Walter Cronkite in action receiving word of LBJ's death by phone while on the air

[book_worm]

and waiting to get the story right

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxHsSnEgk-A

[spanone]

1. america used to have this thing called journalism....it's been gone for decades

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. It makes me weep to remember back to the time when journalists actually had brains

and even TV anchors were chosen because they had gravitas and knowledge, not because of their hair or boobs.

And while I hate to blame everything that's shitty about this country on Reagan, an awful lot of what makes us a shitty shithole shitville happened because of Reagan's celebration of hate, celebration of meanness, and celebration of being blissfully and consciously ignorant of reality.

[oswaldactedalone]

5. AMEN!!!!

Ronald Rayguns was an American disaster.

[realisticphish]

3. God, I love that man

Cronkite was a real hero in my eyes. He and Murrows are peaks of American mainstream journalism that, sadly, I don't think will ever be matched.

[spanone]

6. i'll never forget when cronkite told viewers JFK had died...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K8Q3cqGs7I

[BrklynLiberal]

4. There were many reasons why he was the most trusted man in America.

[gateley]

7. I wonder if the news spokesmodels today are even familiar with the concept of

true reporting and journalism. I know most of them never saw him deliver the news. You'd think it would light a fire in their bellies.

[JNelson6563]

8. What a sharp contrast to today!

Ugh!

[corkhead]

9. I saw this live as it happened. I remember it like it was yesterday.

My memory of this event was of Mr. Cronkite being a bit more emotional than what I just saw while watching this again. I think that my being a daily viewer of the CBS Evening News back then made him like a member of my family and I could better sense his emotional state when I observed him every day. Today, he is much more distant memory and I am not as in touch with his subtle emotional cues as I was back then.