Bill Moyers Journal (Audio) | PBS

Latest Episodes:

Financial writer Gretchen Morgenson, GOP stalwart Vic Gold, lori Wallach on trade and Bill Moyers on Rupert Murdoch Jun 29, 2007

Show notes

With U.S. mortgages entering foreclosure at a record pace, the crisis has far reaching implications, from the financial markets to the financial health of ordinary Americans. For the latest, Bill Moyers interviews assistant business and financial editor at The New York Times Gretchen Morgenson, who has been covering the story. Also on the program: lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, on the secret trade deal negotiated by leaders of the Democratic Party and its implications for labor unions, consumer groups and the environment; life-long GOP insider Victor Gold on the current state of the Republican Party; and Bill Moyers on Rupert Murdoch and The Wall Street Journal.

HARPER's magazine's Ken Silverstein on foreign lobbying and Imam Zaid Shakir Jun 22, 2007

Show notes

When Harper's Magazine editor Ken Silverstein went undercover to recruit Washington lobbyists to help improve the image of Turkmenistan, a corrupt foreign government with appalling human rights abuses, K-Street firms laid out plans to get the job done. What does it say about the state of influence-peddling in Washington? Bill Moyers gets the inside story from Silverstein. Also on the program, Imam Zaid Shakir has been called a voice of conscience for American Muslims, but his views on Islam in America put him at the center of a heated debate about faith and culture.

labor leader Andy Stern, Activist Grace lee Boggs and a Bill Moyers Essay Jun 15, 2007

Show notes

On Wall Street, private equity firms are buying up corporations and turning them around for huge profits. What does it mean for America's workers and for the economic gap between average families and the wealthiest Americans? Andrew Stern, the president of Service Employees International Union-the fastest growing union in the nation-weighs in. Also on the program, Bill Moyers interviews writer, activist, and philosopher Grace lee Boggs, who has taken part in some of the seminal civil rights struggles in U.S. history, about her belief that real change for democracy will come from the grassroots. "We're not looking sufficiently at what is happening at the grassroots in the country," she says. "We have not emphasized sufficiently the cultural revolution that we have to make...in order to force the government to do differently."

Overpaid Airline Execs? Plus, Christian Parenti and Bishop Jefferts Schori Jun 08, 2007

Show notes

Beginning to trade on the NYSE last week, Northwest airlines dodged the bankruptcy bullet. But while a $1.4 billion a year cut in labor expenses have ensured lower costs, why are airline executives still executives still flying high on salaries, stock options and benefits while workers and retirees see cuts in pay and compensation? Then, with heated debate looming large over progress reports and withdrawal deadlines for Iraq, what's next for Afghanistan? Journalist Christian Parenti, just back from his fourth visit to the forgotten frontline, speaks to Moyers about the growing influence of warlords in government, the resurgence of the Taliban as well as the drug trade, and life on the ground in Afghanistan. And, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori - spiritual leader to 7,500 congregations and more than 2 million members - talks about science, the environment, and gay rights, issues that threaten her church with division and disunity.

Cleaning House in Congress and Bob Kerrey on Iraq Jun 01, 2007

Show notes

Former Democratic senator Bob Kerrey is making his case for a refocused mission in Iraq. The 9/11 Commission member and Vietnam war veteran tells Bill Moyers why having US military forces in Iraq is necessary in fighting terrorism, but calls for a bipartisan plan to end US policing and occupation in the war torn nation. One of Washington's most influential public advocates, Joan Claybrook of Public Citizen, talks about what is at stake in the ethical reforms under consideration in Congress. Bill Moyers shares his perspective on the Vietnam war in an essay featuring archival audio of conversation between President lyndon Johnson and US National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy.

D-Day Revisited May 28, 2007

Show notes

As America honors heroes who have fought and fallen for their nation, Bill Moyers Journal presents "D-Day Revisited," a special one-hour broadcast which follows a group of World War II veterans back to Europe to speak about their wartime experiences-some of them unlocking memories they had been keeping inside for nearly 50 years. Featuring excerpts from the Bill Moyers' 1990 documentary From D-Day to the Rhine, "D-Day Revisited" includes the latest information about the veterans featured in the film who talked with Bill Moyers about their memories, their values, and their commitment to America.

Maxine Hong Kingston May 25, 2007

Show notes

On Memorial Day weekend, Bill Moyers Journal presents an illuminating interview with Maxine Hong Kingston, acclaimed author of many books including the award-winning The Woman Warrior and her latest book Veterans of War, Veterans of Peace. For the past 15 years, Kingston has been working with veterans - more than 500 soldiers from World War II, from Vietnam, and now, from Iraq - as well as other survivors of war to convert the horrors they experienced into the words and stories that Kingston believes will help them cope and survive.

Melissa Harris-lacewell on race in America, Bruce Bawer on fundamentalisms, and Rick MacArthur on the trade deal May 18, 2007

Show notes

Bill Moyers Journal looks at the trade deal in the works between the new leadership in Congress and the Bush Administration, which has the Democrats under fire from America's workers. Bill Moyers gets perspective on the deal from Harper's magazine publisher John R. MacArthur, author of The Selling of "Free Trade": NAFTA, Washington, and the Subversion of American Democracy. Also on the program, Princeton's Melissa Harris lacewell on race, politics, and spirituality; and author Bruce Bawer, who left America for Europe to escape fundamentalist bigotry, on what his journey says about America, Europe, and Islamic fundamentalism?

The Cost of War May 11, 2007

Show notes

It's a question that can be addressed in many ways. The National Priorities Project keeps a constantly running count of war costs - and compares the totals with what the dollars would buy in other government services. Fiscal conservatives keep an eye on the Department of Treasury's national debt to the penny. Of course there are costs that cannot be quantified in dollars.

Regent University, REASON magazine's Nick Gillespie, historian Marilyn B. Young May 11, 2007

Show notes

The recent controversy over the firing of federal prosecutors found Regent University graduate Monica Goodling-special counsel to Alberto Gonzalez and one of some 150 Regent students who have worked in the Bush administration since 2001-at the center of a political firestorm over her involvement. Bill Moyers Journal takes viewers to commencement at Pat Robertson's university for a closer look at its mission to ensure Biblical principles are reflected in the law of the land. Also on the program: Nick Gillespie, Editor-in-Chief of the libertarian monthly Reason magazine, discusses the war, the media, and the impact of the religious right in Washington today; and historian Marilyn B. Young, co-editor of Iraq and the lessons of Vietnam: Or, How Not to learn from the Past, talks about history's lessons for the war in Iraq.