Robert MacNeil, co-founder of NewsHour, dies at 93

Source: PBS News Hour

Apr 12, 2024 2:29 PM EDT


Robert MacNeil, a pioneer of public media journalism and a driving force behind the show that would become the PBS NewsHour, died Friday at the age of 93.

A lifelong lover of language, literature and the arts, MacNeil’s trade was using words. Combined with his reporter’s knack for being where the action was and a refusal to sensationalize the news out of respect for his viewers, he covered some of the biggest stories of his time.

He was on the ground in Dallas when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He interviewed Martin Luther King Jr., Ayatollah Khomeini, Fidel Castro, and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. But he had his biggest breakthrough with the 1973 gavel-to-gavel primetime coverage of the Senate Watergate hearings.

That Emmy-winning series of special reports was also the turning point for the future of daily news on PBS, leading to the creation of The Robert MacNeil Report, before it was renamed The MacNeil/Lehrer Report, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, and other subsequent iterations, all the way up to the PBS NewsHour. As co-founder and anchor, he helped guide millions through extraordinary times with his intelligent, passionate and humane storytelling.

Read more: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/robert-macneil-co-founder-of-newshour-dies-at-93