Robert Breckenridge Ware MacNeilOC (January 19, 1931 – April 12, 2024), often known asRobin MacNeil, was a Canadian-American journalist, writer andtelevision news anchor. He partnered withJim Lehrer to create the landmark public television news programThe Robert MacNeil Report in 1975.[1] MacNeil co-anchored the program until 1995. The show eventually became theMacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour and is todayPBS News Hour.
MacNeil began working in the news field atITV in London, then forReuters, and then forNBC News[1] as a correspondent in Washington, D.C.[5] He also worked as a news anchor, forWNBC, in New York City.[5]
On November 22, 1963, MacNeil coveredPresident John F. Kennedy's visit to Dallas forNBC News.[6] After shots rang out inDealey Plaza, MacNeil, who was with the presidential motorcade, followed crowds running onto thegrassy knoll; he appears in a photo taken just moments after the assassination.[7] As he was reporting for NBC, MacNeil was at times in relatively close proximity[8] to his future co-anchor and partnerJim Lehrer, also covering the Kennedy visit and assassination for theDallas Times Herald, but the two did not meet until several years later, covering the SenateWatergate hearings in Washington, D.C. forPBS.[5][9]
MacNeil rose to fame during his coverage of the 1973 SenateWatergate hearings for PBS, for which he received anEmmy Award. Teamed with Jim Lehrer, the two broadcast and analysed some 250 hours of the hearings in all, sometimes late into the night.[1] This coverage helped lead to and inspire his most famous role, when he joined Lehrer in 1976 to create the PBS daily evening news programThe Robert MacNeil Report, later renamedThe MacNeil/Lehrer Report and thenThe MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour.[4][12] After serving 20 years on the program, MacNeil retired from his nightly appearances on October 20, 1995; Lehrer anchored the program solo until 2009.[13][14] The program continues as thePBS NewsHour.[5] He remained involved with the news program until 2013 as one of the heads of MacNeil-Lehrer Productions.[1]
In directorMichael Almereyda's 2000 modern-day adaptation ofHamlet, MacNeil portrayed the Player King, reimagined as a TV news reporter.[15][16]
After theSeptember 11 attacks, MacNeil called PBS and offered to help.[3] He joined PBS's coverage of the attacks and their aftermath, interviewing reporters and giving his thoughts on the events.[3]
In 2007, MacNeil hosted the PBS television miniseriesAmerica at a Crossroads, which presented independently produced documentaries about the "War on Terrorism". The series initially ran from April 15–20, with further episodes later that year.[17]
In aSesame Street Special Report,muppet parody of theIran-Contra scandal, MacNeil investigated a "Cookiegate" incident involving theCookie Monster.[18] In 1998, for Season 29's "Slimey to the Moon" story arc, MacNeil took the role of co-anchor withKermit the Frog, as Slimey, Oscar the Grouch's pet worm, and four other worms made a landing on the Moon.[19][20]
Inspired by his passion for language, he made the nine-part television seriesThe Story of English in 1986 for PBS and the BBC, detailing the development of the English language.[1]The Story of English is also a companion book, also produced in 1986. The book and the television series were written by MacNeil,Robert McCrum, and William Cran.[23]
MacNeil became a naturalized American citizen in 1997, and became anOrder of Canada officer that same year.[4][24] He was married to Rosemarie Coopland, Jane Doherty, and Donna Nappi Richards MacNeil.[25] With Coopland, he was the father of award-winning theatre scenic designerIan MacNeil.[26]
MacNeil was known to friends and family as "Robin".[1]
MacNeil also wrote books, many of which are about his career as a journalist. After his retirement fromNewsHour, he also dabbled in writing novels.[1] His books include:
The People Machine: The Influence of Television on American Politics (1970).ISBN978-0413276704.
Looking for My Country: Finding Myself in America (2003).ISBN978-0385507813.
MacNeil, Robert; Cran, William (December 28, 2004).Do You Speak American?. Nan A. Talese/Doubleday.ISBN978-0-385-51198-8. (accompanied by a PBS documentary miniseries in 2005)
