I imagine if you grew up after Walter Cronkite

[Are_grits_groceries]

left CBS, you may have a hard time understanding the fierce emotions of love and respect we have for Walter Cronkite.

You have seen this lot on teevee:
Bill O'Reilly
Sean Hannity
Glen Beck
Lou Dobbs
David Gregory
Andrea Mitchell
Brian Williams
Katie Couric
George Stephanopolis
Greta Van Susteren
other Fox pimps
Joe Scarborough
Keith Olberman
Rachel Maddow
Dylan Ratigan
Norah O'Donnell
Campbell Brown
Wolf Blitzer
John King
Anderson Cooper
Alex Witt
And many, many more.

I like a few that I have listed, but they don't come close to being a newsman like Cronkite. I know some of them are "pundits", but there is no there there anymore.
They are who we see. We no longer see what is happening. It is being filtered through the omnipresent hosts.

We don't see what's happening in Iraq. We are told what is happening. We don't see stories about the homeless. We are told about the homeless (maybe). We don't see the people who have no health care. We are told stories here and there.

What is on teevee is generally presented in the same way that news is presented in countries run by dictators. We are fed what will bring ratings. Michael Jackson brings ratings so there is 24/7 coverage for days when he dies. The media may not be state run, but at this point so little real work is done, that at times it might as well be.

We saw Vietnam. We saw the horrors inflicted on people demanding their civil rights. We saw the protests against the war. There were people who were anchors and reporters, but they made the story the focus. We can't say that we saw or felt the horror just like someone in the middle of these events. However, we got a real dose of it.

We don't have real news much anymore. We have people talking at us, and we don't hear a word they say.

[havocmom]

1. Thank you. Most eloquent

and tragically true.

No news on now. Just bread and circus.

And that's the way it is, Friday, July 17, 2009

[Wednesdays]

2. K&R

:kick:

[POAS]

3. Fortunately for my generation

we had many such voices as Walter's although he was surely at the top of the heap.

Unfortunately for today's generations we have precious few such people.

"and that's the way it is"!

[blondeatlast]

24. Very true. Real journalists who knew how to get to the meat of the matter

in 22 minutes--and we knew far, far more about what was going on than we do now.

[POAS]

34. I was always partial to

Huntley-Brinkley myself, but all the networks (all three) really competed to get the story, now they compete for ratings.

[blondeatlast]

35. That's who my mom and dad watched nightly, but for breaking news, and were there ever

many of them in that era, they tuned to Walter.

[suzie]

43. Walter Cronkite loved the space program.

When he reported on it, he was so excited about it that his excitement transmitted to the rest of us.

He also loved sailing--I have a lovely book by him about it.

Do any of the current people seem like they even like their children or their dogs, much less anything else going on in American society?

It was nice to have someone who reported all kinds of tragedy--and their was plenty of that, but also shared his joy at something that wasn't politics, war, assassination,natural disaster.

[POAS]

44. I'd expand your question

to ask "does America take joy in anything today?"

It seems we wallow incessantly in the direness of our existence.

[csziggy]

49. Miles O'Brien was really into the space program and aviation

But when CNN closed their science section, he was fired along with all their other science savvy personnel. The other day while they were waiting for the launch of the shuttle the news anchor on whichever channel I was watching did not understand why there were "windows" in which the shuttle had to be launched in order to rendezvous with the space station. The veteran reporter at the Cape tried to explain it and the news model just flat out did not understand.

No wonder Americans believe in crap like Creationism and UFOs - few of the people who should be educating this country know any better themselves. And I include not just the news spokes models but our teachers, the reporters for papers, radio and TV, the channels that claim to have science shows, and our publishing industry. We seldom get explanations for how the world works and often if we do, the science is not correct.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. We don't hear them

because they have nothing to say............................

[drm604]

5. Very well said.

We went to the Moon with this man.

[Are_grits_groceries]

12. I don't think I have really understood

what we have lost until tonight.

I never thought a lot about Walter Cronkite after he left CBS unless his name came up. He was one of those people who made me feel better just because in the back of my mind somewhere I knew he was around. I think I have a place in my brain for people like that. They make up a sturdy foundation that I subconsciously rely on. I have friends I haven't seen in years there. I have strangers I have read about there because they are working selflessly for the greater good.

