Bill Moyers returns on-air and online in January 2012 with MOYERS & COMPANY, a weekly hour of compelling and vital conversation about life and the state of American democracy, featuring some of the best thinkers of our time. A range of scholars, artists, activists, scientists, philosophers and newsmakers bring context, insight and meaning to important topics.
Watch excerpts from all six episodes of "The Power of Myth," the beloved 1988 PBS series featuring mythologist and storyteller Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers. Together, they explore the powerful influence of enduring myths on the choices we make and the ways we live.
The series occasionally includes Moyers' own timely and penetrating essays on society and government. In a multimedia marketplace saturated with shallow sound bites and partisan name-calling, MOYERS & COMPANY digs deeper.
As the Los Angeles Times put it in 2010, “No one on television has centralized the discussion of ideas as much as Moyers... He not only gives a forum to unusual thinkers, he is truly interested in what they have to say and who they are because he believes their ideas really matter.”
Topics for Sunday, May 19, 2013:
Science can be a battleground -- witness the politics of climate change, the teaching of evolution, the uncharted terrain of genetic modification and stem cell research, among other contentious issues. But when industries release untested chemicals into our environment -- putting profits before public health -- our children are the first to suffer. Nowhere is this more troubling than in the ongoing story of lead poisoning.
On this week’s MOYERS & COMPANY, Bill talks with David Rosner and Gerald Markowitz, public health historians who’ve been taking on the chemical industry for years -- writing about the hazards of industrial pollution and the neglect of worker safety -- despite industry efforts to undermine them.
Rosner and Markowitz discuss thwarted efforts to hold the lead industry accountable, failed attempts to find cheap solutions, and the cost to the future of our children. As long as the chemical industry and its powerful lobbies prevail in blocking efforts to reform outdated laws, the authors say, we will continue to float in a soup of toxins -- inhaling, drinking, and absorbing chemicals that we may learn, years later, have put us all in harm’s way.
Also on the show, Bill is joined by the heads of two independent watchdog groups keeping an eye on government as well as on powerful interests -- like chemical companies -- seeking to influence it.
Above: In this episode, Bill Moyers explores why lead and other toxins continue to threaten America. Also, how money secretly rules Washington.
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Moyers & Company: How People Power Generates Change: May 2013
Above: In this episode, Activists Marshall Ganz, Rachel Laforest and Madeline Janis share how organized people can successfully fight organized money to deliver social change.
The Sandy Hook Promise
Francine and David Wheeler, whose son Ben was one of the 20 children killed in the December 14th attack at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, lift their voices in collaboration with legendary folk singer Peter Yarrow to end gun violence.
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Full Show: Trading Democracy for ‘National Security’ April 26, 2013
Above: Glenn Greenwald talks about the Boston bombings and government secrecy, and two political scholars explain who’s to blame for Congressional dysfunction.
Above: This week’s MOYERS & COMPANY begins with a report on striking extremes of wealth and poverty on display in California’s Silicon Valley. Facebook, Google, and Apple are minting millionaires while the area’s homeless — who’ve grown 20 percent in the last two years — are living in tent cities at their virtual doorsteps. These are the human faces of economic inequality. Later, Bill is joined by writer Sherman Alexie. Born on a Native American Reservation, Alexie discusses the challenges of living in different cultures at the same time, and shares his irreverent perspective on contemporary American life.
Above: California’s Silicon Valley is a microcosm of America’s new extremes of wealth and poverty. Business is better than it’s been in a decade. Facebook, Google and Apple have minted hundreds of new tech millionaires. But not far away, the homeless are building tent cities along a creek in the city of San Jose. Homelessness rose 20 percent in the past two years, food stamp participation is at a 10-year high, and the average income for Hispanics, who make up a quarter of the population, fell to a new low of about $19,000 a year — in a place where the average rent is $2000 a month.
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Preview: Moyers & Company: MLK’s Dream of Economic Justice: April 3, 2013
Above: On this episode of MOYERS & COMPANY, Theologian James Cone and historian Taylor Branch join Bill to discuss Dr. King’s other dream -- economic equality.
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Preview: Moyers & Company: And Justice For Some: March 27, 2013
Above: In a preview of this weekend’s show, journalists Martin Clancy and Tim O’Brien make the case that — for the poor in America — justice is still unaffordable.
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Moyers & Company: What Has Capitalism Done for Us Lately? March 22, 2013
Above: In this episode, Bill Moyers takes a close look at avarice, banks, and capitalism — the ABCs of economic inequality — with insight from Sheila Bair and Richard Wolff.
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Preview: Fighting Creeping Creationism: February 2013
Above: Religious fundamentalists backed by the Right Wing are finding increasingly stealthy ways to challenge evolution with the dogma of creationism. Their strategy includes passing education laws that encourage teaching creationism alongside evolution, and supporting school vouchers to transfer taxpayer money from public to private schools, where they can push a creationist agenda. But they didn’t count on 19-year-old anti-creationism activist Zack Kopplin. From the time he was a high school senior in his home state of Louisiana, Kopplin has been speaking, debating, cornering politicians, and winning the active support of 78 Nobel Laureates, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New Orleans City Council, and tens of thousands of students, teachers and others around the country. On this week’s MOYERS & COMPANY, the Rice University history major joins Bill to talk about fighting laws and voucher programs that let publicly-funded creationist curriculum in the backdoor.
Also on the program, journalist and historian Susan Jacoby talks with Bill about the role secularism and intellectual curiosity have played throughout America’s history, a topic explored in her new book, "The Great Agnostic: Robert Ingersoll and American Free Thought."
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Richard Wolff on Fighting for Economic Justice and Fair Wages: February 22, 2013
Above: In this episode of MOYERS & COMPANY, Richard Wolff joins Bill to discuss the disaster left behind in capitalism’s wake, and the fight for economic justice, including a fair minimum wage.
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Moyers & Company: How Big Telecom Increases Our Digital Divide
Above: In this episode, Susan Crawford joins Bill to discuss how powerful media conglomerates put profit ahead of the public interest when it comes to Internet access.
Above: In this episode, Bill explores the moral and legal implications of using drones to target our enemies. Also, Matt Taibbi on big bank privileges.
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Moyers & Company: Foul Play in the Senate, and Today’s Abortion Debate
Above: Tackling Senate favoritism for the world’s largest biotech firm, and a deeper look at modern abortion rights activism in this episode of MOYERS & COMPANY.
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Moyers & Comapany: Fighting for Filibuster Reform: January 18, 2013
Above: Larry Cohen, president of the Communications Workers of America, joins Bill Moyers to make the case for common-sense reform that would bring the Senate back to serving democracy.
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Bill Moyers Essay: The Gun Lobby’s Firepower: January 2013
Above: What should President Obama say about climate change in his State of the Union address? That's the question tackled by scientist Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, in a preview clip from the next MOYERS & COMPANY. On the show, Leiserowitz describes for Bill his efforts to do what even Hurricane Sandy couldn’t -- galvanize people to take action on what’s arguably the greatest single threat facing humanity. A specialist in the psychology of risk perception, Leiserowitz knows better than anyone if people are willing to change their behavior to make a difference.
Above: In extended video clip from Moyers & Company, Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer Prize-winning screenwriter behind Steven Spielberg’s "Lincoln," talks about his approach to writing the movie and how it affected his own view of democracy. Kushner talks about the difficulty of starting with “too much material,” and making sure his iconic characters came across more human than historical. “Had we failed to make Lincoln come to life — if he’d just been in the film as a kind of a monument — the film would have failed,” Kushner tells Bill.
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Bill Moyers Essay: Remember The Victims, Reject the Violence: December 20, 2012
Above: In this essay, Bill Moyers urges us to remember the victims of the Newtown tragedy, to reject doubling down on guns and armor, and to work toward moral solutions.
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Full Show: Fiscal Cliffs and Fiscal Realities: December 14, 2012
Above: On Moyers & Company, poet and former publishing executive James Autry shares his poems with Bill and discusses his and his wife Sally’s experiences raising an autistic child.
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Moyers & Company: Hurricane Sandy and a People’s Relief
Above: Watch how Occupy Sandy and other community organizations are helping some of New York's most vulnerable residents in the wake of the superstorm.
Above: In this episode of MOYERS & COMPANY, journalists Matt Taibbi and Chrystia Freeland discuss how far America’s super-rich will go to keep the One Percent in charge.
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Full Show: Justice, Not Politics: October 12, 2012
Above: Exploring efforts to capture climate change in action, and the fight to protect our state courts from predatory politics, in this episode of MOYERS & COMPANY.
