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Highlands Today

Cronkite's passing is the end of a wonderful era

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Highlands Today

Published: July 19, 2009

For those of us who remember "Uncle Walter" delivering our news every evening, reports of his death have great meaning. For those who don't remember, well, they missed a time in America that was lost the day Walter Cronkite retired. We're just glad he was in our lives.

The CBS news anchor was one of the most powerful men in the world during his prime. His reporting after the Tet Offensive, that the Vietnam War was a stalemate, was the beginning of the end of the war for America. It was also his special reports on Watergate, following reporting by two young journalists at The Washington Post, that closed the door on former President Richard Nixon.

We recall his stifled tears as he reported President John F. Kennedy's death and his excitement as our astronauts first stepped foot on the moon. Most of us saw all these things with Uncle Walter, the most trusted man in the country.

Cronkite died after an extraordinary life of 92 years. Imagine having a front-row seat to the history he witnessed up close and in person. It's difficult to believe someone was so lucky.

Timing is everything, and Cronkite's career timing was ideal for his profession. With cable TV around the corner, the network anchors would never again have the audiences and power they once held with great ease. But he earned his viewers by being good, fair and accurate.

Without overstating it, Cronkite's death is the end of a broadcasting era. Never again will a news anchor have that kind of fame and respectability. Now we have mainly opinionated screamers who claim to have the answers but don't have a clue. The networks still work hard to do a good job, but fewer people are watching these days. Too many people prefer the screamers.

So without Walter, "That's the way it is" is lost. It's too bad we'll never hear it again.

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