Say its not so Joe, Walter Chronkite is now gravely ill.

[Lemon law]

Well what can I say, now a charter member of the Geritol generation, Walter Chonkite has been an enduring symbol, and so important that when LBJ lost Walt on Vietnam, he declined to run again. And he was the newscaster I listened to when I was still under 10 years old.

Even now, many decades after he retired, Walt has been an enduring symbol.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200...xrA3JlcG9ydGNic25ldw--

Please anyone, tell me its not so.

 

[techs]

That's the way it is.

 

[Corn]

My earliest memory of watching any television news was when I was 4 years old and sick with the mumps. Walter was reporting on the Vietnam war. I still vividly remember the shocked and amused look on my mom's face when I asked her what a Vietnam was. Amused, as even to this day I'm simply adorable....shocked because I was watching the news and not Sesame Street or Kapt. Kangaroo. I remember not being too pleased about the explanation of what a war was.

 

[MovingTarget]

 

[techs]

From Wiki:

Cronkite appeared in the 2004 Robert Greenwald film Outfoxed, where he offered commentary on what he said were unethical and overtly political practices at the Fox News Channel. Cronkite remarked that when Fox News was founded by Rupert Murdoch, "it was intended to be a conservative organization ? beyond that; a far-right-wing organization."

And THAT'S the way it is...

 

[ProfJohn]

Originally posted by: techs
From Wiki:

Cronkite appeared in the 2004 Robert Greenwald film Outfoxed, where he offered commentary on what he said were unethical and overtly political practices at the Fox News Channel. Cronkite remarked that when Fox News was founded by Rupert Murdoch, "it was intended to be a conservative organization ? beyond that; a far-right-wing organization."

And THAT'S the way it is...

Way to turn a thread about a personal illness into a political pissing match.

 

[fskimospy]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: techs
From Wiki:

Cronkite appeared in the 2004 Robert Greenwald film Outfoxed, where he offered commentary on what he said were unethical and overtly political practices at the Fox News Channel. Cronkite remarked that when Fox News was founded by Rupert Murdoch, "it was intended to be a conservative organization ? beyond that; a far-right-wing organization."

And THAT'S the way it is...

Way to turn a thread about a personal illness into a political pissing match.

Well I mean really what do you want from this thread? 300 posts saying "BAAAW I'M SAD"? Since this is a politics and news forum, Cronkite's politics should certainly be discussed. He considered Fox News a partisan propaganda source, and rightly so. Nothing wrong with mentioning it.

 

[runestone]

I certainly don't want this thread to dissolve into a "pissing match", but I think a mention of Mr. Cronkite's political views is warranted.

I remember seeing him as a kid and as a young adult and listening to him as if he could do no wrong. Now later in life being able to see what his real beliefs were, I have far less respect for him and the job he did than I used to. His remarks about FOX network are hypocritical indeed.

That being said, he was still a class act compared to so many that hold similar jobs on TV today.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: techs
From Wiki:

Cronkite appeared in the 2004 Robert Greenwald film Outfoxed, where he offered commentary on what he said were unethical and overtly political practices at the Fox News Channel. Cronkite remarked that when Fox News was founded by Rupert Murdoch, "it was intended to be a conservative organization ? beyond that; a far-right-wing organization."

And THAT'S the way it is...

Way to turn a thread about a personal illness into a political pissing match.

Sounds like someone isn't all too pleased to find out America's most revered and respected news anchor thinks Fox News is propaganda machine for the far-right (or as i like to summarize it: "DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHH")

 

[Craig234]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: techs
From Wiki:

Cronkite appeared in the 2004 Robert Greenwald film Outfoxed, where he offered commentary on what he said were unethical and overtly political practices at the Fox News Channel. Cronkite remarked that when Fox News was founded by Rupert Murdoch, "it was intended to be a conservative organization ? beyond that; a far-right-wing organization."

And THAT'S the way it is...

Way to turn a thread about a personal illness into a political pissing match.

What a way for techs to honor him by quoting his principles and views, and what a way for ProfJohn to introduce partisan garbage just because he doesn't like the views.

