Robert MacNeil, the Canadian-born journalist who delivered sober evening newscasts for more than two decades on PBS as the co-anchor of “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report,” later expanded as “The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour,” died early Friday in Manhattan. His death, at NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital, was confirmed by his daughter Alison MacNeil. But he came to reject the flashier style of the commercial American networks, and in 1971 he joined the fledgling Public Broadcasting Service. A pairing with Jim Lehrer in 1973 to cover the Senate Watergate hearings for PBS was unpopular with the operators of many local public stations, who thought the prime-time broadcasts weren’t appropriate evening fare. But the two men’s serious demeanor was a hit with viewers, and the broadcasts won an Emmy Award and eventually launched an enduring collaboration.

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Persons: Robert MacNeil, The MacNeil, Lehrer, ”, Lehrer NewsHour, Alison MacNeil, Mr, MacNeil, John F, Kennedy, Jim Lehrer Organizations: PBS, – Presbyterian Hospital, NBC News, Public Broadcasting Service, BBC Locations: Canadian, Manhattan, Dallas