And That's The Way It Is

[filkertom]

Great sadness. Legendary newsman Walter Cronkite has passed away at the age of 92. Yahoo has a page with YouTube links to some of his best-known reports.

Comments

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

agreed.

[jss]

:-( Not unexpected, but damn.

[trav13369.livejournal.com]

a true journalist- the profession is poorer for his loss. The profession has gone downhill since those of his caliber have gone......

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

I feel privileged to have been able to gotten my news from him, at a time when I was forming my own awareness of the greater world. Cronkite was an excellent guide and a great comfort during some truly awful times.

If, up to today obviously, Walter had come on the air and announced that Alien Beings had arrived on Earth, I would have accepted that statement completely. I can't say any other person would get such utter trust from me (well, outside my family).

Thank You, Uncle Walter.

[spotshouse.livejournal.com]

When I was six and decided I would NOT have a southern accent, I began modeling my accent after Walter Cronkite. Sad to see him go.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

The first memory that comes to my mind is from 1980, when it was rumored that John Anderson was going to pick Cronkite as his running mate. Cronkite signed off one night with (something like) "This is Walter Cronkite, vice-presidential timber." Of course, he was smiling that little smile of his.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

There goes the most trusted man in America. I hope that Edward R. Murrow is waiting to meet him when he gets where he's going.

[misterseth.livejournal.com]

Very sad. One of my earliest memories was him reporting on the moon landing. I'm watching it now on YouTube. Even he was speechless then.
Rest in piece Mr. Cronkite.

[annearchy.livejournal.com]

I'm really down about this. I will try to watch the tubey stuff later. Right now I'm just sort of flailing sadly.

[baphnedia.livejournal.com]

Nooooo!

[dan-ad-nauseam.livejournal.com]

And that's the way it was.

If only Cronkite had been active in the past eight years and gone to Iraq.

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

We knew this was coming, and he was certainly not a young man, but damn, I hate it when a class act goes. =(

*Why did I get a captcha for this?*

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

He was already semi-retired and legendary by my time, yet still I felt like I had always known him.

Sadness...

[gaelbrady.livejournal.com]

I'm a journalism student...and I could only dream to aspire to be as great a journalist as he was.

He's an icon. A legend.

It's a sad day.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Huh. Probably because I tweaked the privacy settings. I'll untweak that one.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[bryanp.livejournal.com]

Damnit. I grew up watching him on the news. I was 12 when he retired from CBS.

They're doing a really nice retrospective of him on NPR's Weekend Edition right now.

[jss]

I remember when he retired.

I remember the Johnny Carson skit when Walter Cronkite retired, too.

[peachtales.livejournal.com]

Now we have one less true journalist, and ever more "presenters" with about 1 clue between a 1000 of them. Sad.

[sholamith.livejournal.com]

He was one of my heroes growing up. My father worked with him when Cronkite still worked local news,(Washington, DC), and I grew up on stories about him and Eric Sevaride. I remember being so excited one day when I answered the phone and it was Walter Cronkite to talk to my father.

[barbarakitten-t.livejournal.com]

That was my first thought, too, Ace...I imagine he'll discuss the anniversary with Robert Heinlein and Sir Arthur C Clarke now.

*crash*

[tommytoony.livejournal.com]

Wow...I can only imagine hearing that voice over the phone. What a great memory!

[tommytoony.livejournal.com]

Sadly, his passing truly represents the passing of an era. You know...when journalism was real journalism, when reporters reported the NEWS, without spin or bullshit entertainment value, when the phrase "fair & balanced" MEANT something. I'll take a half an hour of Uncle Walter reporting the news over any of the 24 hour news networks any day.

There was a reason he was the most trusted man in America. I remember thinking of him almost like a grandfather when I was a kid...THAT'S the level of trust he was able to convey.

He was still active up until recently...I remember a couple of years ago sitting in a parking lot while out running errands, listening to a report Cronkite had done on NPR comparing the Bush administration and Iraq to the Nixon administration and Vietnam. I sat there for over a half an hour just listening...and being reminded how great he was, even in his late years.

Such a great loss. Thank you, Mr. Cronkite.

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

...when the phrase "fair & balanced" MEANT something

I'll go you one better: Cronkite never had to claim fairness or balance. Never had to tell us that's what we were getting.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[tommytoony.livejournal.com]

Very true...very true.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Walter Chronic -- the venerable newsman from the black comedy COLD TURKEY -- first appears in the film with a round neon hospital light behind his head exactly like a halo.

A college acquaintance went to White Sands to watch a shuttle landing, and saw Cronkite there (just to watch, not to report). According to this guy, Walter stood 20 feet tall, with laser eyes that vaporized the NBC news van.

I also think of the SCTV episode where David Brinkley explores Walter Cronkite's brain: Brinkley travels back in time to watch young Wal-Tor (a tiny boy in a suit with a wee moustache) take leave of his dying home planet to report the truth -- and engages in a light-saber fight with Wal-Tor's father Jor-El Cronkite, trying to change history so that Brinkley will be the supreme anchorman of Earth.

-- That's how influential the guy was.

I can't imagine Cronkite talking trash over live coverage of a historical presidential inauguration (the way CNN's news-Barbie and Lou Dobbs did this January).

We miss ya, Walt.