Cronkite retired in 1981 but he didn't want to. Was it because of Reagan?

[moondust]

Somebody who knew Walter said Friday night that he didn't want to retire in 1981 but he did anyway. He wanted to put in a couple more years. I'm wondering if it was because of Reagan. Did CBS push him out the door like they did Dan Rather during the Bush years?

[KharmaTrain]

1. No

It was the beginning of the end of network televisions news...cable and the rise of the baby boom generation. The "young kids" were watching other newscasts or no watching news at all. Rather was younger and they thought he'd be the "Walter" to the boomers. If it were political, ya think CBS would have promoted Rather who the GOOPers considered enemy #1 after he took on Nixon.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. Why?

Dan Rather was more unspoken having made his bones by taking on Richard Nixon.

[moondust]

3. Rather was not "The Most Trusted Man in America."

[liberal N proud]

4. If you can correlate Reagan with the beginning of what media has become

Reporters stopped reporting and turned to commentary.

[peacetalksforall]

5. I think the answer could be in knowing the parallel history of the breakdown of news networks

through 'other' corporate takeovers. And the morphing from straight news delivered with intelligence that we don't see now (on the five networks) to the kind that reeks of showmanship entertainment.

[Hannah Bell]

6. i think you're right, & the events aren't unconnected.

[Midwestern Democrat]

7. No - CBS at the time had a mandatory retirement age of 65. NT

[One_Life_To_Give]

8. Ding, Ding, Ding

This was before "Age Discrimination" came about. One could be forced out of the workforce for being "too old". As happened to Walter.

[H2O Man]

9. Correct.

WC didn't want to retire, because he believed that he was reaching his peek as a journalist. He had also believed that "retirement" would allow him to do the coverage of major events, such as the national conventions, but was informed that this wasn't the case.