PRESS: PRESS: And Then There Was One

The quadrisyllable has Joycean overtones: macneilehrer -- a run-on conjuring up two-headed television journalism, emanating from Washington and New York, dispassionate, in-depth and, in the words of one contributor, "gloriously boring." The word, however, now has an expiration date: in a year PBS's influential, much honored MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour will no longer be the same. Robert MacNeil, who co-anchors the show from New York City, announced last week that he will retire in October 1995, the show's 20th anniversary, leaving Washington-based Jim Lehrer as the sole anchor. MacNeil characterized his decision as "convenient," which was typical of his cool honesty, unhurried by...