Bill Moyers Receives 2005 Zenger Award

The award is sponsored by the University of Arizona Department of Journalism and the Arizona Newspapers Association Foundation. Former winners include Walter Cronkite of CBS News, Katharine Graham of the Washington Post and Lou Boccardi of the Associated Press. Moyers was honored for a career in which he has exemplified the highest journalistic standards of public service. "He has advocated for the role of the press in a democratic system, in which the news media have the responsibility of providing comprehensive information about the government to the American people, so they can make informed decisions about policy and policy makers," said Journalism Department Head Jacqueline E. Sharkey.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has ranked Moyers among the 10 most influential journalists in television history. Five books based on his television series have become bestsellers. His 25-year career in broadcast journalism has been recognized with major awards, including more than 30 Emmys, the Erik Barnouw Award from the Organization of American Historians and the George Foster Peabody Award for political reporting and international coverage.

Born in Oklahoma in 1934 and raised in Texas, Moyers began his journalism career at age 16 as a cub reporter on the Marshall News Messenger. He earned his B.A. in journalism with honors from the University of Texas at Austin in 1956, and three years later received his Bachelor of Divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary at Fort Worth, Texas.

After serving as deputy director of the Peace Corps during the Kennedy Administration, he became the press secretary for former President Lyndon B. Johnson. As the first presidential spokesperson to make the transition to journalist, he has a unique perspective on the forces affecting news coverage. Moyers left the White House in 1967 to become publisher of Newsday, served as editor-in-chief of Bill Moyers' Journal, an award-winning program on public television, from 1970-76, then moved on to CBS. In 1986, he established Public Affairs Television, most recently producing Now on PBS. His series The Public Mind explored the relationship of politics and journalism, including government efforts to manage news.

Moyers serves as president of The Schumann Center for Media and Democracy, and was a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation for 12 years.

He and his wife, Judith Davidson Moyers, have three grown children. Photograph of Bill Moyers by PBS. Biographical information from PBS and National Public Radio.

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