Sunday, November 20, 2005
SPEECH: Bill Moyers on the 50th anniversary of the Texas Observer newspapers: Close to truth, not power
Former PBS host, Newsday publisher and White House aide Bill Moyers' remarks prepared for the 50th anniversary of the muckracking Texas Observer newspaper in Austin, Texas, contains his lament that there is no similarly fearless practitioner of the First Amendment stirring up trouble in Washington, D.C. He says of his brief time as a radio newsman in Austin: "It took me a long time to catch up—to realize that what matters in journalism is not how close you are to power but how close you are to the truth." He says of Washington today: "We are seeing now the results of systemic and spectacular corruption and cronyism and the triumph of a social ideal—the “You get yours/I’ll get mine” mentality—that is diametrically opposed to the ethic of shared sacrifice and responsibility."
