Robert MacNeil (the Novelist)
Worries About the News

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By ALISON BURNS
Staff writer
The Darien News

Nov. 28, 1999 | Darien -- A familiar face turned up in Darien November 17 when Robert MacNeil, journalist, novelist and erstwhile co-anchor of the MacNeil/Lehrer News Hours addressed a packed house at the Darien Community Association.

Canadian born Mr. MacNeil departed his post at PBS's News Hour in October 1995 after a lifetime career in journalism, ending 20 years of evening news partnership with Jim Lehrer. Together they won more than 30 awards for journalist excellence, including several Peabody and Emmy Awards, and the Alfred I Dupont and TV Critic Circle Awards.

A 40-year veteran of news reporting, Mr. MacNeil is also the author of several books, including two volumes of memoirs, the best-selling tie-in to his PBS series "The Story of English" and three novels. His most recent, "Breaking News," was written hard on the heels of the Clinton sex scandal and satires the very industry that makes Mr. MacNeil famous.

It was evident that Mr. MacNeil feels the news media companies have morphed from the impartial establishments they once were into anonymous corporations run by businessmen with their eye on the bottom line. He spoke with passion of the "near porn chic" overtaking news coverage today along with last year's free floating Monica Mania that allowed the country to wallow in legitimized prurience that almost destroyed "an otherwise talented President." It was a context, he said, that he couldn't have imagined when he started writing the novel two years ago.

Despite a parting of the ways from longtime news co-anchor, Jim Lehrer, the two men still enjoy a close partnership with MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, which is scheduled to produce a number of documentaries.

He speaks affectionately of Mr.Lehrer who, he says, is in better shape than ever since his mild heart attack and bypass surgery in 1983. "Jim was a guy who would eat hot pastrami with mayonnaise and then drive, rather than walk, a block to go buy cigarettes."

Mr. Lehrer, in his turn, refers to his old partner as "the former Robert MacNeil" and Mr. MacNeil tells the story of being stopped on the streets of New York only to be asked, "and how do you like retirement, Mr. Leherer?"

A great deal of laughter accompanied Mr, MacNeil's quotes from his new novel but his underlying message was essentially a serious one.

"Breaking News" is a story that tells of an aging news anchorman, flirting with the idea of a face-lift as he watches his ratings slide downhill, along with the ethics of all those around him. Echoing Mr. MacNeil's own apprehensions, the main character at one point accuses his fellow news media reporters of losing all credibility with the public and behaving like gadarene swine in their self-destructive rush to remain competitive.

Asked if the novel was in any way autobiographical, Mr. MacNeil admitted that if anything of him was in this book it was his concern that real news is increasingly taking a backseat to the more salacious items.

Fielding questions from the floor, Mr. MacNeil admitted to his other hobby horse Ü the Public Broadcasting System. Despite people's fear of creeping commercialism, he believed its future is strong. He offered as an example Newt Ginrich's bow to public outrage after attempting to withhold PBS federal funding. Mr. MacNeil revealed that he has turned down offers from cable companies for his documentary,"The Story of English" because the necessary cuts and commercials would have compromised its intrinsic merit.

Continuing his love affair with the English language, Mr. MacNeil is planning a four-hour sequel entitled "Do You Speak American?" in which he and his co-producers examine the creativity of American English, as Spanish slowly threatens to become the unofficial first language of the United States.