This post was written by Hatchet reporter Josh Griffith.
The journalist known as the “dean of moderators” had just two words of advice for audience members attending any presidential debate.
“Shut up,” Jim Lehrer advised the partisan audience members who attend presidential debates under the impression they are part of the show.
“When they invite people to the hall, they should be told, ‘You are not a participant; you are an observer. Shut up! Do not scream, do not holler,’” Lehrer said.
Lehrer, the executive editor of “PBS Newshour,” also reflected Monday at the National Press Club on issues that have spanned his career, from coverage of the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The fact is I’m blessed. I’ve been doing this 50 years,” Lehrer said to fellow veteran journalist and moderator Marvin Kalb. “I’ve had the same experience you’ve had. You’ve been present when all these incredibly important things have happened, and that, to me, is a joy.”
Lehrer, 77, arrived at the Public Broadcasting Company in 1970s, where he has hosted the station’s top newscast. He stepped down as the anchor of “PBS Newshour” last summer, but still works on the show’s production. Lehrer has moderated 11 presidential debates since 1988.
But Lehrer’s rise began as a reporter for “The Dallas Morning News” and the “Dallas Times-Herald,” where he reported on Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, which he said taught him the valuable lesson that “everything is subject to change.”
“You have to be prepared for that,” he said. “The dominoes that have flowed from those three shots at that motorcade in Dallas, Tex., resound to this day.”
“I never went to work not prepared for some calamitous, earth-shaking event,” Lehrer added, describing his change in attitude toward journalism following the assassination.
But Lehrer didn’t hold back against what he felt were faults in modern journalism saying reporters failed to stay on their toes leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, instead playing into the Bush administration’s allegations that the country held weapons of mass destruction, Lehrer said.
He condemned journalists for failing to include valuable information and misjudging the credibility of their sources.
“We blew it,” he said. “Our sins were that of omission, of not working hard enough to find another perspective.”
Lehrer weighed the growing importance of journalism and commented on the evolution of the media, encouraging those interested in journalism to pursue it despite a turbulent industry.
