"Will there ever be another Walter Cronkite?": A rant

By GottaLaff

Since last night's news of Walter Cronkite's death, news actor after news actor (I refuse to call them news anchors or newspeople) has asked repeatedly, "Will there ever be another Walter Cronkite?"

No. There won't. There was only one. But let's get past that part and on to the ramifications of the Big Question that these news models feel compelled to ask.

Will there ever be another Cronkite? EVER? Unless there was a secret cloning, then no. But time doesn't stop in the year 2009. Time marches on. There is this thing called "the future". Babies are born, the sun keeps rising and setting, days and nights continue their cycle.

And so, there will be another exceptional news person who will be revered... one day. Because that's the way it is, to borrow from the exceptional news person who gave us that phrase.

The question is, how can that happen with the state of news at it is? When "Uncle Walter" was the go-to news guy, there were only three networks. The news cycle was certainly longer than 24 hours. But most importantly, the news was not yet commercialized.

Today we have sensationalism, not news. We have propaganda, not news. We have salesmanship and performances, not news... with very few exceptions.

Ever listen to the delivery of our news models? They all seem to have gone to the same classes at News Acting for Dummeez U. The cookie-cutter style of most news personalities on the Tee Vee Machine is filled with flourishes, dramatic.... .... ..... pauses, and studied emotional readings, peppered with "off the cuff" giggles and/or Furrowed Brow, Grim-Faced Seriousness.

Walter Cronkite was dedicated, genuine, and therefore, believable. That's why he was referred to as "the most trusted man in America".

Today's news models are deliberately and self-consciously earnest... when they think it's called-for. They're upbeat and cheery when they believe it's appropriate. I don't trust them, nor do I trust their employers. I don't appreciate the news being sold to me. I just want it told to me.

I'll end my rant with Walter Cronkite's own words. He said the role of journalism is not to tell Americans what they want to hear but what they need to know as citizens -- because, he said, "journalism is what we need to make democracy work."

Amen.