After four years in the hourlong format, ''Newshour'' has exceeded the
national ratings level of its half-hour predecessor, the
''MacNeil/Lehrer Report,'' and most of the 324 stations in the public
television system are putting the broadcast on the air, without
strenuous objection. It was not always so. When journalists Robert
MacNeil and Jim Lehrer expanded their nightly news and analysis
broadcast to an hour in 1983, the expanded version was so loathed by
some of the public television stations that the response approached
open
insurrection. At a public television convention in Seattle three years
ago, one station manager stood up and, in the presence of Mr. MacNeil,
called for a show of hands of those favoring the broadcast's
cancellation. Most in the room voted to chuck it. 'We Know What Real
Hell Is'
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References: New York Times
