Where Are Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer When You Need Them?

Way back when, the first time I ever appeared on television was in 1978. That was 46 years ago. It was smack in the middle of President Carter’s economic crisis, and I appeared on “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report” on, wait for it, PBS.Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer were two of the best journalists I have ever met. Knowledgeable, good questions, they seldom interrupted, and they were entirely unbiased and objective in their reporting and interviewing.My, how things have changed, for the worse, on that network. But let me digress for a moment with a quick anecdote.When I was serving as National Economic Council director in President Trump’s first term, I went to a book party to celebrate a new publication by my friend Alan Greenspan. It was at Jim Lehrer’s home at Washington, D.C.So, I walked in, said hello to Alan, got a copy of his new book, and across a crowded living room thought I saw Jim Lehrer, who I hadn’t really spoken to in many years. But, sure enough, he came all the way across the living room, shook my hand, gave me a big embrace, and then pointed his finger at me and said, “We gave you your start.”It was a wonderful moment, and actually Jim Lehrer was right. They did give my public career in government and television a big start. Now we come to PBS today, and it’s a very sad tale.The PBS CEO, Paula Kerger, and the NPR CEO, Katherine Maher, appeared before Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene’s DOGE subcommittee hearing on alleged biased content in public media, and they got quite a grilling — deservedly so. Hat tip to Ms. Greene and her colleagues.A while back, a study was done using voter registration records, showing that National Public Radio editorial positions in Washington were stacked with 87 Democrats — to zero Republicans.The head of NPR, Katherine Maher, has publicly called President Trump a “deranged racist sociopath” and has said America is “addicted to white supremacy.”Ms. Greene went on to say: “In 2021, you called the First Amendment the number one challenge in American journalism. … You’ve also expressed support for deplatforming individuals you view as fascist.”In a rather huffy manner, Ms. Maher acknowledged that NPR was “mistaken in failing to cover the Hunter Biden laptop story more aggressively or sooner” — a non-apology apology.And her counterpart at PBS, Paula Kerger, got grilled for running drag-queen hours on public radio.Ms. Greene also called Ms. Maher on the carpet for claiming that the terms “boy” and “girl” are “erasing language” for non-binary people.Certainly, not everybody at PBS or NPR is necessarily biased to the left. But, frankly, most are. And the institutions have fostered radical left-wing thinking.Taxpayers spend more than $500 million a year on this, even though PBS has commercials and advertisements. Why can’t they self-fund, like everybody else? And, if need be, I can always watch a British mystery series on other platforms.It’s tragic that the public television of Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer has deteriorated so badly. There’s no reason American taxpayers should have to pay for it.From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business News.

Where Are Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer When You Need Them?

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