Media

Radioactive hype from the Moyers connection

by Dan Kennedy

As one of PBS's most visible figures, Bill Moyers has done more than anyone in the media to shine a light on the corrupting influence of money on politics. Yet when it was revealed recently that Moyers has been less than forthcoming about his own financial conflicts of interest, he blithely dismissed those concerns as no one's business but his own.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. This past Sunday, an ad on the New York Times op-ed page touted a new Web publication: TomPaine.com, a "Journal of Opinion." One of several high-profile ads that have appeared for the webzine over the past couple of months, this one hyped a story about a US Department of Energy plan to recycle "millions of pounds" of radioactive metal "for use in everyday consumer products. Like zippers, belt buckles, silverware, auto parts, or your child's braces."

But what's most interesting about TomPaine.com is who runs it: John Moyers, the son of Bill Moyers and a fellow traveler with his father in the murky world of bigtime foundations.

Until February of this year, John Moyers was the executive director of the Florence and John Schumann Foundation; his father was and is the president. Bill Moyers got in trouble when it was revealed that his PBS reports on campaign-finance reform focused favorable attention on organizations to which the Schumann Foundation has given millions of dollars, such as the Center for Public Integrity. Schumann also helps pay for public broadcasting, and Knight Ridder's Frank Greve reported recently that John Moyers was not averse to pressuring National Public Radio to cover projects of interest to him.

Now John Moyers heads the $5 million Florence Fund, spun off from the Schumann Foundation to back various reform efforts. TomPaine.com is among the Florence Fund's beneficiaries, and the younger Moyers serves as its publisher.

As for those radioactive braces, there's a lot less to worry about than the hyperventilating New York Times ad suggests. The Department of Energy is indeed trying to figure out what to do with contaminated metals from decommissioned nuclear-weapons plants. There is troubling evidence that the agency isn't being forthright about its intentions, and is consorting with a British recycling firm that has a dubious track record. But the scenario posited in the ad -- and the article, which warns of "braces made from the decontaminated bowels of nuclear weapons plants" -- is a grotesque extrapolation based on precious little evidence. David Case, who wrote the piece, excels at cheap rhetorical flourishes about "beleaguered, brainy ex-Cold Warriors," but solid reporting and research are clearly not his strengths.

TomPaine.com, which also offers extensive archives on campaign-finance reform, the environment, race, poverty, and other issues from a leftish slant, is promising, but it's got a way to go before it will be taken seriously.

Maybe it simply needs more resources. Perhaps publisher John Moyers can find out whether Florence Fund executive director John Moyers would be willing to fork over some more dough.

Dad, after all, would understand.