I don't get how anyone could be so naive as to long for an "independent press", particularly someone as old Bill Moyer.
"I'm going out telling the story that I think is the biggest story of our time: how the right-wing media has become a partisan propaganda arm of the Republican National Committee," says Moyers. "We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people."
Set aside the blatant lunacy of characterizing the mainstream media as "right-wing" and just consider the more subtle delusion of "a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people". Lots of people seem to want that, and anyone who does so reveals a profound ignorance of How The World Works.
This isn't rocket science, so try to follow along. People need food and shelter; therefore, people have to spend their time doing things that provide food and shelter. One way to do that is to get a job (stay with me, lefties), and some jobs are in what's called "the media". Where does the money come to pay reporters' and journalists' salaries, buy food, and provide shelter? That's right, media consumers. Ergo, "the bottom line" that Mr. Moyer so ludicrously maligns.
Unfortunately, reporters and journalists don't volunteer to work for free, which means someone has to pay them, which means they aren't independent. I somewhat doubt that Mr. Moyer was donating his time to PBS, even though the whole network is basically a welfare program for journalists and ideas who/that couldn't compete in the free market. Mr. Moyer didn't have to worry about the evil "bottom line" because his salary was paid involuntarily by "taxpayers like you":
PBS receives its funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), a private, non-profit corporation created by Congress through the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967. The CPB oversees the dispersal of the funds set aside by the government for all public broadcasting, including television and radio; it distributes direct grants for the operation of public radio and television stations. CPB’s appropriation of funds for PBS alone totals approximately $250 million per year; state governments allocate $300 million; and federal grants and contracts contribute another $70 million.
It sure is easy for leftists to condemn us lesser folks for aspiring to earn our own wealth while they ride high on the public hog. So to Bill Moyer, farewell. My tax dollars insulated you from reality for so long that I doubt you'd be able to survive without whatever retirement plan I'm buying for you.
