Cronkite: A Cool Drummer, Too

Role in 9/11 health bill points to journalism's greats

(NEWSER) - By taking up a cause—the 9/11 health bill—and getting quick results, Jon Stewart is following in the footsteps of news greats and "advocacy journalists" Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite, professor of television Robert Thompson tells the New York Times . Murrow helped shift public opinion on the Sen. Joseph McCarthy hearings; Cronkite’s views on the stalemate in Vietnam influenced Lyndon Johnson's decision not to run for reelection. Though Thompson acknowledges the fact that Stewart's impact doesn't yet measure up to Murrow and Cronkite's, he argues that the comparison is a valid one, because barring Stewart’s help, the bill would likely have floundered. More»

TV legend directed Cronkite, Murrow in nearly 60 years at CBS

(NEWSER) - Don Hewitt, one of the pioneers of TV news, died today at 86 of pancreatic cancer, CBS reports. Hewitt all but invented television news over the course of his more than 60-year career, directing legends Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite. He was behind the 1968 launch of 60 Minutes, and directed the first televised presidential debate—something he later came to regret, believing it started a corrosive relationship between politicians and TV. More»

(NEWSER) - In an absurd world, maybe the only people we can trust are the comedians. A Time.com poll asked readers who the most trusted newscaster in America is, now that Walter Cronkite has passed on. The overwhelming response? Jon Stewart. The Daily Show maestro took 44% of the 9,409 votes, trouncing Brian Williams’ 29%, Charlie Gibson’s 19%, and Katie Couric’s 7%. More»

(NEWSER) - The tributes are pouring in for Walter Cronkite:

• Howard Kurtz, Washington Post: His "passing, in the end, is the passing of an era, an era of black-and-white television, of mass audiences, of a slower time when the country waited for the headlines at 6:30 in the evening. No anchor—no journalist—will ever wield that authority again."
• Jim Poniewozik, Time: He "was so thoroughly and uniquely linked with the word 'trust' that it is tempting to say that the word should be buried with him."

(NEWSER) - Walter Cronkite, the CBS anchorman who revolutionized television news for a generation, died today at age 92, CBS News reports. He had suffered a long illness and was at home in New York with his family. Cronkite helmed the CBS Evening News throughout the 1960s and '70s, guiding America through the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, and President Nixon's resignation. “It is impossible to imagine CBS News, journalism or indeed America without Walter Cronkite,” CBS News President Sean McManus told the New York Times. More»