Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Friday 24 January 2020
'NewsHour' host and debate

moderator Jim Lehrer dies at 85

By MARK KENNEDY and DA- bate of the general elec- tions, economics, science,
VID BAUDER tion campaign. In 1996 and even developments in the
Associated Press 2000, he moderated all of arts were all given lengthy,
NEW YORK (AP) — Jim Leh- the debates — five of them detailed coverage in their
rer, longtime host of the — and a vice presidential show.
nightly PBS "NewsHour" contest to boot. "When we expanded to
whose serious, sober de- He told The Associated the hour, it changed from
meanor made him the Press in 2011 that his goal being a supplement to an
This Sept. 26, 2008 file photo shows debate moderator Jim Leh- choice to moderate 11 was to probe the candi- alternative," Lehrer said in
rer during the first U.S. Presidential Debate between presidential presidential debates be- dates' thinking and avoid 1990. "Now we take the po-
nominees Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Barack Obama, tween 1988 and 2012, has "gotcha" questions. He felt sition that if you're looking
D-Ill., at the University of Mississippi in Oxford, Miss. died, PBS said Thursday. He his best debate perfor- for a place to go every 24
Associated Press
was 85. mance was in 2004, with hours and find out what's
Lehrer died "peacefully George W. Bush and John happened and get some
in his sleep," according Kerry, not because of any- in-depth treatment, we're
to PBS. He had suffered a thing he did, but because the place."
heart attack in 1983 and the candidates were able Lehrer moderated his first
more recently, had under- to state their positions presidential debate in 1988
gone heart valve surgery in clearly. and was a frequent con-
April 2008. "I didn't get in the way," sensus choice for the task
For Lehrer, and for his friend said Lehrer, whose book in subsequent presidential
and longtime partner Rob- "Tension City: Inside the contests. He likened the job
ert MacNeil, broadcast Presidential Debates" told to "walking down the blade
journalism was a service, stories of his experiences. of a knife."
with public understanding "Nobody was talking about "Anybody who would say
of events and issues its pri- what I did as a moderator. it's just another TV show is a
mary goal. I didn't become part of the liar or a fool," he once said.
"We both believed the story." "I know how important it is,
American people were He was lured out of retire- but it's not about me. It's
not as stupid as some of ment for his last debate in what the candidates say
the folks publishing and 2012 and it may have been that matters."
programming for them be- a mistake; he received He also anchored PBS cov-
lieved," Lehrer wrote in his criticism that year for hav- erage of inaugurations and
1992 memoir, "A Bus of My ing too light a touch on the conventions, dismissing
Own." proceedings. criticism from other TV news
"We were convinced they The half-hour "Robert Mac- organizations that the latter
cared about the significant Neil Report" began on PBS had become too scripted
matters of human events. ... in 1975 with Lehrer as Wash- to yield much in the way of
And we were certain they ington correspondent. The real news.
could and would hang in two had already made "I think when the major po-
there more than 35 sec- names for themselves at litical parties of this country
onds for information about the then-fledgling network gather together their peo-
those subjects if given a through their work with ple and resources in one
chance." the National Public Affairs place to nominate their
Tributes poured in from Center for Television and candidates, that's impor-
colleagues and watch- its coverage of the Water- tant," he told The Associ-
ers alike, including from gate hearings in 1973. ated Press in 2000. "To me,
Fox News' Bret Baier, who The nightly news broad- it's a non-argument. I don't
called Lehrer "an inspiration cast, later retitled the see why someone would
to a whole generation of "MacNeil-Lehrer Report," argue that it wasn't impor-
political journalists— includ- became the nation's first tant."
ing this one." Dan Rather one-hour TV news broad- Naturally, Lehrer came in
said "few approached their cast in 1983 and was then for some knocks for being so
work with more equanimity known as the "MacNeil- low-key in the big televised
and integrity than Jim Leh- Lehrer NewsHour." After events. After a matchup
rer." And Jake Tapper of MacNeil bowed out in between George W. Bush
CNN called Lehrer "a won- 1995, it became "The News- and Al Gore in 2000, David
derful man and a superb Hour with Jim Lehrer." Letterman cracked, "Last
journalist." House Speaker "I'm heartbroken at the loss night was probably the first
Nancy Pelosi called him of someone who was cen- and only that time Jim Leh-
a "champion for truth and tral to my professional life, rer (was) the most exciting
transparency." a mentor to me and some- person in the room."
Many Americans knew one whose friendship I've But the real-life Lehrer —
him best for his role as de- cherished for decades," who had a tradition of
bate moderator. For seven said Judy Woodruff, an- buying a new tie for good
straight presidential elec- chor and managing editor luck before each debate
tions, he was the sole jour- of the PBS NewsHour, in a — was more colorful than
nalist sitting across from the statement. he might have seemed on
candidates for the first de- Politics, international rela- PBS.q