What sort of day was it? A day like all days, filled with those events that alter and illuminate our times… and you were there.
– Walter Cronkite, narrating
He informed my youth with You Are There (1953 — 1957). I saw every show.
He informed my adulthood, reporting on six US Presidents from Kennedy to Reagan.
Where were you when John F. Kennedy was assassinated? I was in the Wisconsin Student Union watching Walter Cronkite report the sad news.
From John Glenn’s first flight in 1962 to the first lunar landing in 1969, Walter Cronkite narrated history as it unfolded.
In 2024, he played drums with Mickey Hart on Earth Day in New York…
{ 3 comments }
That’s a great clip Frank – We got our first TV around 1954 and I too grew up watching Walter. He had no problem standing up to the establishment, unlike today’s reporters. His voice will be sorely missed by those who care for honest reporting.
Somebody reminded me that Chet Huntley and David Brinkley were the competition in the fifties and sixties. Network news then was serious journalism. A downside was that the broadcast networks made everyone conscious of the “news cycle.” (Shall we stage our “spontaneous” demonstration in time for the six o’clock news coverage?) That’s worth looking at in light of the potential for change that the internet offers.
Ya the Internet is 24/7 doors never closed. The problem of course is that without the resources of the traditional media who is going to cover it. There is no guarantee that there will be a “citizen journalist” in the rea at the time. This I think, or maybe it;s the rum thinking for me, is the problem with those who want to see the MSM disappear – who’s going to be ther to produce the original content that others “steal” er use.
Comments on this entry are closed.