I sometimes believe the only reason I don't get in the bed and stay there after reading horrible news is because I have my stack of "good people" built up as a buffer. When someone like a Walter Cronkite passes, my stack is smaller, and I feel that loss. I have to keep it replenished, and sometimes it seems as if I won't add anybody for a while.

Yes I am crazy. It is just my quirky way to handle the world we live in.

[JI7]

6. i grew up after the Cronkite days but i do understand his importance

and how low we have fallen with the media.

[Rick Myers]

7. He WAS the NEWS....

And that's the way it is... So many memories. I barely remember the JFK footage... But Apollo was WC's love...

[fortyfeetunder]

8. Agree. There was no one like Walter Cronkite.

He set the bar for journalism integrity. Not sure what it would take to get back there again....

[argyl]

9. Comparing Cronkite's sincere grief at JFK's assassination with Glenn Beck's pissy little

rants and sobfests induces a gag reflex.

[Historic NY]

10. They all bloviate to impress, Walter told us what we need to know.

[chill_wind]

11. It was a time of greater truthfulness

in reporting and the death of it, so long ago now, has been damaging beyond our kids' likely realization.

National news reporting then that was revered as important and somewhat halfway objective and trustworthy in households form east to west and north to south. We don't have reporters now. We have pundits and factionalists.

[Individualist]

13. Agree. LBJ: "That's it. If I' ve lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America."

He reported the truth regardless of who was in the White House.

[upi402]

14. I saw Cronkite announce the Kennedy Assassination

and have a gut feeling that the same forces that killed Kennedy, killed democracy by corporatizing TV news.
I miss him.

[Stinky The Clown]

15. KnR - very eloquently stated

[MichiganVote]

16. K&R

[Vidar]

17. Thank you. Beautifully stated.

News at least tried to be the truth, on all three networks--and Cronkite was the very best at speaking the truth.

[malletgirl02]

18. Thank you for posting this

I grew up after Walter Cronkite, and as with many people like me am very cynical about the news,e especially televised news. I learned about Walter Cronkite in school. I also recall see snippets of him on TV. Just from those small moments I could tell he was a great journalist. I'm very disappointed not to been able fully experience his reporting.

[spanone]

19. i watched cronkite fight back tears as he announced president Kennedy was dead.

he must have been horrified at what his profession has deteriorated into.

[Cha]

20. I know..someone times being

older has its perks.:)

"other fox pimps":rofl:

[peacetalksforall]

21. I just finished writing something that would follow what you wrote. I'm going to

copy it here because it parallels what you wrote.

It's nice that he passed from this life knowing that many people honored him the way they do.

Class. He had class.

I must talk about myself, him, and tv. I was born before tv so I watched all of newscasters. Yes that is what they were called. Today's young don't understand what older people observed. Most of my posts on DU are rants against the networks because I, like many, know how far they have fallen. They privatized our air waves and what you're seeing is not what it used to be.

Now we have war corporations owning the news. It wasn't perfect then and I'm sure there are texts and courses that have dissected the ways it wasn't fair, but it seemed fair. The newscasters and their stations displayed sensitivity towards people's differing positions.

When there were issues of choice - the networks and the papers would lay out the issues and give the pros and cons or even graph the issues. We were given both sides. I yearn for those days. We were educated, not brainwashed.

I think there are at least three posts a day on DU pointing out what can be called the latest atrocities of failed journalism. We know how bad it is in our bones. During the last two decades, it was used to help impeach a President for a sex lie. It was used to help steal four elections, It was used to create a Patriot Act and a pretend war for corporations and military advancement. It was used as the stomping grounds for think tank proselytizers and lobbyists and guest experts of the DOD and so called non-profit religious cults.

I yearn for those days when we first listened and watched Cronkite. What happened is that we rose up to find the news for ourselves, to seek the truth and it has worked and is working.

I never knew what ranting was about until our criminal leaders allowed all the privatization. We have lost much.

Now we have lost him. I hope I will hear great stories about him and receive leads on what to stream.

