James C. Lehrer

Jim Lehrer is the former Executive Editor and a former News Anchor for the PBA NewsHour on PBS. From 1959 to 1966, he was a reporter for The Dallas Morning News and then The Dallas Times-Herald. He was also a political columnist at The Times-Heraldfor several years and in 1968 became the city editor. Lehrer's newspaper career led him to public television, first in Dallas, as KERA-TV's executive director of public affairs, on-air host and editor of a nightly news program. He subsequently moved to Washington, DC, to serve as the public affairs coordinator for PBS, and was also a member of PBS's Journalism Advisory Board and a fellow at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Lehrer went on to join the National Public Affairs Center for Television (NPACT) as a correspondent. In September 1983, Lehrer and MacNeil launched their most ambitious undertaking, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. The 1995-96 season marked the 20th year of their journalistic odyssey, as well as MacNeil's departure and Lehrer's stewardship of the program as The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. In 2009, the program title changed to PBS NEWSHOUR to reflect the program’s expanded role as the hub of news and public affairs programming on PBS both online and on air. Lehrer has been honored with numerous awards for journalism, including the 1999 National Humanities Medal, presented by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Also in 1999, Lehrer was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame with MacNeil and into The Silver Circle of the Washington, DC, Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He has won two Emmys, the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award, the George Foster Peabody Broadcast Award, the William Allen White Foundation Award for Journalistic Merit and the University of Missouri School of Journalism's Medal of Honor. In the last seven presidential elections, Lehrer has served as a moderator for twelve of the nationally televised debates among the candidate