Our History

		The MacNeil/Lehrer Report grew to the first full-hour nightly news program in 1983.

MacNeil/Lehrer Productions was founded in 1981 by veteran newsmen Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer to establish a company to insure the independence of their nightly PBS news broadcast, The MacNeil/Lehrer Report. In 1983 the half-hour MacNeil Lehrer Report grew into the nation's first one-hour nightly news broadcast, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. When Robert MacNeil retired from daily journalism in 1995, the program continues as The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer. MacNeil and Lehrer continue to be partners in MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, along with Liberty Media Corporation.

MacNeil and Lehrer first joined forces in 1975 with the launch of public television's first nightly news program - originally titled The MacNeil/Lehrer Report. Over the next seven years The MacNeil/Lehrer Report went on to win more than 30 awards [hyperlink to awards] for journalistic excellence, including a Peabody Award, an Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Award and a Television Critics Circle Award.

In 1983, the Report expanded to become the nation's first full hour of evening news, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour. Renamed The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, after MacNeil's retirement in l995, the program has continued to garner awards, including several Peabody and Emmy Awards and the Edward Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting. In 1995, MacNeil turned his focus to developing MLP programming outside the NewsHour.

Although the NewsHour remains the company's cornerstone, MLP has gone on to produce documentary programming for PBS, cable and commercial broadcast network television, as well as video production and interactive, multimedia productions for applications outside the broadcast arena. Examples include museum exhibits, educational curriculum and teleconferencing. In addition, MLP's creative reach has included groundbreaking educational and community outreach initiatives to enhance civic engagement. Visit our portfolio [hyperlink] to learn more about our wide range of productions.

During the 1996 campaign year, MLP produced The National Issues Convention, a multi-hour special that brought together Americans from across the country to participate in a deliberative opinion poll on campaign issues. MLP also partnered with NBC News to produce coverage of the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

In that same year, the partnership launched The Online NewsHour, which became the most visited of the more than 400 destinations on the PBS web site. The site includes a wide array of special background packages and in-depth topical reports, and hosts permanent sub-sites on media, science and health.

NewsHour Extra - a web destination for middle and high school students - was added to Online NewsHour's suite of web offerings in 1998. In addition, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions has created and continues to support a wide range of web destinations based on its documentaries and specials.

In February 1999, Lehrer and MacNeil were inducted into the Television Academy's Hall of Fame.

During Election Year 2000, MLP produced three highly acclaimed specials:

• The Emmy-nominated Debating Our Destiny, [hyperlink to folio page] in which Lehrer interviewed former presidential and vice presidential candidates about their debate experiences;
• PBS Debate Night, [hyperlink to folio page] a unique national/local broadcast conceived by MLP involving Congressional leadership in a live, nationally televised debate, which many public stations followed with their own local debate night programs; and
• Time to Choose -- A PBS/NPR Voter's Guide, [hyperlink to folio page] which examined the critical issues and questions informing voters' decision in the presidential election. "Time to Choose" engaged an unprecedented partnership between MLP and three other public broadcasting entities: PBS, FRONTLINE and National Public Radio (NPR).

MLP also produced PBS's coverage of the 2000 Republican and Democratic National Conventions [hyperlink to folio listing], which was the nation's only live, over-the-air, primetime broadcast of the conventions.

In 2002, the company and partners launched By the People: America in the World, [hyperlink to folio page] an innovative, long-term program designed to help Americans become more fully engaged in this country's role in the world. Through public forums, television broadcasts and civic partnerships, "By the People" is stimulating discussion of foreign affairs locally and nationally.

MacNeil/Lehrer created its first interactive Web-DVD, The NewsHour Digital Prototype, in the spring of 2001. Funded by a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the NewsHour Digital Prototype demonstrated the capabilities of the interactive Web-DVD to inform, educate and train audiences using multiple mediums-video, graphics, audio and text. Since 2001, MacNeil/Lehrer Productions has produced two additional titles for the National Endowment for the Humanities (2003-2004) and National Institute of Health (2004-2005).

Our growing variety and quality of titles has contributed to making MLP a leader in producing interactive, multimedia productions for an ever-expanding base of applications and clients.