I am going to be watching and listening for leads on comments he has made on the current state of tv news. The one thing I know is that when I hear his words I will acknowledge them as coming from a gentlemen. The way it used to be.

Thank you, Walter Cronkite.

[Are_grits_groceries]

22. If the media in all forms had been

paying attention, a lot of the ugly problems we have now would have come to light before they grew bigger. If the clowns we have now were around for Watergate, it would still be just an unimportant building in DC.

[chill_wind]

23. Nice page of respects and nostalgia from everyday people tonite at NYT

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/walter-cronkite-iconic-anchorman-dies/?apage=11

More related links at the bottom.

“For the TV generation he invented the collective experience of the news. We all watched him every day at the same time, experiencing it in a national syncopation. Growing up in the 1960s was bewildering, but Walter Cronkite provided a voice of reason in the wilderness. How else could we, as a nation, get through 3 assassinations, a moon landing, riots, and the Viet Nam war. He was an indelible imprint on the national psyche.”
–Robyne

“rip, mr. cronkite. you helped make me the news junkie i am happy to be.”
–nyer

[tilsammans]

36. Another news junkie here . . .

. . . and it's also because of Walter Cronkite.

[blondeatlast]

25. I always imagine what would happen if Watergate occurred in this day and age,

but I think I know: we wouldn't know a gd thing about it; it would remain a mere break-in.

It was the press that stopped the war then and the press brought down a president. Now they simply haven't got the time.

I was a mere toddler and yet I remember Walter shedding those tears because I remember my mom's reaction--she finally knew that it wasn't just a rumor, John F. Kennedy really was dead. I was too young to comprehend it all but in retrospect I remember as if it happened yesterday. Imagine Walter, or Harry Resoner, or Howard K. Smith, or Huntley and Brinkley broadcasting 9/11.

Can we ever have real journalism anymore? Sadly, I think not. It's a damn shame, a damn shame.

[Are_grits_groceries]

26. I think the closest we come anymore to seeing real events

are the videos posted on the web. We may not get commentary and perspective, but at least we see what is happening.

It may be up to us now to try to fill a small part of the void left by Walter Cronkite. I don't believe there is a more fitting tribute than recording and posting what is going on in the world.

[chill_wind]

27. Links to four of his most remembered (posted last eve).

Assassination of President Kennedy (1963)

Assasination of Martin Luther King (1968)

Lunar landing (1969)

Stalemate in Vietnam (1968)


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6092558&mesg_id=6092558

[Z_I_Peevey]

29. Absolutely...citizen journalists

will have to carry on, because Big Media surely will not.

[hfojvt]

28. I notice you didn't put Diamond Dan on the list

He hasn't been forcibly retired all that long.

One of the things that really made Uncle Walter so iconic was the fact that we only had 4 choices. CBS, ABC, NBC and PBS. I am not even sure there was a PBS news at the time either. I cannot remember who Cronkite's competitors were either. There must have been anchors on the other stations, but probably something like 70% of the country was watching Walter if they were watching news. That's the way it was.

Except for the muckrakers on 60 Minutes though, the news was probably just as corporate as it is now.

[Are_grits_groceries]

30. If it was as corporate,

they certainly didn't filter a lot of things. All we would have known about Vietnam would have been "handled." We saw the actual events unfolding because reporters were there.

The major news companies hadn't been bought out by a bigger group such as GE or Disney. Now they are just a part in a much larger organization. They are answering to people whose main concern isn't the news. They want profits and ratings so they mold the "news" to fit what will attract people, ie Michael Jackson.

It would be interesting to see a channel that reported the news like it was done years ago. My first thought is that it would never fly, but who knows. Instead of faux "breaking news" every minute, reports would be given every 30 minutes. In between there would be longer and more in depth looks at topics such as mountaintop mining in WV. By long I mean 15 minutes or so. Reporters would have time to really present a story. Breaking news would be just that. Some major event and not the latest car chase in LA.

It sounds like 60 minutes, but it would be somewhere in between. In the case of Mark Sanford, people would learn a lot more about his governing style and why he isn't out of office yet. The violence Chicago is experiencing would be given more time. It wouldn't be just another scorecard of shootings and victims.

