#9: Robert MacNeil
Robert MacNeil paired elegant presentation with deep reporting experience to help create public television’s signature nightly news program. After covering major stories for NBC and the BBC, he joined Jim Lehrer for extensive PBS coverage of the Watergate hearings. Their partnership became the MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, known for measured analysis and ideological range. MacNeil’s composed style never confused calmness with softness; difficult questions simply arrived in better tailoring and without a commercial break interrupting the answer.
