So did the Most Trusted Man in America manipulate the news?

[GuessWho]

I grew up watching Walter Cronkite and was a big fan. Still am. But this is interesting.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts2067

Legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite allegedly collaborated with anti-Vietnam War activists in the 1960s, going so far as to offer advice on how to raise the public profile of protests and even pledging CBS News resources to help pull off events, according to FBI documents obtained by Yahoo! News.

 

[YGBFKM]

No ****.

 

[Football_Bat]

He never did what he didn't get caught at.

 

[Tucsondriver]

If true, which I assume, they're no better than FOX. This also lends some credibility to Bernard Goldberg's depiction of a politically charged culture at CBS.

 

[CR19]

Even one of the most trusted journalists in America deliberately influenced the news. That says a lot about the place (or lack thereof) for ethics in journalism.

 

[Smasher_Sloan]

How do I know Hoover's FBI didn't manipulate this report?

 

[Elliotte Friedman]

With Smasher on this one. Cronkite can't offer a defence.

 

[CR19]

With Smasher on this one. Cronkite can't offer a defence.

Good point. When I think about it, Cronkite thought more of ethics during his prime than any commentator these days.

 

[YankeeFan]

How do I know Hoover's FBI didn't manipulate this report?

Wouldn't they have used it against him then?

You really think there plan was to produce some false evidence against him and hold onto it for 40 years?

Why, that's diabolical.

 

[Azrael]

Used what against him? When?

The FBI files are littered with bull**** fourth-hand fictions like these.

J Edgar Hoover: the closeted, cross-dressing embodiment of American paranoia.

 

[steveu]

Anyone who has heard Cronkite talk over the years knows the man is an unabashed liberal when it comes to certain topics. That said, I still enjoyed him as CBS News anchor.

 

[BTExpress]

And regardless of any liberal-conservative stance, it's likely the war was a hopeless quagmire in his eyes, and he just reported it as such. I'm sure there were at least a few staunch conservatives who saw it as such.

Ivory tower ethics aside, human beings report these things, and it's impossible to set aside every bias 100 percent of the time.

 

[Brian]

And regardless of any liberal-conservative stance, it's likely the war was a hopeless quagmire in his eyes, and he just reported it as such. I'm sure there were at least a few staunch conservatives who saw it as such.

Ivory tower ethics aside, human beings report these things, and it's impossible to set aside every bias 100 percent of the time.

Why, that's...nuanced.

KILL HIM!!!!

/21st Century America

 

[Baron Scicluna]

How do I know Hoover's FBI didn't manipulate this report?

Wouldn't they have used it against him then?

You really think there plan was to produce some false evidence against him and hold onto it for 40 years?

Why, that's diabolical.

Maybe they wanted to hold on to it because they didn't want it known that they were spying on journalists?

 

[Ben_Hecht]

Used what against him? When?

The FBI files are littered with bull**** fourth-hand fictions like these.

J Edgar Hoover: the closeted, cross-dressing embodiment of American paranoia.

Repressed self-loathing, personified.

 

[beardpuller]

And regardless of any liberal-conservative stance, it's likely the war was a hopeless quagmire in his eyes, and he just reported it as such. I'm sure there were at least a few staunch conservatives who saw it as such.

Ivory tower ethics aside, human beings report these things, and it's impossible to set aside every bias 100 percent of the time.

Why, that's...nuanced.

KILL HIM!!!!

/21st Century America

Along those lines, how did that whole Vietnam thing turn out, anyway? I forget.

 

[sportsguydave]

Any of our friends who want to get all high and mighty over this might want to stop and consider what a cesspool of bull**** the 60s-era FBI turned out to be.

Manipulating the news? Hey, somebody get a Ouija board, contact Walter and tell him Fox has a job offer for him. They've perfected that art.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

And regardless of any liberal-conservative stance, it's likely the war was a hopeless quagmire in his eyes, and he just reported it as such. I'm sure there were at least a few staunch conservatives who saw it as such.

Ivory tower ethics aside, human beings report these things, and it's impossible to set aside every bias 100 percent of the time.

Why, that's...nuanced.

KILL HIM!!!!

/21st Century America

Along those lines, how did that whole Vietnam thing turn out, anyway? I forget.

Lyndon's ego got in the way of common sense . . . but, hey . . . that was Lyndon.

 

[Sic semper tyrannis]

Any of our friends who want to get all high and mighty over this might want to stop and consider what a cesspool of bull**** the 60s-era FBI turned out to be.

Manipulating the news? Hey, somebody get a Ouija board, contact Walter and tell him Fox has a job offer for him. They've perfected that art.

God bless this sanity of perspective.
Otherwise, let's all of us who aren't qualified to wipe his ass pass judgment on Walter Cronkite. The man was Bill O'Reilly before his time ... apparently.

 

[HanSenSE]

And don't forget the clandestine meetings with Huntley and Brinkley and Frank Reynolds too, so they'd all stay on message. It was all a big media conspiracy.