RIP Walter Cronkite: Passing of an icon whose era passed long before

What strikes me most about the death of legendary news anchor Walter Cronkite -- a death the journalism world has been anticipating for weeks -- are a couple of thoughts:

First, though Cronkite passed away on Friday night, the just-the-facts journalism he advocated throughout his career left the industry long before he was gone, replaced by an emotive, audience-seeking display that newsmen from his generation would have found demeaning and a bit unprofessional.

How quaint it seems now to hear of the earthquake Cronkite caused by voicing his loss of confidence in the Vietnam War. These days, we're inundated with anchors' opinions on everything from Michael Jackson's final days to the chihuahua with a fork stuck in his head.

Of course, they rarely voice opinions on something momentous as an ongoing war -- unless that opinion is so obvious, it's unlikely to ruffle any viewers or sponsors. So viewers are treated to both a deluge of opinion on things that don't matter and a crushing lack of opinion on the issues that matter most.

When I speak on the shape of modern TV news, I usually pronounce Barbara Walters a bigger influence on today's television journalists -- mostly because her taste for emotionalism and celebrity seem a bigger part of what we all do now, especially on TV.

Secondly, Cronkite's passing was reported as imminent a month ago, starting with a story on the TvNewser Web site -- written by a journalist pushed out of a big city newspaper; how modern is that?

But, as the journalism world prepared for the death at any moment of its biggest remaining old school icon, Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, Fred Travalena, and Karl Malden all left us first.

There's a telling parable about the shape of modern news reporting in there somewhere. I hope, wherever he is now, Cronkite is enjoying the delicious irony of it all.

Click here to see CBS's involved, interactive feature on their seminal star. Look below to see the obit. *

  

Comments

[DoctorDoom]

The sad part of this is the reminder of how far journalism has fallen.

Rather than fall all over themselves to spin ideas they are sympathetic to, they would challenge and reports facts rather than opinions.

But what else do you expect when the President can say in a room full journalists, "most of you voted for me" and no one doubts that is true.

[harvey]

James:
And did you notice that Obama referred to Cronkite as "Walter"?
Were they pals?

[james]

What a major disappointment Sunday night's CBS tribute to Walter Cronkite turned out to be; and I'm guessing the great man himself might have been uncomfortable at least and downright disgusted at most over the slapped together superficiality of this so-called tribute that turned out to be nothing more than fawning broadcasters looking to outshine each other.

Not once was an average viewer invited or permitted to speak about Mr. Cronkite and his influence (or lack of it) on them or their family. Not once was anyone across towns, neighborhoods and the praire of America allowed to recount how they invited this journalist into their homes each night and how his work then formed the basis of their comfort, security and well being, based merely on the words and reporting of a not-so-pretty-boy on the tube that changed America, with Cronkite being the face of that journalistic revolution.

I guess the average Joe (or Joanne's) opinion was just too low brow and unimportant for the mighty Columbia Broadcasting System.

Instead, a steady stream of television "notables" past and present, including a couple of Mr. Cronkite's co-workers (all in front of the camera, with the exception of Don Hewitt) were permitted to try and out-ellocute each other with their canned admirations.

Robin Williams was allegedly a friend of Walter Cronkite. Wow. Now there's an authority on American culture we needed to hear from, again and again and again.

Even with that, there were no newspaper colleagues, no print reporters at all to speak of his influence on their careers or their lives in anyway, even though early in the piece, Mr. Cronkite spoke of his love for newspapers and how that work shaped his career. This was an astounding exclusion.

There were no childhood friends, no neighbors, no....yachtsmen, for God's sake. But they did manage to squeeze in President Obama at the end and his half dozen Teleprompter lines.

Cronkite was the most trusted man in America because of the very viewers shutout of the network's tribute to him.

One can't blame that audience, then, if their cynicism grows and their trust of what they see on TV shrinks to a new low following this failed hour in the very medium Cronkite so admirably helped create.

[Mr. News]

Walter Cronkite and Ed Murrow were the two biggest influences on my life and career. I remember watching Cronkite nearly lose it while reporting JFK's death- I was nine. I used to watch the weekly series he narrated, "The 20th Century", which instilled a love of history. As a child, I also had a book called "Digging For Dinosaurs" with a slide show and 33 rpm recording narrated by Cronkite. When I had a show on community radio station WCBN in Ann Arbor in the early 1980's, I called it "Digging For Dinosaurs" and always opened with a clip of Walter sonorously intoning about the mighty Tyrannosaurus Rex. When I met Cronkite at an RTNDA function in the early 1990s, I tried not to be TOO awestruck, and reminded him of the dinosaur book narration he had done in the 1950s. In that Cronkite chuckle of his he said: "Oh, I'd forgotten all about that old thing." RIP Walter, one of the greatest Journalists of the 20th century.

[dreaming]

not everything that's new is better. and being more of the moment, doesn't make it good.

i find myself yearning more for some of things that have been left behind in the name of progress: cds, real books instead if kindle, home cooking instead of junk food, newspeople who keep their dumb opinions to themselves, and maybe even newspapers, back when they came out twice a day.

oh no: am i over the hill already?

[james]

First, though Cronkite passed away on Friday night, the just-the-facts journalism he advocated throughout his career left the industry long before he was gone, replaced by an emotive, audience-seeking display that newsmen from his generation would have found demeaning and a bit unprofessional.

...as one who's trod those grapes in both print and broadcast, I couldn't agree more. I met Mr. Cronkite by chance about 4 years ago at the Kentucky Derby. His biggest thing during our interaction--impatience over how awestruck I was at the moment. Adieu good, faithful and passe servant..

[RagsTTiger]

In addition to his fondness for sailing, his boat was named "On Assignment," he was an avid amateur radio operator. His interest in the space program and all things technical was evident in many of his reports. When asked recently about\his thoughts on Twitter, the said he loved it, as it reminded him of his wire service days.

For history buffs, newspaper journalists of the era would send back stories to their editors via telegram. At that time Morse code was used, later replaced by teletype. To send a message one was charged by the letter for a telegram. To save money a shorthand evolved. These abbreviations have been used by amateur radio operators since the beginning of radio. This procedure was picked up by computer hobbyists to save time, due to the early slow baud rate days and now due to line length limitations on some services.