Jim Lehrer serves as executive editor and anchor of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," the Emmy Award winning PBS news show. He has also served as a frequent moderator of nationally televised presidential debates in the last five presidential elections. Trained as a journalist, Lehrer worked as a newspaper reporter before his long career in public television. His long-term partnership with Robert MacNeil began in 1973 when they teamed up to provide continuous live coverage of the Senate Watergate hearings, broadcast on PBS.

Following that Emmy-winning collaboration, Lehrer was the solo anchor for PBS coverage of the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment inquiry of Richard Nixon. In October 1975, the half-hour "Robert MacNeil Report," with Jim Lehrer as the Washington correspondent, premiered on Thirteen/WNET New York. Over the next seven years, "The MacNeil/Lehrer Report" (as it was renamed in 1976) won more than 30 awards for journalistic excellence. In 1983, Lehrer and MacNeil launched "The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour." The 1995-96 season marked the 20th year of their journalistic odyssey, as well as MacNeil's departure and Lehrer's stewardship of the program in its current incarnation.

Lehrer has been honored with numerous awards for journalism, including the 1999 National Humanities Medal, presented by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Also in 1999, Lehrer was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame with MacNeil. He has won two Emmys, the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award, and the George Foster Peabody Broadcast Award among many others. . . . short bio

Jim Lehrer serves as executive editor and anchor of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," the Emmy Award winning PBS news show. He has also served as a frequent moderator of nationally televised presidential debates in the last five presidential elections. Trained as a journalist, Lehrer worked as a newspaper reporter before his long career in public television. His long-term partnership with Robert MacNeil began in 1973 when they teamed up to provide continuous live coverage of the Senate Watergate hearings, broadcast on PBS . . . full bio