I was saddened to hear of the passing of Walter Cronkite yesterday at 92.Like most people of my generation, I grew up with Cronkite. My earliest memories of him are of his reporting on the Kennedy assassination. As I grew up during the tumultuous 60's, Cronkite was there every night, telling us about the events of the day.
Cronkite became the most trusted man in America. When he turned against the Vietnam war, and urged a negotiated withdrawal, Lyndon Johnson reportedly said to Bill Moyers, "If we lost Cronkite, we lost middle America."
Cronkite retired from CBS News in 1981. Since then, American journalism has gone in the toilet. Not just broadcast, but print as well. It's all about sensationalism now. They don't cover real news. I'm totally convinced that if Watergate happened today, it would never see the light of day. In fact, I'm sure the Bush administration did shit that was much worse than anything Nixon ever did.
Farewell, Uncle Walter. We'll never see the likes of you again. No we'll never see the likes of you again.
1 comments:
I share your sorrow over the death of Walter Cronkite. Since I am somewhat older than you, I can recall his program on Sunday evenines called "The 20th Century". It can be seen on-line at:
www.museum.tv/archives/etv/T/.../the20thcent/the20thcent.htm
The sad shape of news reporting today is evident by the lack of scrutiny that the handling of the post 9/11 period got. Our television reporting (conservative and liberal) are just talking heads. The purpose of new reporting today is to sell advertising. Performance is the job qualifier. Print media just plain sucks.
So, thanks "Uncle Walter" for giving us a piece of our lives worth remembering.
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