quoting from the book at length.
Noting that he was an official official close to the President in the
Johnson administration when the the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967
established the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Moyers asserted
that he knew the real purpose of public broadcasting.
What's so odd about Moyer's speech on Sunday truly delved into
demagoguery, going after easy applause lines about the evils of
corporations and speaking truth to power. His speech affirmed everything
Ken Tomlinson ever could have possibly suspected.
What is so interesting is how Moyers has revived his position as
left-wing hero in recent years, and over the past few weeks he has been
elevated to martyr in the far left's unsuccessful (and thus increasingly
bitter) ongoing fight against the Bush administration.
One irony of Moyers' speech is that it was delivered just as the
ubiquitous Newsweek fiasco was breaking, a fiasco which essentially
renders his arguments, nearly all of them, at best, moot. Lorie Byrd
compares it to "Al Gore speaking on global warming on a record breaking
cold day, or Al Gore endorsing Howard Dean and his stance on the war
just prior to the capture of Saddam Hussein."
Here's a pretty decent rule of thumb:
If someone is complaining about the "right-wing media bias," he or she
is likely someone so far removed from reality that you would be wise to
politely direct the conversation away from politics.
What is so weird about the left's agitation over Ken Tomlinson is that
he specifically does not want to censor any program on PBS in any way.
He just wants to provide conservative voices, such as The Wall Street
Journal's new The Journal Editorial Report a fair share of
taxpayer-funded air time.
