In 1963, an SMU student had one last question for Jim Lehrer in his after his first speech. 

“When you sit down at your typewriter to write a story for the Dallas Times Herald, who do you see as your reader?” 

The life lessons of a long-time journalist, or a newspaperman as Lehrer calls himself, were the subject of his talk Wednesday night as part of the 11th Annual Rosine Smith Sammons Media Ethics Lecture Series. 

The answer to the student’s question has proven to him to be one of Lehrer’s greatest tools in his long career. In print and broadcast, he talks to an individual. He sees a face – ;and that idea began for him here at SMU. 

Caruth Auditorium was filled with journalism students, professors, Dallas community members and members of the Sammons family, all eager to hear from the man whom Tony Pederson, chair of the journalism division of the Meadows School of the Arts, described as “one of the most distinguished voices of journalism.”

Lehrer, the executive editor and anchor of The News Hour on PBS, held the attention of the entire audience, telling stories from his personal experiences in the field of journalism. He spoke of covering the Watergate hearings, having an up-close and personal connection with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and interviewing Martin Luther King, Jr. Lehrer also shared his beliefs on the code of ethics in journalism and what he feels is a journalist’s main function.

“Journalism isn’t about the truth. It’s about gathering facts,” Lehrer said. “If you wait until you have the whole truth, you’ll never go to press or go on the air. The truth is much deeper than the facts.”

He knows from personal experience how that foundation can be shaken. While writing for The Dallas Morning News, Lehrer spent three months working on an expose of civil defense. Even though all of the facts were correct, the editor would not run the story because it could hurt a friend of the publisher. Lehrer then quit over this conflict in principles of ethics.

“I learned a lesson that I’ve carried with me ever since,” said Lehrer, who was immediately hired by the Dallas Times Herald, The Dallas Morning News’ Morning News’ competition.

“That was an impetuous thing to do, but I would do it all over again,” he said.

Students attending the speech were able to listen to Lehrer’s many years of experience in the industry, taking his advice for a more ethical approach to journalism. 

“I thought it was very interesting, ” sophomore journalism major, Chandler Schlegel, said of the Sammons lecture. “His dedication to journalism ethics before getting a story out there is inspirational and unheard of.” 

However, a long-term journalism career was not always his dream. As a 16-year-old boy growing up in Beaumont, Texas, Lehrer saw himself growing up to be a professional baseball player. 

His coach, however, suggested that he find an alternate career path. His fate was sealed when he turned in a paper to his English teacher who wrote across the top, “Jimmy, you’re a very good writer.”

“Thank God I gave up baseball,” Lehrer said about his career.

After the baseball plan fell through, Lehrer spent three years in the Marine Corps. Afterward, He then worked for both The Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Times Herald before switching over to television where he worked for KERA-TV, the Dallas PBS station. 

He has since moved to Washington [[verify not Washington D.C. to work for PBS. 

The Sammons Media Ethics Lecture Series is funded by the Rosine Foundation Fund of Communities Foundation of Texas, which is recommended by the Mary Anne Sammons Cree of Dallas. The series is named in honor of her mother, an early graduate of the journalism program at SMU. 

The stories Lehrer shared from the course of his career demonstrate the changing times in media, particularly the growing ethical questions as media continues to expand. But Lehrer tried to leave the room that was partially filled with aspiring journalists with some hope. 

“I may be the only optimist left,” Lehrer said. “I really do buy into what Thomas Jefferson said. We have to have an informed electorate, and the only way is the free press.”