The Public Mind

Bill Moyers has been a fixture on the television landscape for some years now and he has always been associated with television at its best. The programs to which he has lent his stature have been characterized by incisiveness, intelligence, and thoughtfulness. The Public Mind is no different in that regard as it focuses upon a phenomenon so pervasive—the relationship of viewers to television—that few can grasp the concept well. But, in this series, Moyers manages to explore how television molds and alters public opinion and not always with the best of results for the democracy. The segment on American politics and television is telling in that it seems to tell us what we feared, that large amounts of money spent on image making by expert opinion managers may be more important than the candidates themselves or their ideas. It is impossible to overstate the danger there. So, for outstanding quality in developing important issues for television viewers and for Bill Moyers’ insightful contribution, a Peabody Award to Alvin H. Perlmutter, Inc. and Public Affairs Television, Inc. for The Public Mind.