Bill Moyers Quotes
...there is no more effective public interest watchdog in Washington, D.C.
Moyers, Bill. Foreword. The Buying of the President 2004, by Charles Lewis, Harper, 2004.
The George W. Bush Administration had initiated a secret wiretapping program without informing the Congressional Intelligence Committees as required by the statute or requesting a change in the law from the Judiciary Committee. New York Times, however, had discovered the program and published its existence. This was the way that Congress found out about the program that seemed to violate the law. The Attorney General however was critical of New York Times, and expressed concern that the press had published secret material.
At the time there was no Secrecy & Classification System nor any laws enforcing secrecy or confidentiality. However there was no freedom of information laws of expectations even on the part of journalists. This was the first Freedom of Information policy of the American government. Some politicians were more open than others but there was no national, governmental before this. There were however leakers and whistleblowers though the terms were not in use. Note that Roosevelt herein created the first whistle blower protection—himself.
Billy Don Moyers is an American journalist and political commentator. He served as the ninth White House Press Secretary under the Johnson administration from 1965 to 1967. He also worked as a network TV news commentator for ten years. Moyers has been extensively involved with public broadcasting, producing documentaries and news journal programs. He has won numerous awards and honorary degrees for his investigative journalism and civic activities. He has become well known as a trenchant critic of the corporately structured U.S. news media.
