And That’s The Way It ……Was

/ By / In / 6 Comments

My family was one of the last in our community to get a television.  Although my Dad was quite a “news wonk”, his current events information came from newspapers. and radio. Even after we got a t.v.  I don’t recall our family watching the  news very much.

The legendary  names of the broadcasting greats from my childhood are not as familiar to me as they might be for most.  Except for Walter Cronkite. Considered the “most trusted man in America” during the 1960’s and ’70’s,  his image was that of an unbiased reporter just communicating “the facts”. He  prided himself on  “objective reporting”. but Cronkite   did not just report “the facts”, he came to reasoned conclusions based on the  facts. When he reported  on the  Vietnam conflict, he predicted it would not end in a victory, but in a stalemate.  His  influence was so pervasive that it launched  the myth that it was the reason LBJ decided not to run for re-election. And  Cronkite’s analysis of the Watergate scandal perhaps pushed the public opinion that forced Nixon to resign. His signed  off his broadcasts with the signature phrase: “…..And that’s the way it is”. But  in  keeping his standards of objective journalism, he omitted this phrase on nights when he ended the newscast with opinion or commentary.

To the listening public Cronkite’s analysis made his reasoned opinions sound like facts.  There was somehow something so honest about his demeanor that Americans looked upon him as a  family member or friend whom they  could trust implicitly. 

In the 1990’s I heard a different view of the famous broadcaster,  in a morning radio show called  “Imus in the Morning”, The host, Don Imus, developed a show with  political banter and news.  Imus had a stable of comedians, several of which impersonated famous people.  One of the personalities  that was mimicked was Walter Cronkite, who was portrayed as a wild conservative. It seemed ridiculous to me, because everyone thought of Cronkite as the consummate unbiased reporter. Most people  had no idea as to how Cronkite really felt about politics, and that was his appeal.

The Imus comedian who  created this nutty conservative broadcaster had no knowledge as to Cronkite’s beliefs.  And I was made aware of this when Cronkite was the guest speaker at my  niece’s graduation from Brandeis University a few years after he retired. His address could have been given by a supporter of Bernie Sanders: progressive and strongly in the Democratic sphere.  But during his career as a broadcaster, his  stories were never tainted by these political beliefs. 

The business of broadcasting the news has been forever changed.  After Cronkite retired there seemed to be a  dramatic descent  of “objective reporting”. No matter what their political persuasion, Americans tend  to be 100% suspicious of  any reporter whose facts  they do not agree with. Exacerbated by  social media, tweets,  Fox News and MSNBC, news reporters, even those who might present ” objective reporting”,  will  never  be fully trusted by most Americans.  There will never be another Walter Cronkite and “that’s the way it is.”…… no more

And That’s the Way It Is … Or Was

/ By / In / 14 Comments

My first memory of broadcast news is the image of my mother madly ironing while watching something on television that clearly angered her, the Army-McCarthy hearings. I was just a kid and thus she never explained to me why she kept watching this when it was clearly upsetting her. I guess my grandkids could wonder the same thing about me as I can’t stop watching the House January 6 Committee Hearings. Like my mother, I am clearly distressed and yet I can’t look away.

My mother’s villain, Joseph McCarthy

Of course, the huge difference between these two broadcasts is that I can choose to watch the January 6 hearings on any cable network, so I choose one on which I know the commentary will agree with my assessment. Also, I can record the hearings if it is inconvenient to view them live and watch recaps over and over. So, unlike my mother, I can be upset 24/7 if I choose.

They wished each other “goodnight”

My parents always watched the evening news. I’m guessing they were fans of The Huntley–Brinkley Report that aired on NBC beginning in 1956. Even though I watched that on occasion, the broadcast news I remember best came from Walter Cronkite on CBS, once dubbed “the most trusted man in America.” For 19 years, from 1962 to 1981, he was the person I turned to deliver the news. Like many of us, I especially remember the newscast in which he told me President Kennedy had died. When he removed his famous dark-rimmed glasses to wipe his eyes, I dissolved into a flood of tears.

Until 1968, Walter Cronkite shared what the government wanted us to know about the war in Vietnam, but I was already firmly in the camp of total opposition. Because I respected Cronkite, I was thrilled when he delivered what came to be called “the Cronkite Moment” during a broadcast following his trip to Vietnam to cover the war, and the Tet Offensive.

At the close of his broadcast, Cronkite warned viewers that he was about to share his opinion rather than the traditional “objective” news. “It seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate . . . It is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.”

This statement made anti-war sentiment mainstream and was a first step toward the media shaping the opinions of its viewers rather than just towing the party line. For me, it affirmed what I believed about the war and, at the time, I appreciated Cronkite telling the public that this war was a huge mistake and not winnable.

For years, my husband and I watched the Ten O’clock Nightly News with local co-anchors Walter Jacobson and Bill Kurtis to get a recap of what was happening and to hear the local sports and weather forecast. I used to exercise to the beginning of the Today Show because its first 20 minutes were commercial free. Fast forward to more recent times with the growth of cable “news,” which is much more opinion than news. I had a brief addiction to Morning Joe even though I didn’t agree with most of Scarborough’s opinions. He was on at a convenient time so I could exercise before going to work, and he often inspired blog posts.

Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson, photo by Robert Feder

Next, I recorded Rachel Maddow (before she switched to Mondays only). More recently, I have worked out to All In with Chris Hayes, which I like even more because he is intelligent and thoughtful without some of Rachel’s schtick. I could fall down a rabbit hole and spend most of the day switching between CNN and MSNBC, but the news is too depressing to watch the same stories over and over.

When my mother was 90 and living on her own, my brother introduced her to MSNBC. She was hooked but found the news so distressing that I told her to find something else to fill her days and finally asked my brother to cut her off. Now, I fear I could easily become my mother, watching endless coverage of the January 6 Hearings. I try PBS for a less biased version of the news, but I can’t bring myself to watch Fox to see what the other side thinks. I really don’t care, and that’s the way it is.