Bill Moyers, broadcaster and LBJ's White House press secretary, dies at 91

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By Bill TrottBill Moyers, a key member of Democratic President Lyndon Johnson's inner circle who went on to become a guiding force in American journalism during more than 40 years in public television, died on Thursday aged 91.Moyers, who announced he was "signing off" from internet journalism in December 2017, three years after retiring from the PBS airwaves, died of complications from prostate cancer at a Manhattan hospital, the Washington Post and New York Times reported, citing his son, William Cope Moyers.His death was confirmed to Reuters in a statement from Paula Kerger, president and CEO of the Public Broadcasting Service, who saluted Moyers as a "true giant of public media.""Not only was Bill a journalist of the highest caliber, he played an essential role in the creation of PBS as a trusted aide to President Johnson," Kerger said.At a time when critics said broadcast news was becoming fluffier and shallower, Moyers pursued a thoughtful, in-depth approach, bringing an intellectual perspective delivered in a soothing Texas drawl.He took an activist approach to the job, and The Nation magazine called him a "radical presence" in broadcast news, which his critics said was proof that the Public Broadcasting Service network should not get federal funding.Starting in 1971, Moyers regularly hosted a succession of news and commentary shows on public television, including "Bill Moyers' Journal," "Now With Bill Moyers," "Moyers on America" and "Moyers and Company," as well as limited-run series on the U.S. Constitution, faith and mythology.Among the other topics he explored at length on his programs were poverty, racism, money in politics, climate change, income inequality, the shortcomings of the media and what he called the "pirates and predators of Wall Street." "He used the tools of the documentarian to wield a velvet sledgehammer, bludgeoning corporate polluters and government ne'er-do-wells with precision and grace," New York Times media columnist David Carr wrote in 2004. Billy Don Moyers was born in Hugo, Oklahoma, on June 5, 1934, and grew up mostly in Marshall, Texas. A dutiful, energetic overachiever, he dedicated himself to school, church and work, including a job at the local newspaper.His early adult life would be a tug of war between the pulpit, the press and politics. He was attending North Texas State College when he first went to Washingto...

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