New York Times:
"The NewsHour With Jim Lehrer," public broadcasting's nightly newscast, is getting a makeover, designed to bring it more fully into the digital era, give it a livelier look and nudge it, however slowly, toward the day when its longtime anchor decides to retire.
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I like the BBC model , one that PBS should follow,,,,and MACNEIL'S ROOTS in CANADA provide a good model as well,,,i.e. the CBC.....Time for Jim L to retire off, get a good anchor from Canada etc to provide diff perspectives.....revive the types of presentations the old 'MC/L ' report had that made it often a must see show .....
I would like to know how they get this life long gig?
It's just canned news, with a different presentation. It's presented in a calmer and more sophisticated manner. When all is said and done, there is little difference between PBS and the local news, except we are left feeling a bit more safe and cozy.
People only see the things they think they want to see.
Jim Lehrer's company produces the NewHour for PBS, isn't that how?
Great show, especially since they grew a spine regarding the Bush administration in 2005, but how can you have a make-over with the same "old" people?
The old program was too dry. I'll have to check them out.
I stopped watching a long time ago. Lehrer asked Bush and his cohorts soft questions. He should retire
Actually, they've gotten gutsier since you last watched. I also gave up for a few years, until they grew a spine.
Now you didn't really have to cut Jeffrey Brown out of the picture, did you?
This looks like a bad idea. What next? Bim-bos and food fights?
Please, please don't change it TOO much! This news program uses REAL journalists,,,,not talking heads. They do stories IN DEPTH instead of those 2 minute summaries. You NEVER know the reporter's personal bias and they always have opposing viewpoints. It would be a SHAME to turn this program into just another sleazy version of the news. Please, please don't let that happen!
Why do these T.V. marketing guys think that the pose of the anchors standing randomly is appealing? They do this for the local news shows, too. Wow, it is so trendy and cool.
I think they should all be in bright flowered surfing gear, holding their surfboards, and little drinks with umbrellas in them.
Interesting choices for co-anchors...Gwen Ifill, Judy Woodruff or Jeffrey Brown. I give PBS credit for honesty in that they did not say they were even considering someone who did not have a liberal perspective. I know we are in the minority, however is it unreasonable to expect some balance in a publicly funded network? I am not saying someone from Fox rather someone who will at lease give the impression there is a balance.
Lehrer has admitted privately that he is not a liberal. They routinely have David Brooks, the Shields and Gigot back and forths. And plenty of conservative guests. I stopped watching during the gulf war and only occasionally tune in, only to find the same old talking heads with the same perdictable opinions. They failed as badly as did the rest of the media to do their jobs during the Bush years. If they were truly liberal they'd have Noam Chomsky on once in awhile. In all the time that the NewsHour has been in existence Chomsky has had less than 10 minutes time. and that was years ago. Don't forget they get funding from the likes of Archer, Daniels, Midland and GE and won't bite the hands that feed them anymore than CBS etc. I think their balance is middle of the road to conservative.
Great response.
I am watching to see what difference this year's change in sponsors makes. Archer, Daniels, Midland (agribusiness) dropped out quite a while back. I haven't seen any GE (defense contractor as well as consumer goods) branding on the NewsHour in many years. Pacific Life insurance is now gone. Only old stalwart Chevron (big oil) and new sponsor Intel (computer processors) get their logos on the NewsHour page together with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting these days. They also get foundation funding and programming payments from PBS stations. Quite different from Gwen Ifill's Washington Week, which looks to the National Mining Association (polluter) and Boeing (defense and aerospace) for funding.
Amy Goodman would be a perfect complement to the NewsHour. She may not like their advertisers, though.
PBS leave it alone.
Lehrer's interview with Bush in '06 (I think?) was one of the best. Unlike any other interviewer (in the U.S. at least) he got the Prez's hackles up, which is rare in today's boot-licking media.
While other news programs brag about being the "best", this program is truly on of the best. Don't change it too much.
As long as they don't open with "This is Jim Lehrer with breaking news exclusively from the best news team on television".
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| 05/12/09 08:45 AM