There has been a lot of talk in recent years about the role of the media, but regardless of that conversation, journalism lost its voice today. I never watched Walter Cronkite live on the nightly news, but his broadcasts still resonate as strongly as they did when he was behind the CBS news desk nearly three decades ago. The emotion in his voice while announcing President Kennedy's death, and the glee he showed while waiting for Neil Armstrong to step foot on the moon set him apart. He held sway with a generation that trusted its newsmen, especially when he declared that the Vietnam War could not be won after the Tet Offensive in 1968. Imagine if an anchor would say those words today.But anything said on this blog is wholly inadequate to a legendary journalist. All that can be said here is that he will be missed by many.
I found this quote from Walter Cronkite in a recent interview with Larry King. I think it epitomizes the spirit of a professional journalist. In fact, weren't we just talking about this yesterday?
ReplyDelete"We all have prejudices, but we also understand how to set them aside when we do the job."
Hopefully the media will spend as much time reflecting on this man's life as it did about Michael Jackson.
I always liked the story about his "What the hell is going on?" statement he made, thinking he was off-air while reports of the Tet Offensive were crossing his desk. When Cronkite doubted U.S. claims it was winning the Vietnam War, so did the nation.
ReplyDeleteUncle Walter is taking a post-mortum beating via the right wing revisionist media... Apparently (according to talk radio) he was what was wrong with the world until that fateful day in 1989 (88?) when a porcine feller with a penchant for pills and Dominican whores took to the airwaves...
ReplyDeleteObviously the right-wing media thinks that the Vietnam War was a good thing and the Kennedy assassination was a happy occasion. Those talk radio hacks have no shame.
ReplyDelete