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Jun 26, 2020 · Lester M. Crystal, who after 20 years at NBC News, including two as its president, moved to “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report” on PBS and immediately set about transforming it from a half-hour...
President of NBC News; executive producer of PBS NewsHour. Lester Martin Crystal (September 13, 1934 – June 24, 2020) was an Emmy Award-winning American television news executive best known for being the founding executive producer of the nation’s first hour-long nightly newscast, The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour (now called the PBS NewsHour ...
- Lester Martin Crystal, September 13, 1934, Duluth, Minnesota, U.S.
- M.S., Northwestern University
- Charlayne Hunter-Gault, Special Correspondent
- Linda Winslow, Former Executive Producer
- Jeffrey Brown, Correspondent
- Paul Solman, Economics Correspondent
- Annette Miller, Vice President of NewsHour Productions
- Lee Koromvokis, Producer
- Anne Davenport, Senior Coordinating Producer/Canvas Arts and Culture
- Morgan Till, Senior Foreign Affairs Producer
- Murrey Jacobson, Senior Producer For National Affairs
- Lorna Baldwin, General Assignment Producer
One of the things that stands out for me was when Nelson Mandela was about to become president, he was speaking to a large crowd inside a hotel in downtown Jo’burg. And we had filmed that and sent it to the show. Les had used it in the top of the show. But all of a sudden, halfway through the program, the producer said, “Look out, look out the wind...
He had an amazing ability to relate to other people as human beings, not as whatever their job description said they were. Our staff was one big extended family as far as Les was concerned. He shared our joys. He attended our weddings. He made our baby smile. And he mourned our losses. He was, in a word, a real mensch. And I’m going to miss him dea...
Les was a role model as a journalist, as a leader, most of all as a decent human being. He took me under his wing long ago, first as a mentor and then as a colleague and for many years as his friend. Everyone in the NewsHour family loved him and appreciated him. And how often can you say that about your boss? Well, we all did. Les, we love you and ...
He was infuriatingly scrupulous, poring over scripts like a Medieval scribe. In league with MacNeil and Lehrer, even-handedness was an article of faith, never to let lapse. And look, he created the hourlong show — on a shoestring after years of commercial budgets — and set an atmosphere of honesty, accuracy, occasional flights of fancy, and loving ...
In a business where nice guys finish last, Les was the notable exception. He was a brilliant TV news producer and a gentleman, but he was also a gentle man. Les was an amazing boss who cared about everyone who worked for him. I’ll never forget when I had to leave my 1-year-old with her aunt and uncle while I worked on NewsHour’s coverage of the Dem...
As I am sure nearly everyone who worked for him will attest, he was all you could wish for in a boss: kind, fair, even-tempered (also super smart and funny). As a bonus, he personally passed along Les’s Rules, to which I still adhere: when and how much to L-cut, judicious use of dissolves, mainly to denote passage of time, and most important: no li...
Les had the kind of presence that could calm nerves even in the most frenzied of newsrooms. This “I’m here to support you” demeanor was most unusual in a business often known for ‘screamers.’ He also never had a bad word for anyone. That, too, was remarkable. After viewing a piece, he would often affix a sticky note to the tape case (yes, we used v...
I remember being brought to interview with Les, Jim Lehrer, and Linda Winslow in the summer of 1998. I recall marveling at the pictures of him with Nixon in China, in the era when network commercial news mattered. He was a serious man, and bent on the service of Public Broadcasting. We do this for a reason, and he instilled that in everyone with hi...
As a friend and former co-worker texted me today, what the world needs is more Les Crystals. I’m not sure how he was able to carry the weight of a nightly news program, manage the fires of never-ending deadline pressures and somehow, as everyone has said in their own way, deal with you as if you were all that mattered for that time. He was astoundi...
Les Crystal was the executive producer when I began my NewsHour career as a lowly desk assistant. I watched in awe back then as he corralled the news into an hourlong program each night, all with a level of kindness and generosity that I’ve yet to see duplicated. He led our newsroom through some of the most turbulent times – 9/11, the wars in Afgha...
- Molly Finnegan
Jul 13, 2020 · Lester Crystal, a former NBC News executive who guided the growth of PBS NewsHour over 27 years, died June 24 at of brain cancer. He was 85. Crystal arrived at MacNeil/Lehrer Productions from NBC in the early 1980s and was already committed to transforming the half-hour MacNeil-Lehrer Report into an hourlong program of news and analysis, said ...
WASHINGTON — Lester M. Crystal, a past president of NBC News who left for PBS and became executive producer of the first hour-long daily news program on any US television network, ‘‘The...
Jun 24, 2020 · Les Crystal, who was president of NBC News in the late 1970s before serving for more than two decades as the executive producer of PBS’s NewsHour, died on Wednesday. He was 85. Crystal died...
Jun 24, 2020 · Les Crystal was a man at the heart of the NewsHour family. After a 20-year career at NBC, Les joined Jim Lehrer and Robin MacNeil in 1983, overseeing the transformation of the MacNeil/Lehrer...
