Cronkite Coverage That Might Make Cronkite Cringe

It's hard to believe that Walter Cronkite has not been a staple on the air for over 28 years. Through all that time, he has achieved something few in this age of information overload could do when removed from the spotlight for so long. He remained the standard bearer, the person so many journalists wished they could be. His name is not just synonymous with industry greatness, but with an industry that no longer exists. And so many believe his passing represents more than the end of a television news icon, but the end of iconic news television.

For anyone in the news business, just the name "Cronkite" conjures up images of a bygone era when journalists covered, and could at times impact, the most important stories of the day, rather than the most "compelling" or salacious. Redford and Newman's All The Presidents Men was the big screen image of journalists rather than Will Ferrell's Anchorman.

Even if that memory has been glorified a bit, it's for that reason that every major journalist is now vying to be part of the Cronkite coverage (including, I suppose, this one). No question so many grew up watching Cronkite's masterful work over the years -- from war zones to the White House. And those who knew him well have offered moving tributes to Cronkite the man. But showing one's respect for Walter Cronkite also means paying homage to what the Cronkite name has come to represent -- a time when it would have been unthinkable to cover Michael Jackson's death day after day. When the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would still be front and center rather than the vicissitudes of the hottest reality show. As some in media speak wistfully about the Cronkite days, they are also making decisions that would make Cronkite cringe. To watch a rerun of a Cronkite news program today is to see something more akin to a current PBS broadcast than much of what appears on network news.

Actions speak louder than words. Even in reporting on his death many journalists have violated one of Cronkite's basic tenets: report the news don't become it. How many times this weekend have we heard top journalists memorializing Cronkite with sentences beginning with the word I. "I met Cronkite in. . ." or "I remember seeing him. . ."

Let's be honest, the Cronkite era passed long before his death. Financial pressures, the demand of ratings, the changing tastes of the American public all led to new decisions in newsrooms about what to cover and how. Having reported on many of the most notorious trials of the past two decades (including that of Michael Jackson) I have no claim to Cronkiteian journalistic purity.

The same applies, however, to some of my colleagues now attempting to tether themselves to Cronkite's legacy. I am confident Cronkite would have frowned on that too.

The following post originally appeared at Mediaite.com.

Comments

[ledzepfan]

Dan,
That was Dustin Hoffman in All the Presiden's Men, not Paul Newman.

[rubinoff]

Dan:

What's you day job....you pop up ever so often. ????

[ObliqueReference]

News people and anchors shouldn't be guests on late night talk shows (williams is on one almost every week.) Stay behind the scenes please.

[NavyMom]

So much garbage passing for "reporting." Stopped watching NBC for many reasons. One was at least 2 stories a month on obesity (if you're not healthy it's your own fault) and NOT ONE EVER on questionable stuff in our food-hormones, antibiotics, corn syrup, ect.

[elfNW]

Yes, in almost all cases news is no longer news; it's opinion and entertainment. From Fox 'news', to the 'news' on MSNBC, to even what used to be the nightly 'news' on the major networks. The only source [on television] of the equivalent of Cronkite is the nightly Newshour on PBS. Finally I’d like to mention Cronkite's autobiography, a delightful read.

[hasheville]

Tim Russert was perhaps a bridge from all that Cronkite was and the state of things today. Even though I thought highly of Russert I thought the coverage after his death was narcissistic. It went on forever and was such a display of personal grief on the part of his colleagues it was just plain odd and narcissistic on their part. Frankly I am sick of media people constantly telling the public what to think and being caught up in the trivial and sensational. I'm also sick of their not speaking truth to power or bearing the responsibility of searching for truth.

[redkim]

Tim Russert--class act. Media coverage of his death--not a class act.

[redkim]

Thank you for this! I got reprimanded the other day on another thread for complaining about all this "in your face" ness of reporting. I felt that NOT watching all the coverage would do more honor to Cronkite than anything else. Thank you for confirming that.

[confuseddemocrat]

It does feel like all the major news channels hired their announcers of fromthe ESPN and Monday Nite football school of journalism

Decorum, voice modulation and finesse is out while arrogance, sarcasm, shouting and uncouth behavior is deemed appropriate when masked by a "pretty face"

[pfc1369]

There are reams of simple errors all over everything these days, in every medium.

Even this lament for excellence: Redford and Dustin Hoffman, not Paul Newman.

[confuseddemocrat]

Excellent post but the problem is that we have pundits masquerading as journalists and "news" channels operating as the public relations arm of the major political parties

The line was blurred when the media companies lost their independence and were gobbled up by conglomerates whose focus on bottom line led to the destruction of the news divisions and investigative units

The units kept politicians and companies honest and could be depended upon to uncover wrongdoing and provided information unfiltered...

[raker]

Reporters becoming the story has been the standard since Woodward and Bernstein. How many times have NPR and NBC done stories about what it feels like to be a reporter in dangerous Baghdad. A lot. Cronkite worked the crowd too, but he did it with dignity and still managed to report the news. Brian Williams fills the time with feel-good stories, and Katie Couric has Rush Limbaugh Corner to burn off extra minutes. The News used to be indispensable, and now it's unwatchable.

[LeonBNJ]

The coverage of the death of Cronkite is a good example of how the commercial news media works today. They grab on to some easy to cover, sensational story, rather than cover the wars, the financial crises we are going through, covering the complex issues as to our need for sound medical insurance and so on that citizens need to make informed decisions.
Cronkite also worked in TV during a time when the FCC required the licensed networks to have a set number of hours of news and other programing of public service, that ended during the Reagan era. The networks then required news to pay for itself, indeed becoming a profit center, offering huge amounts of money to anchors to get viewers rather with real coverage. The networks also became parts of huge corporations reluctant to give real coverage of issues.
The coverage of Cronkite is further a comment on the desire of some for the 'good old days', when network news was king.

[NativeSonKY]

Very well said David, and your admission to not being "pure" in the Cronkitian sense is a brave statement, also rare to find in journalism. I too noticed how many "corporate moputhpieces" had to have their "I knew Walter" story along with their eulogy of him, but NONE of them could hold a candle to Cronkite, ever. His last broadcast in 1981 was the last time we were really told "the way it is", just as the last REAL President we had was John F. Kennedy. All the others since both died have been puppets and nothing more.

[Chuckwheat]

"The changing tastes of the American public" demand more filler, less content.

[samuelpablo]

Not might. Would

[tttom]

Good job, Sir. Poster right - Hoffman/Redford not Newman in "All The President's Men", although Newman in another good journy film, "AbsenceOf Malace". Finally, I wonder what Cronkite thought of film "Broadcast News", which directly touched on points made by you.

[cheforacle]

That movie, "Broadcast News" was so salient because it captured the transition from real news to entertainment was taking place pretty rapidly. Unfortunately, the media was by then selling its anchors as stars in a way previously reserved for Hollywood actors and musical icons. Since that time, we, both the people and our democracy, have paid the price as, despite an increase in the number of news outlets, the type of coverage we get is practically infantile. I can't imagine getting wall-to-wall coverage of the OJ trial or the death of Anna Nicole Smith during Cronkite's day. And the paucity of coverage on Iraq and the rest of the world would have been addressed by Cronkite if he were still an anchor.

[clevelandchick]

Broadcast News really did capture the television news slide into 'infotainment' One of my favorite movies, brilliant writing. Albert Brooks is a god.

[Bobzmcishl]

Agree with your comments - Cronkite was from the print media and that made a big difference in his reporting style. As he himself said, he was lucky to be one of the pioneers in the television news business and not one of the pretty people who currently populate the cable news airwaves and all they know is the talking head opinion business.