Media

Award-winning television journalist/ author Jim Lehrer will be a busy man this year, with the 2004 presidential election looming. But he's taking time to come to Fort Myers this month (March 20) to speak at WGCU Public Media's Signature Event in the ballroom of Florida Gulf Coast University (call 590-2361 for ticket info). Recently he spoke with Gulfshore Life's Kay Kipling.

Q. You've covered a lot of presidential campaigns over the years. Any staples from decade to decade?

A. I started as a political reporter in Dallas, where the first campaign I covered was in 1964. One staple is that these elections seldom turn out the way you expect them to. Another is that as a journalist you can write anything you want to, and it's all speculation, which is not true in other areas of journalism. It makes it exciting and fun.

Q. You always seem so calm and collected on air. Do you ever get flustered?

A. All the time. I've been on live TV for 40 years, and if there's been an opportunity to make a fool of myself, I've done it. I've done all the usual things, like asking the wrong question of the wrong person, not hearing the answer. If there are sins to be committed, I've committed them.

Q. Any memorably outstanding on-air moments over the years?

A. I did the first interview with Bill Clinton after the news broke about Monica Lewinsky.had to ask him, "Did you have a relationship with this intern?" And then, just the nine presidential debates I've moderated. that's the highest-anxiety thing I ever do.

Q. Any big differences between public and private personas you've noticed?

A. By the time people get to the position where I'm interviewing them, not really. There are very few accidents by the time someone's gotten to be, say, secretary of state. I've seldom gotten up from an interview saying, "Good God, how did this guy get to be here?"

Q. You're also a novelist. How do you find time to do that?

A. I get in the office around eight, and that gives me an hour or two to write before the news job gets under way. I do a little every day. The book writing is a critical part of my life.

Q. You always wanted to do both?

A. Always. I'm from the generation of Hemingway folks, where if you wanted to write fiction, first you got a job on a newspaper. On TV, I get into other people's souls, not mine. Anything I have to say about the human psyche or experiences, it's the books where I do that.

Q. What other journalists do you especially admire?

A. Robert MacNeil, the best there is. Roger Mudd, Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Hughes Rudd. all my heroes and all good friends of mine.

Q. After all these years, are you still enthusiastic about reporting?

A. Absolutely. I often say that if you hear the siren of a fire engine and don't care where the fire is, it's time to get out of journalism. It's all about curiosity, finding out what really happens. That doesn't go away for me. It's never the same story twice.