CPB Board Honors Lehrer

By John Eggerton
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting has given Jim Lehrer a Lifetime Achievement Award for "outstanding individual contributions to public media."

Lehrer has stepped down from lead anchor duties on PBS NewsHour after 36 years with the broadcast, which morphed from its 1975 launch as the Robert MacNeil Report with Lehrer as Washington correspondent to the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour to the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer when MacNeil exited in the 1995-96 seasons ultimately to PBS NewsHour.

"Over the course of his career, much of it spent in public media, Jim Lehrer has become a prominent and trusted figure in American journalism," said CPB Board Chair Bruce Ramer, in a statement. "Through his straight-forward and honest reporting on PBS Newshour, Jim has helped public media earn its reputation as one of the most trusted organizations in the nation.  He has become the face of PBS journalism.  As such, we are very pleased to honor him with this award."

The award was handed out at CBP's board meeting this week in Austin, Tex.

John Eggerton
John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.