Amna Nawaz
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WATCH: The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour debuts in 1983
Posted
October 20, 2025
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October 20, 2025
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57:52Now PlayingThe original Robert MacNeil Report, which was launched in 1975, later became The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour in 1983, expanding from a 30-minute program that focused deeply on one topic to an hourlong newscast that also covered the important stories of the day.
“We started as a complement [to other nightly news shows] because we couldn't be much more than that, and we ended up, starting in 1983, as an alternative,” MacNeil said in a retrospective on the News Hour in 2005.
While the new show tried some format experiments that didn’t stick – the first episodes included a visual “postcard” of a soothing moment, and spread out the news of the day instead of delivering a news summary at the top – the extra half-hour gave the show room to expand and breathe. Plus, the new News Hour stayed focused and “gimmick-free,” as MacNeil described it.
“We have always said if you want to be entertained, don’t watch us,” Jim Lehrer said. “Go to the circus.”
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