Bill Moyers chides press for not adequately covering 'congenital liar' Donald Trump

Few figures in media and politics boast a career as distinguished as Bill Moyers.

Though the former White House press secretary and PBS journalist has retired after decades of work, he still has plenty to say about current affairs.

This week, we had the privilege of speaking with Moyers about the state of the industry. We talked about partisan media, the press' coverage of Donald Trump, the future of public broadcasting, and what gives him hope for the future.

Below is our conversation, lightly edited for clarity.

How has the media landscape changed since you began your career, and what do you see as the most profound shifts?  

I was 16 when the Marshall News Messenger hired me as a cub reporter. I typed my stories on a much-used Underwood Typewriter, did research  in the “morgue” surrounded by stacks of yellowing newspapers, and interviewed my sources on a stand-up telephone with a rotary dial. Readers expected us to keep them apprised of what important was happening in town and  — with the help of the Associated Press and UPI — what was happening in the world.

The evolution of the tools of our trade and the purpose to which they are put have changed the media landscape. Among increasing competition from the proliferation of information and news sources it is hard to please consumers without succumbing to trivial pursuits.

Public trust in media is at an all-time low. What steps do you think journalists and news organizations should take to rebuild trust?  

That old curmudgeon, George Bernard Shaw, said that journalists in his time “are unable, seemingly, to distinguish between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilization.” I understand what he meant. 

Look, I have made choices I later regretted. I am as capable of anyone else in this work of being distracted by the snowball effects of rumors, gossip, and conspiracies; the endless temptations of social media, videos, and platforms; the false speech and lies disguised as advertising, the lying of people who think we will believe anything or nothing, the  corrupted airwaves politicians, and the hollowness of airwaves and news columns. I see all around us — as I suspect you do — the violence done to civilization by the wedding of modern technology to media competition.

Do you think in 2024, particularly when outlets like Fox News spend so much time sowing distrust, that it's possible for the country to trust a single news organization? Can we ever agree on a shared set of facts or are those days over?

It’s the fight of our lives. And it’s so much cheaper, quicker, and easier to fill the airwaves and news columns with argument, conflict, chatter, and brawl instead of painstakingly gathering and scrupulously editing reality. But it’s crucial that we try to do the old-fashioned kind of fact-finding that helps people see what’s true.

How would you assess the news media's coverage of Donald Trump? Do you think it has been clear eyed enough?

No. By some, yes. But not by nearly enough. It’s hard— very hard — to cover Trump. He’s a demagogue. A congenital liar. He will say and do anything to win.

He reminds me of the Irish king named Congal who ruled in the early 7th century. He was nearly blinded by a swarm of bees. And when he became the overking of his clan, he promptly changed Irish law to make bee attacks criminal. So he became Congal Cáech, which means “Congal the Half-Blinded.” That’s Trump.

As a former journalist and producer on PBS, what do you see as the role of public broadcasting in the current media landscape?

To pry the truth from the lies, and publish the truth. The veteran journalist Richard Reeves was once asked by a college student to define “real news.” And Richard answered: “The news you and I need to keep our freedoms.”

What gives you hope for the future of news?

That it’s too important — and too satisfying — to take it lightly.

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