Washington Post
Jim Lehrer, 76, who has anchored “NewsHour” for 36 years, will leave the daily broadcast on June 6, but continue to appear on Fridays to moderate its weekly news analysis segment featuring a panel of journalists, reports Paul Farhi. He’ll also continue to be involved with the program’s producer, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions. In January, Lehrer said his plan was “to drift away” from the newscast. He told David Zurawik that “I still hear the sirens, and as long as I hear the sirens, I’ll still be there to find out where the hell they’re going.”
Lehrer said in a 2005 interview [summary only] with Zurawik:
“Everybody’s saying, ‘Well, it’s the end of the anchorman era.’ But then there’s Brian Williams, who’s got about 10 million people watching him every night on NBC, so what the [expletive] is that all about? I’ve kept my powder dry on this. You’re the first who asked me about it directly. But I’ve been amused, because I just don’t get it.”
* Read the PBS release on Lehrer stepping down as regular anchor
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