Jim Lehrer Leaving "NewsHour"

[DToTheJ]

He will be stepping down from anchoring PBS' nightly news broadcast after three dozen years, though remain with the network in other roles. His last broadcast will be June 3 - around the same time the anchor chair at CBS will be undergoing a switch.
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2011/05/jim_lehrer_stepping_down_from.html

 

[gregg75]

He may be missed, but he was no Walter Cronkite...................even though he thought he was.

 

[DToTheJ]

Credit to him, though: he's been the longest-tenured network news anchor (if you want to call PBS a network).

They will be using a rotating cast of substitute anchors when Lehrer departs the desk.

 

[recto101]

at least Lehrer does the news better than CNN, Fox and MSNBC.

 

[listener-in]

at least Lehrer does the news better than CNN, Fox and MSNBC.

...and ABC, CBS and NBC.

There's a refreshing contrast between the transition at PBS NewsHour and the fanfare that accompanies a change of anchor at the commercial networks (though it's been a bit more muted than usual at CBS this time around). To the extent that NewsHour had a "star" system, it's now completely phased out, which is all to the good. Meanwhile the commercial networks continue it and the inflated salaries that go with it, at the expense of their news-gathering operations.

 

[Dighton Rockhead]

The continuing 'star-system' at the commercial networks only goes to prove that some things in the broadcasting business are resistant to change.

Back in the days of network radio, this discussion would have been much the same, except the names would have been H.V. Kaltenborn, Gabriel Heatter, Walter Winchell, and Edward R. Murrow.