Lehrer brings Fed chair to KC for national town hall

Jim Lehrer is a veteran of the one-on-one interview with heads of state. The lead anchor of the PBS "NewsHour" sat down with the President last week to interrogate him about problems with his health care reform effort.

So when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said he was available to discuss public concerns with the economy, Lehrer could have simply booked a fancy office and a couple of Queen Anne chairs.

Instead, he and his "NewsHour" staff decided to hold the conversation in Kansas City -- and ask 40 local people to join in the questioning.

"One of the reasons we're doing this out in the country," Lehrer said by phone on Wednesday, "is it just makes more of an electrical exchange possible."

And judging from the electricity generated by talk radio and cable news programs, not to mention on Capitol Hill, there are plenty of people who want to ask questions of Bernanke. Besides being the man who is the face of the financial-sector bailout, he has come under fire for the Fed's failure to anticipate problems with the mortgage industry that led to the worldwide collapse of credit.

Bernanke's last charm offensive was earlier this year, when he agreed to a profile on "60 Minutes." This one, however, will remove the wall between the chairman of the Fed and we the people.

"This is absolutely the first time any Federal Reserve chairman has done this that anyone can remember," Lehrer said, adding his usual cautionary note at the end.

"I think the bad things that are happening in the economy are behind it. The Fed has always been a very important institution, but for most Americans it's had no connection to their lives. Bernanke, to his credit, recognizes that the Fed needs to be accountable to the public as well. The dialogue has opened up."

The session will be taped Sunday at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and segments will air on the "NewsHour" Monday through Wednesday. Then an one-hour special based on the Kansas City forum will air 7:30 p.m. Friday on KCPT and be offered to PBS stations nationwide.

"NewsHour" has been spotlighting cities across the country in recent months as a way of quantifying the effect of abstract Beltway-crowd issues on ordinary people. St. Louis got a "NewsHour" visit in May as the Obama Administration marked 100 days in office.

It helped Kansas City's cause that there is a shiny new Fed branch overlooking downtown, and that "NewsHour" could call on a trusted broadcast partner in KCPT. In 2004 the station was one of just 10 chosen to host citizen forums on foreign policy in a "NewsHour" initiative called "By the People."

"We have a good relationship with them," said KCPT's Nick Haines. "We are in the heart of the country, which helps us since media tends to be East and West Coast concentrated."

Haines is not only helping select audience members but shooting video around town. In addition to the Q-and-A session, which Lehrer will moderate, "NewsHour" economics correspondent Paul Solman will be on hand, and will produce several taped segments with a little Kansas City flavor to them.

Haines was asked to shoot pictures of some fountains as wallpaper for Solman while he talked about ... liquidity. He was also asked to shoot the shuttlecocks, too, for reasons you'll just have to tune in to see.

About 150 people will watch the taping, about 40 of whom will be ready to go with questions. They were chosen by "NewsHour" staff with help from KCPT. Lehrer said the audience will represent a broad range of people impacted by the economic downturn. In addition, Lehrer will ask Bernanke his own questions as well as those selected from emails sent to the "NewsHour."

Lehrer, who was born in Wichita and educated at the University of Missouri, has kept his ties to the region even as he has become the ultimate Washington insider, being asked to moderate virtually every presidential debate since 1992.

He still returns to Wichita to write books -- he is the author of two memoirs and 19 novels, including 2007's "Eureka," set on the blue highways of Kansas where he used to drive a bus for the company owned by his parents.

In May, "NewsHour" announced that the show would be renamed "PBS NewsHour" in the fall and that Lehrer would be joined by a co-anchor. He launched the "NewsHour" 35 years ago with a co-anchor, Robert MacNeil.

"I like Kansas City -- I grew up around there," said Lehrer. He searched for a felicitious phrase to describe "NewsHour's" coming to town.

"It was a natural act," he said. "A natural act. Let's just say that."