Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite, 1916-2009

Compiled by Dana Cook — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 01:18:00 PDT

When longtime (1962-81) anchorman Walter Cronkite signed off the "CBS Evening News" with his signature "And that's the way it is," his audience believed that's the way it was, for better or for worse. The avuncular newsman, after all, was often cited by opinion polls as the "most trusted man in America." Several of his peers remember him below.

The Fix

Karen Croft and Amy Reiter — Fri, 13 Jun 2003 07:40:00 PDT

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch lunched with Senate Democrats this week and tried to convince them that his merger with DirecTV was a good thing. They came back at him with critiques of his Fox News, saying that it could be more "Fair and Balanced" than it says it is. Rupert was shocked, shocked! that the Dems saw it that way. Said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.: "He said Fox News is fair and balanced and he just can't imagine that there was any kind of a slant there. Members of the Senate were just speechless." Durbin said the one thing they agreed on was a point Murdoch made: that "The Simpsons" is the best show on television. What a relief. (Variety)

The Fix

Karen Croft — Thu, 20 Mar 2003 11:43:00 PST

The intersection of politics and Hollywood has always been a compelling one. The war is now on, and questions in the air include "Is Saddam dead or alive?" and "Will Meryl Streep attend the Oscars?" We don't have the answer to either one, but the information is trickling in. So far, Will Smith is out, Catherine Zeta-Jones is in (unless she gives birth) (Billboard); Cate Blanchett is out, the Barbara Walters special has been postponed (LA Times) and Meryl Streep is "making noises" about canceling. (Page Six) And those stars who do show may stage a symbolic protest when the living honorees are all onstage at once to celebrate the diamond anniversary. (LA Weekly)

Reality tough on reality TV alumni

Amy Reiter — Wed, 26 Sep 2001 09:56:00 PDT

Those of you looking to escape reality by turning to reality TV, be warned: Things aren't going so well for denizens of that alterna-world these days either.

Walter Cronkite

Biography | Random House Audio — Thu, 05 Oct 2000 10:00:00 PDT

He has been called the most trusted man in America. His 60-year-long journalistic career has spanned the Great Depression, several wars, and the extraordinary changes that have engulfed the U.S. over the last two-thirds of the 20th century.

The medium isn't the message

David Futrelle — Mon, 13 Jan 1997 10:01:00 PST

media criticism hasn't changed much since Spiro Agnew's 1970 denunciation of the "nattering nabobs of negativism," the effete media elites who look down their noses at the "silent majority." Oh, sure, there's a lot more media criticism today, professional and amateur. But whether the critic hails from the right, the left, or the center, or affects some postmodern political mishmash that won't even fit on the charts, the complaint is largely the same: that the media is out of touch, imposing its own, possibly pernicious, agenda on the rest of us. Noam Chomsky believes that the people hunger for news about East Timor The New York Times doesn't see fit to print; right-wingers believe the press is hiding the truth about Vince Foster.Over the past several years, a new breed of media critic has begun to emerge, one that sees the perfidy and obsolescence of the old media as the inevitable outcome of its old-fashioned ways and out-of-date technology. For salvation, these critics look to new communications technologies, especially the Internet.