Douglas Brinkley, professor of history at Rice University and author of Cronkite, talks about his biography of the news anchor called "the most trusted man in America."
Douglas Brinkley, professor of history at Rice University and author of Cronkite, talks about his biography of the news anchor called "the most trusted man in America."
Comments [16]
Nick from UWS: Thank you, my thoughts exactly. I listened very closely to hear a definitive answer and instead got the meandering tangents. Many who put themselves so high up on their own pedestals are simply too embarassed to honestly admit "I don't know". A shame, because it was a thoughtful question, well-asked.
Again you get it wrong, Brian. MSNBC v FOX is unbalanced at least. Yes the one is on the left and the other is on the right but the "lefty" one is in no way as "glued" to a party or the mouth piece as much as the other is to the right and not only the voice of the right leaning republicans but very often the policy makers of the republicans and, AND the liars of the republican right. You make it too convenient L v R for your centrist mind, the middle the mediocre mind that gets us nowhere.
A man phoned in with a quote. Brian asked the author directly "Did Cronkite say that?" The author then skips the question and starts telling stories. Why is it that modern people cannot under any circumstances answer a direct question with a direct answer? YES OR NO, DID CRONKITE SAY THAT? Jesus Christ, it's so tiring. The meaningless discourse of the politician has corroded every aspect of human communication.
Cronkite became a Limousine Liberal.
Cronkite was a hero commenting on the Vietnam war. Where were prominent journalists when Bush took the US into a war with Iraq?
Thanks so much for sharing the story of "...and that's the way it is." My parents watched Cronkite every night when I was a little girl. I was too young to watch the whole broadcast, but when the end of the show was near, my mom would call to me wherever I was playing so that I could race to the TV room, and say his famous good night line along with him. I went on to become a journalist.
So I guess it could be said that that line changed my life. He was a great man and a great newsman.
Cronkite was sicked by the dead bodies in Vietnam, as if there weren't dead bodies in Europe and the Pacific in WW2.
When Cronkite left his anchor position, he remained a special correspondent. But at the same time he joined the Board of Directors of Pan Am Airlines. That was clearly a violation of journalist ethics -- something you're taught about in Journalism 101. I was surprised at the time that nobody took him to task about it, but I know it changed my mind about him entirely.
CBS is not what it once was. "CBS Reports" type programs are now down by PBS with "Frontline".
CBS has fallen quite a bit.
Yeah, it's not like the crapy you all give us now.
Where was Cronkite when Paley fired Morrow ?
Cronkites "That's the way it is" was better than Rathers "Courage".
I read a story about Cronkite.
In WW2 Cronkite was in Europe, with a bunch of other reporters. One reporter got lost, or was looking for Cronkite.
The reporter was shouting "CRONKITE", "CRONKITE".
There were some German soldiers within earshot - who heard the shout.
Cronkite, or in German Krankheit which means "sickness", thought the reporter looking for Cronkite was walking and shouting "sickness".
CBS was better when Bill Paley was around.
Cronkite said famously on the fifth anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing that “it turned out there never had been a race to the Moon,” yet it the opposite was proven to be true and many knew this at the time. Why did he say this? Did he really believe this?
The advent of 24x7 cable 'news' programs has damaged the standard for broadcast journalism that Mr. Cronkite helped to set. Similarly, the advent of the Internet has played havoc with the income stream AND the standard of ethics in print journalism.
What changes do you think these industries can implement so that Americans can be sure that the information they are getting is factual?
I would like to see the words 'FILE FOOTAGE' and the date of original taping on EVERY piece of broadcast footage. Similar labeling of 'EDITED and 'NOT EDITED' for radio items. I would like to see the FCC require that broadcast stations present one hour per day of commercial-free news.
Can these industries be trusted to govern themselves or do we NEED to use the power of our government?
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