But those who worked . Cronkite genuinely believed journalists could and must be "objective." Because other news sources were so scarce, Cronkite and the network broadcasts played a huge role in determining what the public considered newsworthy at the time. I apologized again as we walked through the hallways and studio he knew so well. A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials. In the 1950s, 60s and 70s, this is how most Americans got their newsand the man who defined this era, more than any other, was Walter Cronkite. Its the fact that hes a firmly established, mainstream, church-going, centrist, respectable person that matters.. Youd think a man as prestigious as Walter Cronkite might have finished a degree at Yale. #2 Selflessness. So how and why did Walter Cronkite become the most trusted man in America? These instances, including the moon landing, assassination of JFK, and his editorial about the stalemate in Vietnam humanized the Anchorman, and helped earn him the fond nickname of, "Uncle Walter". | In 1974, before the Cronkite-equals-trust clich took root, the Phillips-Sindlinger organization conducted a nationwide poll to determine viewers attitudes toward the top TV newscasters. The best show recs delivered to your inbox. Cronkite, the main influence at CBS News, chose to err on the side of valid news rather than being first to break a story. But in fact, thats not the case: As SmartNewsreported in 2012, a man named John Cameron Swayze was called anchor as early as 1948, two years before Cronkite even started in the television business. LBJ, a great judge of politics, said, "If Ive lost Cronkite, Ive lost middle America." He kept his opinions, like his emotions, largely to himself. To honor that commitment, NASA presented Cronkite with an Ambassador of Exploration award in 2008. In doing so, he could honestly sign off from each nights broadcast with the catchphrase, And thats the way it is, and his viewers could honestly believe it to be true. Walter covered significant events of the war, including the bombing of Germany and D-Day. This story already sounds like fiction doesnt it? In moments that shocked the country, Cronkite was able to deliver hard news with diligence. On the contrary, he kept that passion in check until the time was right. "(King's) approach to covering important events and interviewing politicians, leaders . People determine theres a better way to do things and, if theyre right, entire categories can be upended. Additionally, I enjoy partaking in various on-campus and non-profit organizations. Why was Walter Cronkite so well respected? At the CBS News Broadcast Center, and throughout the news business, Walter Cronkite largely defined the ethical and journalistic standards that engendered the trust of a nation. It was a different time. Well, almost everyone. Well never knowand thats the way it is. Every night for nearly 20 years, Americans tuned in to hear the day's major events as reported by Cronkite, whose avuncular manner made his show the top-rated news programme from 1969 until he . Cronkite also trusted the people to respond well to his truth-telling and to use their intelligence to evaluate his words. One of the key reasons was his integrity. It is nice to know that at one point we had a news reporter who cared about honest straightforward reporting and avoided involving his own political views about events that were occurring in America and outside the country. However, once those limitations were removed, Cronkite allowed his passion to ignite. I feel like nowadays we let our political views get in the way of each and every news story that it almost seems biased now. "There was a reason why Walter was called the most . Listening to tribute after tribute by journalists who remember Mr. Cronkite, every reminiscence appears to share the same sentiment: "Walter Cronkite was why I wanted to work in broadcasting." Today, more and more reporters never leave the comforts of their desks. Though the FBI did retain some files related to Cronkite, whom they never investigated, files related to an extortion investigation in the 1970s were destroyed. "That wasn't why I was laughing, young man," Walter said to me. 'Most trusted'? . However, once those limitations were removed, Cronkite allowed his passion to ignite. Known as the "most trusted man in America," Cronkite made his mark on . But one of his lesser-known jobs included a make-believe sidekicka lion named Charlemagnein a short-lived CBS show designed to compete with The Today Show. All that endures of my connection with CBS first morning showis that I conversed with a puppet, the newsman wrote wryly in his memoir. He . Despite the fact that there was less scrutiny on the media during Cronkites time than today, he approached his career as a broadcaster with integrity and with a sense of responsibility to his viewers. He did not let his political views get in the way of his reporting. As a newsman, his passion was limited to his role of reporter. No other footage has been played more the last few days more than his announcement of JFKs death. Thats where the family lived until moving to Houston, Texas when Walter was 10-years-old. Shot by Jim Epstein and Tracy Oppenheimer, and edited by Oppenheimer. But it was Walter Cronkite and the team of journalists he inspired that brought the rest of us to the Moon. Her work has appeared in publications like The Washington Post, TIME, mental_floss, Popular Science and JSTOR Daily. As I discussed in an earlier post Want to know that youre right? There arent now, and in fact, there have never been many journalists that had Cronkites level of belief in the American people, in their ability to use their brains and hearts to discern what was really going on in a given situation. Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 - July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the CBS Evening News [1] for 19 years, from 1962 to 1981. In 1968, he goes to Vietnam and does a documentary, Ward says. | So how and why did Walter Cronkite become . Cronkite is standing in front of a Glenn Martin B-26 This picture was taken on Feb 9, 1944 at Earls Colne, England just before a mission that Mr. Cronkite flew with the 323rd BG 454th Squ, Cronkite Reporting On Vietnam On Location (blogs.uoregon.edu), Cronkite As Serious as he Took His Job (mehlvillemedia.com), A Tribute to One of The Greatest Newsmen Ever (jamcclure.com). Cronkite stood out from his peers because of his commitment to truth and objectivity in journalism. "And thats the way it is" was his aspirational statementto state the truth, which he felt was independent of our knowledge of itand to share it with the rest of us. It was 1977. Accessibility | Cronkite refused, but the idea reflected polls showing that a journalist -- a television journalist at that -- had become the most trusted man in America. A bright blue flower in her hair, matching her blue outfit. As the world saw a boot finally touch lunar dust, words briefly failed Walter Cronkite. Night after night, Walter Cronkite came into the living room reporting the news, and people trusted that he was giving them the truth. During his time at CBS, he was selected for the Television Hall of Fame, being only the second newsman to ever be chosen, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter. Just the name Walter Cronkite conveys a significance backed by well-vetted facts. According to polls, he was the most trusted man in Americamore than the first lady, the Pope or the president.. to see through the carefully crafted party lineon both sidesand get to the truth of the matter. The definition of trust is even more contextual; there are dozens of meanings of trust, yet we nearly always recognize them when we see them. Campbell says the 1972 survey that gave Cronkite the title of "Most Trusted Man" compared Cronkite with prominent politicians of the time, not newscasters, and so he "inevitably came out on top." Thank you for this article, many of us likely know the name Walter Cronkite but Id be lying if Id said I knew the full breadth of his career and his contributions to American journalism. In today's atmosphere of media partisanship and fake news it seems a bygone notion, but Cronkite was known as "the most trusted man in America.". He was avuncular. That move was right for Cronkite he was true to himself. But the lack of real-world experience has put perspective in short supply, and the public's interest in reading things that simply confirm their own views has put news outlets in a tough spot. In the generation since he left the anchor desk at the CBS Evening News, there have been other public figures who inspire passion, devotion, confidence, intensity and . For more than a month, his close friends and family made it clear the former CBS News anchorman was gravely ill and would not recover. The average senator scored 67 percent in the survey, and President Richard Nixoneasily the least trustworthy animal ever to walk on two legsreceived 57 percent, as did Hubert Humphrey. Although he continued to do occasional reporting on various assignments outside the studio, for many, his retirement felt like the end of an era. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Why was Walter Cronkite the epitome of trust? Nick Gillespie and Tracy Oppenheimer He studied hard but left school when he realized that he had all he needed to make a living in Journalism. These are all key aspects of being a true journalist and it showed when it came to Walter Cronkite. His funeral was held Thursday in New York. And so: when so many people from so many eras and walks of life agree that Walter Cronkite was TMTMAhe must have touched more than a few trust bases. Cronkite got his start in radio, then became a correspondent for United Press. The times that Cronkite directly engaged controversy can be counted on one handhis 1968 special, in which he called the Vietnam War a stalemate and called for negotiations, and a pair of 1972 broadcasts about the Watergate scandal, both of which are cited in his New York Times obituary. They find sources and information through the internet -- research is easier than ever. Betsy, his wife of forty-five years, died of cancer in 2005. He became the host of the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. <p>'The most trusted man in America's fan mail was still . If so, you owe something to Walter CronkiteAmerica's uncle and the most influential broadcast journalist of all time. No satellite dish. But we connected with him because of his obvious compassion, modesty, and joyous enthusiasm. Big blonde hair. He was the first non-astronaut ever to get the award. Oprah Winfrey: Overcoming Adversity to Become a Master Communicator, How Zappos Used Customer Engagement to Build a $2B Brand. Chung's last broadcast as co-anchor was on May 18, 1995. If You Think Im a Joke the Jokes On You! As Lulu Guadalupe said, he truly laid out the foundation of what great newscasters should be like but alas, they are not. "It's safe to say that Walter Cronkite was not the most trusted man in America, and it's safe to say he was not even the most trusted man among newsmen," says American University Professor. After he retired, Cronkite began to openly pursue causes he believed in. Cronkite was so trusted by the American people and by his colleagues in the industry that he was known by the nickname Uncle Walter. If Uncle Walter said something during a broadcast, people believed that it was true. Very nice article! The New York Posts Robert P. Post died when his plane was shot down on the same mission. Everyone who watched Walter Cronkite somehow felt a personal connection to the newsman: whether they shared his coverage of the moon landing or his agony