JIM LEHRER

Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel claims that the commission "refused to enact simple and commonsense reforms to help ensure fair debates."

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2001, file photo, veteran journalist Roger Mudd tapes a segment for the History Channel at CBS studios in New York. Mudd, the longtime political correspondent and anchor for NBC and CBS who once stumped Sen. Edward Kennedy by simply asking why he wanted to be president, died Tuesday, March 9, 2021. CBS News says Mudd died Tuesday of complications of kidney failure at his home in McLean, Virginia. Besides work at CBS and NBC, he did stints on PBS’s “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour” and the History Channel. It was then that Mudd jumped to NBC as its chief Washington correspondent.

The world also said goodbye to U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a lion of the civil rights movement who died in July. Other former political figures who died this year include Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, New York Mayor David Dinkins, Arizona Gov. Here is a roll call of some influential figures who died in 2020 (cause of death cited for younger people, if available):___JANUARY___David Stern, 77. The guitarist who supplied the scratching, seething sound that fueled the highly influential British punk band Gang of Four. He fused African rhythms with funk to become one of the most influential musicians in world dance music.

Robert MacNeil, right, and Jim Lehrer were first teamed to cover the Watergate hearings for PBS in 1973. But the unintended boost he gave to PBS public affairs programming endured. News anchor Judy Woodruff on the set of the “PBS NewsHour.” (PBS)“They were very serious people,” said Richard Wald, a former news executive for NBC and ABC. “It is more difficult for the ‘PBS NewsHour’ to run political discussions — which our original report helped to invent — and keep the the argument civilized and coherent,” he said. And that’s the way PBS viewers like it.

Former PBS NewsHour anchor Jim Lehrer, who co-founded the groundbreaking news show the "MacNeil/Lehrer Report" in 1975 and went on to moderate more presidential debates than anyone in history, has died, Judy Woodruff, the anchor and managing editor of the PBS NewsHour, said. Over a career that spanned 50 years, Lehrer moderated a total of 12 presidential debates, more than anyone in history, including all the ones held in 1996 and 2000. Mr. Clinton honored Lehrer in a tweet on Thursday, writing "liked and admired Jim Lehrer. In 1988, Lehrer moderated his first debate with one of the two face-to-face matchups between former Vice President George H.W. MacNeil retired in 1995, leaving Lehrer to launch the solo "NewsHour with Jim Lehrer."

After MacNeil bowed out in 1995, it became "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." Dan Rather said "few approached their work with more equanimity and integrity than Jim Lehrer." Jim Lehrer, co-host and later host of the nightly PBS "NewsHour" that for decades offered a thoughtful take on current events, has died, PBS said Thursday. This undated image released by PBS shows Jim Lehrer of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer." As Lehrer turned 75 in spring 2009, PBS announced that the show would be retitled as "PBS NewsHour" later in the year, with Lehrer pairing up on anchor duties with other show regulars.