The Washington Post reports Jim Lehrer, the anchor of PBS NewsHour and the longest-serving network anchor in the country, has decided to step down in June. He will continue to report for the program, and to moderate a Friday segment for the show, featuring a roundtable of journalists. The move ends a run on the program that began back in 1975. “Amid the cacophony of a sometimes shrill media landscape, he has remained the true voice of reason, balance and fairness,” said the National Press Club’s president, Mark Hamrick, when the club gave Lehrer a career achievement award last month.

In many respects, PBS’ NewsHour With Jim Lehrer is the anti-cable news show. Media Nation’s Dan Kennedy is blunt in his assessment of it: “There is absolutely no need for a serious newscast to be that boring. NPR has hit on a formula that’s intelligent but also keeps things moving.”