ESPN has tried this with E60. They do 4 stories in an hour, and the reporters talk about what they learned and other interesting things we don't normally hear. That part of the show is a real plus. The reporters don't become the story, but you learn more about who they really are and how they are affected. When I see them later reporting other news, I know they aren't just talking heads put out front because they may look good or whatever.

Yeah I know....but I can dream can't I?

[NashVegas]

32. The News Department Was Always Treated As a "Loss Leader"

But when broadcasters had "public interest, convenience, and necessity" as their mantra, it was tolerated as long as the awards were brought home. When CNN and "Current Affairs" became profitable, AND got some prestige, that wasn't as allowable.

[tilsammans]

37. TV news should be about NEWS, period.

NOT about ratings, personalities, and (:puke:) "opinion shapers."

[Blue_In_AK]

42. The other news anchors of the time

were Huntley & Brinkley on NBC and Hugh Downs, I believe, on ABC.

[PSzymeczek]

46. Frank Reynolds and Howard K. Smith on ABC

I think Hugh was on the Today Show at the time.

[Blue_In_AK]

47. You're probably right.

It's been a long time ago, and I always watched CBS.

[DesertRat]

31. Very well said. k&r

[time4me2fly]

33. I am in the in-between period, before these people

I think Dan Rather was a wonderful journalist (even if he didn't know the frequency). I also enjoyed Peter Jennings. Locally, there have been several names I can think of that were amazing at their profession.

[livetohike]

39. A belated welcome to DU!

:hi:

[Milspec]

38. Everyone on that list

fail to even come close to Cronkite.

[Triana]

40. Absolutely. I remember Walter Cronkite well....

..showing my age I guess. Actual news people - and REAL journalism and reporting of the news as public service is GONE - except perhaps with the exception of PBS/Bill Moyers/Democracy Now - which are by and large marginalized in favor of corprat-pwn3d media.

It's sad to see the last of them go.

[Blue_In_AK]

41. Very well said. n/t

[Spazito]

45. Well said!

Recommended.

[IcyPeas]

48. Did they care about "ratings" back in those days like...

they do now? This is a real question.... does anyone know the answer to that? ?

It's very disappointing that CNN gives us the same plep as Entertainment Tonight or TMZ!! I mean really! It's ratings, ratings, ratings. I don't think News Programs should be based on ratings. they should be based on NEWS!! Can you just even imagine if Walter Cronkite was around now and HAD to report on Michael Jackson -- it's unfathomable. It's a joke. The problem is what is considered "news" now.

[horseshoecrab]

56. they had ratings then

and they cared about them. The Nielsen ratings started back in the 1940s in radio.

I think what changed was the 24 hour news networks and the other new "news" outlets introed by the dawn of cable TV. Lots of places with lots of time to fill up.

There's a great piece written by Bob Dylan; the liner notes for his CD, "World Gone Wrong" where he talks about a time "before the world of entertainment exploded in our faces." That about sums up what has happened to us with 24 hour news looking to kill time for us.


horseshoecrab

[Jennicut]

50. I grew up way after Cronkite was retired by I love him.

He was one of a kind.

[pnwmom]

51. We still have Bill Moyers, thank goodness. n/t

[pipi_k]

52. One thing we never got from Walter Cronkite...

lame and asinine chit chat with other idiot "anchor newspersons".


It's not even news anymore these days. It's fucking entertainment, if you can call it that.

Just stop the stinkin' bantering and give us the goddamned news already!!!!

[Greylyn58]

53. Very well stated!

You have stated everything I have felt about the nightly(and daily)news for a long time.

I think over the last 20 years the news, truly isn't the news I grew up with anymore, with Cronkite, Huntley and Brinkley, Howard K Smith, and a few others.

Walter Cronkite was the best and he will be missed.

And that's the way it is, July 18, 2009... :(

[PretzelWarrior]

54. I think Peter Jennings was a great model. Not as good as Cronkite...but solid.

KnR your thread.

[horseshoecrab]

55. absolutely "talking at us"

Well said. Great post!


horseshoecrab


:kick: