Jim Lehrer

During these highly uncertain times, particularly in Washington D.C., Tom discusses the passing of legendary PBS news anchor Jim Lehrer this week…a voice whose calm, “just the facts” approach would be especially comforting these days.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I heard radio presents Tom Brokaw now here this. Obviously,
there's a good deal of unsettling news these days, the
impeachment proceedings that have taken over the nation's capital and
deeply divided the two parties, stowing any work on say Iran,
global warming, gun violence. There's also that unsettling spread of

(00:22):
powerful viruses from China. As a journalist who has been
dealing with cataclysmic news for more than sixty years, these
developments always caused me to ponder the causes and the
possible solutions. But today I am consumed by other news,
deeply personal, the death of a great friend. The great journalist, husband, father,

(00:44):
and author, Jim Lare has died at five. I can
barely contain myself as I utter those words. Not just friends,
but contemporaries. We had a mutual admiration society. Jim was
Missouri born and Texas educated, a marine, a newspaperman, husband,

(01:07):
and the father of three young women. With his PBS
partner Robin McNeil, he created the McNeil Larra Report, a
nightly one hour public television report that concentrated on a
few serious issues of the day. Jim was also probably
best known as a moderator of choice for presidential debates.

(01:28):
He was fair and formed and convivial. We had a
friendly argument about the news hour, the nightly news, and networks,
but we also agreed that they complimented each other. The
news hour fewer subjects, more talk, The nightly news more variety,
reports from wherever news was happening, less talk. The fact

(01:50):
is the two styles were important for one another. A
few months ago, Jim and his wife Kate had a
small dinner party to celebrate his fifth birthday. Robin McNeil,
his partner, was there as well, and we all laughed
about those occasions when Jim would dig in on a position,
the former marine holding his ground. Yet he was one

(02:13):
of the most popular journalists in town. No dinner party
was complete without Jim being there. He would recreate the
stops that his father's regional bus line would make, and
we all knew that he kept a vintage bus at
his farm. I write this as I watched recounts of
the impeachment debate and think of how much we missed

(02:35):
Jim's down home. A student analysis, it was always fair,
clear and thoughtful. Jim Wearer was a national Treasurer, a
journalist and author, devoted to his calling, a husband and
a father, devoted to his family, a reminder of journalism
and journalists at their best. Also, it's important to remember

(02:57):
that he came from the Heartland, from Missouri and from Texas.
He had a complete American experience, serving his country as
a marine. He also did not take to Washington just
because it was the nation's capital. He thought it was
the most important place for a journalist to be at
any time, and he never succumbed to a kind of

(03:19):
hoholier than now attitude just because he was prominent in Washington.
He didn't think that made him better than the next
American citizen. He was a reminder of journalism and journalists
at their best. God bless Jim Larar and loved Kate
and the girls. And maybe we all follow him now

(03:42):
as journalists and as citizens and taking this responsibility as
seriously as we know that we must. I'm Tom broke
Off for I Heart Radio now Here. This