It would be easy for younger people to conclude that Walter Cronkite was just an icon of the 1960s and 1970s. A great many of the folks on this site probably never once heard "And that's the way it is" closing a Cronkite newscast - let alone recall hearing it most nights of the year in an era when a lot of people watched network newscasts, and network newscasts were often worth watching.
But Cronkite's career extended into our era.
As people remember his passing tonight, I wanted to recall a modest effort he made to extend old school journalism into our time, back in 2004. (Please join below).
The piece was an NPR report he did in 2004 that I heard on the radio while driving home one night.
The occasion was the 50th anniversary of Edward R. Murrow's See It Now broadcast that started the unraveling of Joseph McCarthy, the father of modern Republicanism.
But the piece was really a subtle yet searing critique on the idiocy of the Bush era and the bankruptcy of modern journalism.
It showcased Cronkite's recognition of reality late into his 80s, his brilliance as a story-teller, and his fundamental decency.
I don't know how to embed audio (if its even possible), but here's the link to the NPR page with the MP3 file:
All Things Considered, March 9, 2004 · Commentator Walter Cronkite marks the 50th anniversary of a watershed event in television news. In 1954, Edward R. Murrow's See It Now series took on the tactics of Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who accused many in government and media of being Communist dupes. Cronkite says the pioneering broadcast by Murrow and his producer, Fred Friendly, helped pierce the bubble of McCarthy's demagoguery.
Early on in the piece, he shares a stunning recollection: journalists back then, who cared about their country and the functioning of our government, recognized the terror induced by McCarthyist lies and slurs, and believed their reporting might be important in getting others to recognize the deep danger McCarthyism posed to our Republic.
But its the next part of the piece where Cronkite illustrates his subtle brilliance and offers a commentary on Bushism.
Cronkite says flatly that when journalists knew something needed to be said, they knew the way to do it was to find the right story and tell it straight; and to place it in the right context.
Of course, Cronkite himself was telling a story about McCarthy in the context of Bush ramping up his 2004 re-election campaign - after the lies that propelled us into Iraq, before anyone knew the term "swiftboating" - surely one of the darkest years in the history of our country.
There was no mistaking what Cronkite was saying - in his telling the story of Murrow and McCarthy straight, in the context of 2004.
Cronkite's commentary is great, and he selects just the right iconic statements from Murrow to round out the piece.
Cronkite was not one of Murrow's guys at CBS, but clearly admired him deeply. In another NPR collection of his commentaries, he described Murrow's McCarthy show as "the night network television shook off its timidity and called the bluff of a bully."
In some ways, it was the birth of real TV journalism.
Of course TV journalism was killed in the crib almost as soon as it was born - when corporate owners grew uncomfortable with muckraking that might make sponsors uncomfortable. From Wikipedia:
Murrow's reporting brought him into repeated conflicts with CBS, especially its chairman Bill Paley, which Friendly summarized in his book Due to Circumstances Beyond our Control. See It Now ended entirely in the summer of 1958 after a clash in Paley's office.
Its the same reason modern "newscasts" refused to really cover Iraq - what senior will want to skip down to the pharmacy and buy some Viagra after watching stories about the carnage inflicted by suicide bombers? "Geez, Brian, see if the correspondents can't find a nice story on, I don't know, a woman with lots of cute kittens, instead...
One of the classic Murrow quotes Cronkite sets up was the one placing the blame for McCarthyism:
The actions of the junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it -- and rather successfully. Cassius was right. "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves."
But the Murrow quote that nailed me was the one Cronkite used to close the piece:
"When the record is finally written, as it will be one day, it will answer the question. Who has helped the Communist cause and who has served his country better. Senator McCarthy or I? I would like to be remembered by the answer to that question."
Which current "journalist" could ask the question "who served Al Qaeda better - George W. Bush or me?"
The answer, alas, with modern TV infotainment professionals, would be, "both equally." That's how Brian Williams and David Gregory and Tim Russert will be remembered when the record is finally written.
Hearing Cronkite and Murrow, it was painful to contemplate how far public journalism had fallen, and how far our country had fallen partly because of its collapse. I pulled the car over and cried a little that night.
Tonight, even as we contemplate malicious mis-reporting of the costs of healthcare reform, the obscene hyping of the Michael Jackson expiry, and the sycophantic emails sent by supposed modern journalists to that hypocrite Sanford's office - in the context of Walter Cronkite's death...
Tonight is another good night to cry.