Monday 20 July 2009

THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS

I'll report on my 60th birthday expedition to Venice shortly, but first I must mark, with great respect, the passing of one of the finest communicators of the twentieth century...

WALTER CRONKITE
(1916-2009)

Americans growing up in the 50s and 60s had a pair of honorary uncles: Uncle Walt and Uncle Walter: the first dominated popular entertainment, the other popular journalism.

Both men - Walt Disney and Walter Cronkite - became, through the new medium of television, household names, familiar faces, essentially part of the family...

As CBS 'anchor-man' (the first journo to be given that title), Cronkite chronicled some of the greatest events in the history of his nation and the world. In doing so, he earned the trust of the common man and demonstrated the importance of qualities that are, nowadays, all too rarely associated with the journalist's craft: humanity and integrity.



It's a measure of Walter Cronkite's stature that, despite being retired for several years, his name and reputation live on in the memory of everyone - in and out of America - who ever watched one of his broadcasts.

He was, after all, quite simply an icon: and that's the way it is...

5 comments:

SharonM said...

Yes, alas his qualities are indeed pretty rare these days.

Susan D-L said...

Mr Cronkite retired when I was 20, so I literally grew up watching his broadcasts. He is forever linked in my mind with Vietnam, Apollo, Watergate.

Seeing the decline of TV news from then til today, I feel doubly lucky to have been watching when dignity and intelligence were still considered assets, not liablities.

Brian Sibley said...

SHARON M - You're right, of course, but I think that - whilst Cronkite was one the best (if not the best) - he represented what was the ethos of journalism in his day. And, thank God, he still has a number of true successors - on both sides of the Atlantic.

SUSAN D-L - It is fascinating when a journalist/broadcaster is associated with the news events they reported: in Britain it is equally true of Richard Dimbleby, David Frost and others. We not only remember where we were when we heard certain news stories, but also the journalist who told them to us...

Oscar Grillo said...

Today Cronkite, tomorrow 65.000 suferers from the swine flu, that is according to the goverment. Statistics are so unreliable!...

Brian Sibley said...

You're right, OSCAR, but that's the way it is...