announcing the assassination of President Kennedy or endured with him the daily torment of an endless war in Vietnam or the despicable hostage-taking of diplomats in Iran. Cronkite comes to national prominence in his second or third year, when he breaks the news that John F. Kennedy has been killed in Dallas, says Ward. Walter Cronkite Was The "Most Trusted Man In America", But I Could Never Watch His Program Once I Moved To Johannesburg. Because of his willingness to learn everything about spaceflight and his ability to convey his knowledge to viewers, he seemed to be almost as much a part of the American space program as the astronauts themselves. Send your reasons for Cronkitian distrust to [email protected] and subscribe to my untrustworthy Twitter feed. The idea was that this was a very serious job, performed by various serious men.. To do anything else would be phony. The security guard didn't fully believe him, but finally let Walter Cronkite in. This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. He was an inspiration because he was one of the first household name reporters to have come out of television. What? He began his career with a commitment to journalism as well. No one said it better than Cronkite, the CBS Evening News anchor from 1962 to '81: We all have our likes and our dislikes. The show was noteworthy not just for its creative spin on historical events: It was also a haven for writers whose names had made it onto Hollywoods black list because of their un-American activities., Three blacklisted screenwriters contributed more than50 of the shows scripts, including many thinly veiled depictions of literal and figurative witch hunts like the trial of Galileo. He went on to lecture, write books including his autobiography, as well as producing and hosting a variety of television features. Your email address will not be published. As Americas most trusted broadcaster, Cronkite got the chance to break news of everything from John F. Kennedys assassination to the first moonwalk. Click here to try out our award-winning content platform for free. Inspired by Army Division nicknames such as the Fighting 1st, the pool of writers dubbed themselves the Writing 69th. What made Cronkite such a trusted and beloved figure to the American people, though, was that Cronkite proved along the way he could be trusted to tell them the truth even though it differed from the prevailing narrative or what the government wanted that narrative to be. By Louis Menand. It was very enjoyable reading about him. Without such faith, democracy cannot flourish. 3.1.2023 5:35 PM, Joe Lancaster Research in communication and psychology clearly shows that to be trusted a communicator has to be seen as knowledgeable and credible. A student organization of St. Marys University of San Antonio, Texas, featuring scholarly research, writing, and media from students of all disciplines. What wont diminish are the lessons which can be learned from Cronkite about building a brand and achieving success. Cronkites enthusiasm for the U.S. space program carried throughout his journalistic career and helped Americans follow and support the program. News of Walter Cronkite's death did not come as a surprise. My unscientific sampling [], I recently listened to Howard Sterns interview with (Sir) Paul McCartney. A baritone drenched in overtones conveyed each of those character traits. Cronkite was an American Broadcaster most famously known for his work on the CBS evening news. "I was remembering another time. Walter was very lucky, because soon after moving, he read an article in. Overall, this was was a wonderful article! Cronkite showed passion in his work, especially when doing NASA projects. Now, all . At that time, the evening news was a mere 15 minutes in length barely enough to deliver the days headlines. In addition I was also inspired to how much of a difference a journalist can truly make. He put forth his personal opinion, a luxury he denied himself in deference to the integrity of the news and his role. He truly laid out the foundation of what great newscasters should be like. It was this Cooper-like reserve that gave him such power on the few occasions he did weigh in with a Big Opinion. Terms of Use After the war, Walter would cover the Nuremberg war trials. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window). The news business has both expanded and fragmented in the post-Cronkite, post-Fairness Doctrine era. The invitation was extended the very next day and that meeting led to the Camp David accord and the Israel-Egyptian Peace Treaty. Cronkite famously reported in 1968 that the government was not being truthful to the American people about the Vietnam War after he went to Vietnam and observed the situation there for himself. Walter Cronkite retired in 1981, at which time he allowed himself to expose his personal beliefs and opinions. Source: IMDB, Walter Cronkite during his time as a war correspondent during WWII. In 2005, Cronkite suffered a great loss when his wife Betsy died of cancer. Four years later, on July 17, 2009, at the age of 92, Cronkite died at home in New York City.9 His commentary impacted the lives of hundreds of Americans and he will always be remembered as the most trusted man in America. Reading about Walter Cronkite was very interesting since he was an fascinating man who took his passion to the next level, I really enjoyed reading this article. Trust is an essential quality to have in any communicating experience, particularly newscasting. Newsman Walter Cronkite, who died at the age of 92, was so thoroughly and uniquely linked with the word "trust" that it is tempting to say that the word should be buried with him. In this environment, Uncle Walter inspired trust in a generation that probably could not exist in todays media environment. 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