Walter Cronkite
Posted: Fri Jul 17, 2009 11:18 pm
"Uncle Walter", father of populist television network journalism, at age 92. Cronkite laid down a brisk 30 minutes every weeknight, during an era when access to real-time coverage was restricted to what radio could provide...and Walter Cronkite's steady hand at the public trust. He lived FCC ideals on stewardship of CBS newscasts. Cronkite covered and helped a nation understand events ranging from the Kennedy assassination to manned spaceflight and the morass of complicated events unfolding in Vietnam.
As a young man, I felt I was being fed as unbiased and concise a roundup of national and world news possible with Cronkite at the helm. His frank interviews and investigative reports, post CBS, confirmed how we were transitioning into an infotainment industry, lacking the professionalism Walter Cronkite embodied...and only regained control of our news sources via the expanded internet. I only hope America has a 'Michael Jackson'-like sense of intraspection this weekend--examining those we pay to inform us--and evaluate these businesses in light of what Cronkite stood for....
As a young man, I felt I was being fed as unbiased and concise a roundup of national and world news possible with Cronkite at the helm. His frank interviews and investigative reports, post CBS, confirmed how we were transitioning into an infotainment industry, lacking the professionalism Walter Cronkite embodied...and only regained control of our news sources via the expanded internet. I only hope America has a 'Michael Jackson'-like sense of intraspection this weekend--examining those we pay to inform us--and evaluate these businesses in light of what Cronkite stood for....