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Chasing Ice Official Trailer
Above: The OFFICIAL TRAILER for 2012 Sundance Award-Winning film "Chasing Ice," opening in theaters starting November 2012. In the spring of 2005, National Geographic photographer James Balog headed to the Arctic on a tricky assignment: to capture images to help tell the story of the Earth's changing climate. Even with a scientific upbringing, Balog had been a skeptic about climate change and a cynic about the nature of academic research. But that first trip north opened his eyes to the biggest story in human history and sparked a challenge within him that would put his career and his very well-being at risk.
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Full Show: Hispanic America’s Turn: October 5, 2012
Above: In this episode, Bill Moyers and Trevor Potter discuss how American elections are bought and sold, who covers the cost, and how the rest of us pay the price.
Above: Media attention on Romney, Ryan, Rubio and Eastwood notwithstanding, the true surprise at the Tampa convention was Ralph Reed’s resurrection. This week, MOYERS & COMPANY tracks Reed’s rise, fall, and return: does it signal a new revolution, or an old racket?
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Mike Lofgren on Dysfunction in Our Political Parties
Above: Bill Moyers talks with Mike Lofgren, a long-time Republican who says the rise of politicized religious fundamentalism transformed his party and created a de facto religious test for the presidency. Lofgren tells the story in his book "The Party is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted."
Above: Weeks before Republican Paul Ryan was selected to run for vice president, Sister Simone Campbell — who heads NETWORK, a Catholic policy and lobbying group — hit the road to protest the so-called “Ryan budget” recently passed by the House of Representatives. She and some of her sister nuns rolled across the heartland on a bus trip designed to arouse public concern over what the Ryan plan would mean for social services in America, especially its slashing of programs for the poor. Sister Simone says his budget is inconsistent with Catholic social teaching. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops agrees. This is an extended clip from our field report of that bus trip.
Above: In ten states so far — some of them swing states — voter ID laws make it prohibitively difficult for some voters, particularly the elderly, poor and minorities, to get required photo identification. Besides requiring voter ID, other laws have decreased the number of early voting days, made it harder for nonprofit groups to register new voters, and repealed election day voter registration. Rather than throw your hands up in desperation at the powerful political steamroller smashing our democracy, Bill encourages you to re-double your efforts to make a difference, as others have. He offers some real-life, real-people examples, and asks you to share your encounters with politically-motivated rules that make it harder to register or vote, as well as stories of your efforts to overcome them. Leave your reporting in the comments here or at “The Fight to Vote“, our special area spotlighting voter suppression across the country. And please share his request with friends and family.
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Full Show: What It’s Like to Go to War: July 27, 2012
Above: Posted: July 17, 2012: Bill opens this week’s show by explaining how last week’s Supreme Court decision not to reconsider Citizens United exposes the hoax that Citizens United was ever about “free” speech. In reality, Bill says, it’s about carpet bombing elections “with all the tonnage your rich paymasters want to buy.” Bill Moyers is back! Read the essay by Moyers and and Michael Winship.
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Sheila Bair on Keeping Banks Honest: July 13, 2012
Above: In this interview, financial expert Sheila Bair talks to Bill Moyers about about the lawlessness of our banking system and the prognosis for meaningful reform.
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Vandana Shiva on the Problem with Genetically-Modified Seeds
Above: In this interview, Bill Moyers talks to scientist and philosopher Vandana Shiva, who’s become a rock star in the global battle over genetically modified seeds. These seeds — considered “intellectual property” by the big companies who own the patents — are globally marketed to monopolize food production and profits.
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Bill Moyers Essay: The Difficult Truths Behind Independence Day
Above: In this Bill Moyers Essay, Bill reflects on the origins and lessons of Independence Day. We should remember, he says, that behind this Fourth of July holiday are human beings, like Thomas Jefferson, who were as flawed and conflicted as they were inspired, who espoused great humanistic ideals while behaving with reprehensible racial discrimination. That conflict — between what we know and how we live — is still a struggle in contemporary politics and society.
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Full Show: Confronting the Contradictions of America’s Past: June 29, 2012
Above: In this episode, Bill and Khalil Gibran Muhammad discuss what we should learn from our racial past to better understand the present.
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Preview: Moyers & Company
Above: Bill Moyers returns on-air and online in January 2012 with "MOYERS & COMPANY," a weekly hour of compelling and vital conversation about life and the state of American democracy, featuring some of the best thinkers of our time. Produced by Public Affairs Television, Inc. Distributed by American Public Television.
sandiegogramma | January 12, 2012 at 5:06 p.m. ― 1 year, 4 months ago
I am so pleased that KPBS will be carrying Bill Moyers again! I'm ready to become an even more informed and thoughtful citizen as I listen. My TV clock is set for 10:00 P.M. every Friday evening. Thanks, KPBS!
herberg | February 17, 2012 at 11:08 p.m. ― 1 year, 3 months ago
THE BILL MOYERS SHOW IS ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE PUBLIC SERVICES THAT THE STATION CAN PROVIDE; THEREFORE YOU SHOULD MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO HAVE IT EARLIER IN THE EVENING EVEN IF IT IS NOT ON FRIDAY. THE PEOPLE THE STAY UP UNTIL 10 PM TO WATCH IT, DON'T NEED IT AS MUCH AS THE ONES THAT WATCH IN EARLY EVENING. A WAY OF GETTING IT KNOWN THAT IT IS ON LINE WOULD ALSO HELP.
albany_dane | June 17, 2012 at 10:59 a.m. ― 11 months, 1 week ago
I saw Bill's piece with Thomas Frank. I was very disappointed to see a journalist simply take at face value everything the guest has to say. Isn't Bill supposed to be a journalist? What happened to the notion of asking hard questions? Just because Bill has a left-wing ideology doesn't mean he can't pretend to be a journalist. Ask some tough questions. I'm disappointed in Bill but since he's at the end of his career maybe he no longer cares to show journalistic ethics. I'm disappointed in KPBS because the 'P' means Public. You do the public a disservice when have a biased host interview a guest he clearly strongly supports. A sad day for 'public' television.
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maserco | January 12, 2012 at 2:33 p.m. ― 1 year, 4 months ago
When will KPBS air Moyers and Company???
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Natalie Walsh, KPBS Staff | January 12, 2012 at 2:37 p.m. ― 1 year, 4 months ago
Maserco,
It airs Fridays at 10 p.m. on KPBS TV (Series Premiere January 13, 2012).
( comment permalink | suggest removal )
sandiegogramma | January 12, 2012 at 5:06 p.m. ― 1 year, 4 months ago
I am so pleased that KPBS will be carrying Bill Moyers again! I'm ready to become an even more informed and thoughtful citizen as I listen. My TV clock is set for 10:00 P.M. every Friday evening. Thanks, KPBS!
( comment permalink | suggest removal )
tcahill | January 12, 2012 at 5:18 p.m. ― 1 year, 4 months ago
Will these programs be posted online after the orginal show date?
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Jennifer Robinson, KPBS Staff | January 13, 2012 at 9:19 a.m. ― 1 year, 4 months ago
Hi tcahill - Yes! The full show will be available online, but at the Moyers website,
http://billmoyers.com/video/
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herberg | February 17, 2012 at 11:08 p.m. ― 1 year, 3 months ago
THE BILL MOYERS SHOW IS ONE OF THE MOST VALUABLE PUBLIC SERVICES THAT THE STATION CAN PROVIDE; THEREFORE YOU SHOULD MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO HAVE IT EARLIER IN THE EVENING EVEN IF IT IS NOT ON FRIDAY. THE PEOPLE THE STAY UP UNTIL 10 PM TO WATCH IT, DON'T NEED IT AS MUCH AS THE ONES THAT WATCH IN EARLY EVENING. A WAY OF GETTING IT KNOWN THAT IT IS ON LINE WOULD ALSO HELP.
( comment permalink | suggest removal )
albany_dane | June 17, 2012 at 10:59 a.m. ― 11 months, 1 week ago
I saw Bill's piece with Thomas Frank. I was very disappointed to see a journalist simply take at face value everything the guest has to say. Isn't Bill supposed to be a journalist? What happened to the notion of asking hard questions? Just because Bill has a left-wing ideology doesn't mean he can't pretend to be a journalist. Ask some tough questions. I'm disappointed in Bill but since he's at the end of his career maybe he no longer cares to show journalistic ethics. I'm disappointed in KPBS because the 'P' means Public. You do the public a disservice when have a biased host interview a guest he clearly strongly supports. A sad day for 'public' television.
( comment permalink | suggest removal )
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