Robert MacNeil on Jim Lehrer's 'Stealth' Exit

I find Jim Lehrer's manner of withdrawing as chief anchor of the NewsHour quite remarkable, because I can't recall any news anchor doing it as he has.

First, he took his name off the program. Has anyone ever done that before? Voluntarily? In 2009, with his full approval, the program ceased being "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" and became the PBS NewsHour. It was a groundbreaking moment.

It ratified the NewsHour's position anchoring the PBS evening program schedule. It helped further to fix the PBS identity in the public mind, enhancing the brand name, and it recognized the unique freedom and support public broadcasting gave us in creating an alternative form of television journalism and building an audience for it.

So, Jim took his name off the program. But no one made him do that. He was not being pushed out. There was no clutch of network execs saying it was time for him to go, no secret market research to find a young hotshot from the TV hinterland, no vice president of interior decorating, as they used to say at the networks, already concocting a new set.