NYT: Walter Cronkite dead at 92

CBS is airing a special on Sunday at 7 p.m.
RIP Uncle Walter.
BTW, when did Katie Couric become Suze Orman's clone?

 

hondo, Lassie was a hero. Lassie had balls. A pit bull is just a pit bull. Lassie was the dog everyone trusted.

That's dooley's analogy. Re-read that and get back to us.

 

If I had any pull with a j-school, this would be part of the curriculum. This man showed how it was done, from making the transition from print to electronic media, to being the consummate newsman whether he had a pen or a mic.

Anecdote: From his autobiography, describing the prose he wrote on deadline: "It wasn't literature, but it was fast and it was accurate." Would that we all aspired to be fast and accurate.

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

Hah. They showed a pic of him at the anchor desk during a commercial break. The accompanying music? "The way it is," by Bruce Hornsby and the Range.

 

Great links. To hear Walter on the first 15 minutes or so of the JFK shooting, with the bulletin logo on the air, just his voice, is classic. Professional, calm, measured, no fancy graphics, no speculation, just say what you know. Again, should be required viewing for anyone on J-school or broadcasting.

 

Not a bad career for a guy who once broadcast football and even did PR for Braniff airlines. Who knew? RIP, Walter.

 

Jim Lovell says that when his wife was listening to news reports about the Apollo 13 crisis, she always had a choice. If she wanted to know the worst, she listened to ABC's Jules Bergman. If she needed some comfort and hope, she listened to Walter.

 

Sadly the last of the great ones. In a short time we went from Edward R. Murrow, Brinkley, Cronkite to what we have today. Even as a little kid, I remember sitting down with my folks to watch Cronkite. RIP to one of the greats.

 

Watching the JFK You Tube ... Walter had reports from the CBS Dallas affiliate, Dan Rather and one priest who gave Kennedy the last rites that he was dead, and Walter still wouldn't call it official until he had it. He cared more about being right than being first.

 

I had the honor of seeing him in person when I was a student at the Cronkite School at ASU. He came every year to speak to the j-students. It's one of those moments in my life I'll always remember.

Top-shelf journalist. Top-shelf American. Top-shelf human being. Not sure what else to say, really. It's a tragic loss but, if we could all live life half as well as he did, the world would be a finer place.

RIP Walter. You were a mentor to a generation.

 

RIP to the consummate professional.

Though he retired in '81, perhaps too soon, he got to live a long life after news, unlike some of his colleagues, who grew old in the profession or died young.

I don't think I even saw the NBC or ABC evening news until Cronkite retired. That's how much of institution he was.

 

From WW II to the Cold War to the JFK, MLK, RFK assassinations to the Civil Rights movement to Vietnam to the 68 Democratic Convention to the moon landing Watergate to Nixon's resignation to the Iran hostage crisis ... I doubt there's a journalist that will ever have a resume to match Walter Cronkite's.

RIP to the last great newsman.

 

I have to ask. Did MSNBC do anything during its pre-midnight programming to cover this?

Because I just flicked over during a break on CNN, and a documentary about Michael Jackson is on.

It's not the first time, and it probably won't be the last, when a major news story has broken, and MSNBC has had absolutely nothing. It's as though the entire network packs up for the weekend at midnight on Friday, and goes home, no matter what.