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NYT: Walter Cronkite dead at 92

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by cougargirl, Jul 17, 2009.

  1. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    They had Shuster and Maddow on from 8-10 p.m. EDT. Interviews with Rather and Brokaw and others. A lot of b-roll. A pre-taped obit from Williams and Lauer. And it's easy to bash on MSNBCs pathetic weekend coverage, their ratings on the weekends are pretty damn good, in some cases better than the numbers from their weekday programming.
     
  2. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    Abe Vigoda outlived another one. RIP.
     
  3. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member


    Not at all certain Ed will be too happy to see him . . . Uncle Walter and Murrow had serious
    differences which never healed.
     
  4. Ben_Hecht

    Ben_Hecht Active Member

    Would see him around some big events, but only had one sustained personal interaction with him,
    sitting some three feet away from him for about two hours. Betsy watched over him like a hawk -- that was HER job. An absolutely charming guy, in a social setting -- he knew what he was, and played the role to the hilt.
     
  5. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    Too bad he died 3 days before the 40th anniversary of our moon landing. That's what my folks remember most.
     
  6. Birdscribe

    Birdscribe Active Member

    Very true, Breaker of Leopold and Loeb. Murrow didn't respect Cronkite, largely because unlike Sevareid, Shirer, Collingwood and others, Cronkite wasn't one of "Murrow's Boys."

    Never mind that Cronkite cut his teeth covering some of the same events -- the European Theater -- that Murrow and Co. did. This was a man who when he was writing for the UP, went on a B-17 bombing mission over Germany. Keep in mind that Cronkite did this at a time where the Eighth Air Force would lose upwards of 30% of its planes on any given mission.

    From there, Cronkite covered the Battle of the Bulge, the Rhine campaign and other garden spots. And he was reluctant to make the move to TV, because he had ink in his veins and literally ate up the wire service lifestyle with a spoon.

    The thing about Cronkite was he LIVED, absolutely LIVED, for breaking news. The bigger the story, the calmer he was; his open rooting on a space liftoff aside. He earned the inside-CBS nickname of "Iron Pants" because during big stories like the JFK assassination or a space launch, he'd sit at his anchor desk for hours, processing news, then delivering it to the public.

    The man defined the term "broadcast journalist." He was an integral part of the soundtrack of my childhood; watching him over my aunt and uncle's house before dinner, or with my dad at our place. You wanted to know what was going on in the world, what was important, Walter Cronkite was the man you listened to.

    He anchored and tossed stories to a team of reporters that won't ever be equaled: Rather, Mudd, Sevareid, Reasoner, Pierpoint, Collingwood, Burdett -- just to name a few. A veritable Murderer's Row of journalists, all of whom could write and report circles around their competition then -- or now.

    RIP, Uncle Walter.
     
  7. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    One of my favorite Cronkite stories is when right after he reported on the JFK assassination in tears, he goes back to his office and answers the phone.

    A woman is on the other end complaining about 'That Walter Cronkite and his crocodile tears' (I'm paraphrasing here).

    Cronkite answers, "Madam, this is Walter Cronkite, and you are a (unkind word)." And hangs up.

    RIP to a journalistic legend.

    And I also noticed that the oldest man in the world died at 113 years of age in Englandm a World War I veteran. A big part of me thinks that Walter's first interview in heaven is with that man.
     
  8. Rosie

    Rosie Active Member

    Last night, as I was reading the story about Cronkite's passing, both my near-adult teens, at separate times, asked me, "Who's Walter Cronkite?"

    I could have cried.

    He was the best at what he did, as far as I'm concerned.

    RIP.
     
  9. PaperDoll

    PaperDoll Well-Known Member

    The New York Yankees just had a moment of silence in memory of Walter Cronkite before the game. I have never been in such a silent press box.

    May the newsman's newsman rest in peace.
     
  10. You know, I had that very thought when I heard about Cronkite's passing late last night. It almost seems kind of fitting that he leaves us on the anniversary of one of the many events that best defined his career (along with the JFK assassination, Vietnam, etc.).

    The moment I'll always remember was when the camera went to him shortly after Armstrong's "small step for man" and you could tell he could barely contain him excitement and awe of the moment. Made him more human in my eyes.

    RIP Walter Cronkite.
     
  11. Another message board I often visit also brought up this subject. Between Cronkite and the others you mentioned, there were also others like Chet Huntley, Howard K. Smith, Harry Reasoner and John Chancellor just to name a few.

    It was perhaps the "Greatest Generation" of the profession. And now we've lost perhaps the greatest of them all.
     
  12. D-3 Fan

    D-3 Fan Well-Known Member

    Ben, I was never aware of the animosity between Murrow and Cronkite. I generally mentioned Murrow because he was part of that era.

    Cronkite was never one of Murrow's boys, eh? I never got the impression that he was part of the Murrow cabal in WWII.
     
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