Journalism has been on a downward spiral for a while, and I think there would be a lot of agreement out there that the plummet into "yes master" news reporting happened when we lost the likes of Walter Cronkite from the nightly airwaves. Integrity, honesty, selflessness, a work ethic in a world of egos where he left his ego at the door, if he ever really had one. If he did, he was smart enough and proper enough never to show it. He wore his heart on his sleeve more than once while in the anchor chair. We all remember his announcement of John F. Kennedy's death. Well, everyone who was aware enough at that time certainly remembers it. I was three years old then, but the image of Cronkite announcing the terrible news to the country is burned in my memory.
It is one of those television moments that people never forget, or that you learn as an amazing part of the history of that moment on November 22, 1963.Walter Cronkite was a huge fan of the space program. His giddy announcement of the landing of the lunar module was wonderful, and infectious. I have loved the space program and the idea of what it could mean to our world - certainly Star Trek and other great representations of how the world could be in the future in science fiction storytelling have also had a hand in this - since watching those brave and amazing astronauts land, and subsequently walk, on the moon. I think that a man in Walter Cronkite's position could react in such an emotional way on national television is pretty wonderful. We won't see his likes again. And that is so very sad.
For a great commentary on just what the world has lost with Walter Cronkite's passing, though one could say we lost all this long ago when Cronkite stepped down from the anchor desk, please read this appreciation and discussion of journalism today by Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com: http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/07/18/cronkite/
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