Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Cronkite: Is his news credo dead?


By PAT MURPHY

Buried among tributes and eulogies to Walter Cronkite, who died last week, is the credo that drove his broadcast ethics to levels of public acclaim and respect rarely repeated in modern television journalism.

Cronkite fashioned his half-hour "CBS Evening News" to reporting "what people needed to know, not what they wanted to know."

Perhaps that sounds imperious and arrogant, like a stern second-grade teacher lecturing her students.

Cronkite's objective, however, was to avoid the frivolous and faddish and instead provide viewers with vital information and perspective about their country and world on issues that touched their lives and affected their decisions. This was an ethic brought to TV from his newspaper and wire service training, giving him a distinctive air of authority and believability.

In the 20 years (1962-81) that Cronkite reigned as television's news giant, his nightly broadcasts drew as many as 18 million viewers, triple what any of today's network news shows attracts. In those days, families gathered around TV sets to watch and listen to Cronkite as if the president were speaking.

Yes, there were no cable TV channels then and none of the hundreds of Internet blogs and chat rooms that purport to provide news and gossip. It's also worth pointing out that few of the sources of "news" millions now rely on have Cronkite's integrity for truth and accuracy.

Television news programming in Cronkite's mind meant surrounding himself with brainy reporters who were expert in national and international issues, not pretty faces, and covering vital stories that appealed to the American family intellect, not gossipy, titillating show-biz scandal.

It's impossible to explain the Cronkite phenomenon to anyone younger than middle age. Nor do names of those brilliant reporters register today—Sevareid, Collingwood, Schorr, LeSeuer, Burdett, Howard K. Smith, Bill Downs, Hottelet, Schoenbrun, Pierpoint, Kalb, to name a few.

Cronkite was more than a TV studio anchor. He often went into the field as a newsman. His reports from Vietnam that the war was unwinnable literally led to the U.S. government's ending that disastrous adventure.

Cronkite's compelling stature reached far: In several European nations, TV newscasters today are known as "Kronkiters" and "Cronkiters."

Like so many journalists with whom Cronkite generously shared time, I have fond memories, including a small dinner in Phoenix that I hosted for Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham, who had been selected for Arizona State University's Cronkite journalism excellence award. Among the dozen or so there were the puckish Cronkite and the howl-a-minute humor columnist Erma Bombeck.

I've always regretted not having taped the unguarded repartee of that trio's wisecracks.




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