Former PBS journalist Moyers urges networks to air impeachment hearings in primetime

Former PBS journalist and commentator Bill Moyers urged TV networks to re-air impeachment hearings of President Trump in prime time, arguing that replayed highlights and soundbites won’t suffice in getting “the whole story of Trumpgate.”

“If you want to get the whole story of Trumpgate, you need to watch the whole hearing,” Moyers said on Sunday in an appearance on CNN’s “Reliable Sources.”

{mosads}”This is a moment in American history where the arc of justice will either be bent forward or it will be bent backward,” the 85-year-old added. “So everyone who wants to see it should have the chance to see the whole story.”

The comments from Moyers come after he and his longtime collaborator Michael Winship took out a full-page ad in The New York Times on Friday urging PBS to re-broadcast the hearings in prime time after airing them live during the day when many Americans are at work.

“For the sake of the nation, public TV must air the Trump impeachment hearings in prime time,” they wrote.

When hearings begin Wednesday morning, ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS will preempt their regularly scheduled daytime programming for live coverage of the House Intelligence Committee’s open impeachment hearings.

All of the major cable news networks, including Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and CSPAN will also offer live coverage.

During the impeachment hearings for President Nixon in 1973, the major networks broadcast the hearings live, but on a rotating basis. 

PBS carried the proceedings wall-to-wall coverage of the Nixon proceedings for more than 250 hours.

More than 7 in 10, or 71 percent, of Americans watched the Nixon impeachment hearings live, according to Gallup.