Cronkite's nickname was 'the most trusted man in America'. Like some other leaders - McNamara, Roberty Kennedy - he came to see Vietnam as a war the US needed to exit, and said so. President Johnson, seeing this, said if he'd lost Cronkite he'd lost America, and not long after made the surprise decision not to run for re-election.

Cronkite acted as a citizen after leaving news and spoke out on the issues, not as a paid advocate, which is something to praise, agree or not.

 

[ProfJohn]

Oh please... if I wanted to turn this into a pissing match I can drag out lots of quotes by him where he admits to their being a liberal bias in the media. And of course him trying to justify that bias too.

He was a great reporter and a fixture on American TV for decades, but beyond that he was not some all knowing all power figure. He was a reporter with an admitted bias towards one side and it wasn't until later in life that he started to admit that bias.

Just like David Brinkley coming out and admitting that there was a liberal bias in the media too.

 

[dennilfloss]

Walter Cronkite: when news were about reporting and understanding events, their causes, their consequences and the actors behind them, not about ratings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpgIaWbA-vs

 

[shira]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
Oh please... if I wanted to turn this into a pissing match I can drag out lots of quotes by him where he admits to their being a liberal bias in the media. And of course him trying to justify that bias too.

He was a great reporter and a fixture on American TV for decades, but beyond that he was not some all knowing all power figure. He was a reporter with an admitted bias towards one side and it wasn't until later in life that he started to admit that bias.

Just like David Brinkley coming out and admitting that there was a liberal bias in the media too.

There's a major difference between - on the one hand - some news stories having what you view as a liberal slant and - on the other hand - a news organization dedicated to the spreading of right-wing propaganda.

Much of what YOU call "liberal" is actually well-researched information that's a byproduct of the reporters at major news organizations being intelligent and well-educated. And note that being "fair" does NOT mean giving "the other side" "equal play" without reasonable justification that those contrary view have some factual basis.

Us "liberals" can't help it if "the real truth" according to education and research often happens to be a lot closer to what the left espouses rather than the willfull distortions that Hannity, Limbaugh, and O'Reilly spew.

Consider the following:

An overwhelming majority of Americans have extremely negative views of Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, anf the American news media consistently paints Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda in an extremely negative light. Do you conclude, therefore, that the American media has a huge anti-Al Qaeda "bias"? Or is is much fairer to say that the American media's consistently anti-Al Qaeda stories are a reflection of objective truth that Al Qaeda is a monstrous organization dedicated to harming America?

 

[kage69]

Great post shira...

 

[ProfJohn]

Originally posted by: shira
Much of what YOU call "liberal" is actually well-researched information that's a byproduct of the reporters at major news organizations being intelligent and well-educated. And note that being "fair" does NOT mean giving "the other side" "equal play" without reasonable justification that those contrary view have some factual basis.

No liberal media bias has nothing to with reporters being intelligent and well-educated. There are plenty of Americans who are just as intelligent and educated who are not liberal.

Walter Cronkite explained it himself

"Everybody knows that there's a liberal, that there's a heavy liberal persuasion among correspondents.....Anybody who has to live with the people, who covers police stations, covers county courts, brought up that way, has to have a degree of humanity that people who do not have that exposure don't have, and some people interpret that to be liberal. It's not a liberal, it's humanitarian and that's a vastly different thing."

He used that explanation several times. The media is liberal because it is a profession that attracts liberals plain and simple.

 

[Phokus]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: shira
Much of what YOU call "liberal" is actually well-researched information that's a byproduct of the reporters at major news organizations being intelligent and well-educated. And note that being "fair" does NOT mean giving "the other side" "equal play" without reasonable justification that those contrary view have some factual basis.

No liberal media bias has nothing to with reporters being intelligent and well-educated. There are plenty of Americans who are just as intelligent and educated who are not liberal.

Walter Cronkite explained it himself

"Everybody knows that there's a liberal, that there's a heavy liberal persuasion among correspondents.....Anybody who has to live with the people, who covers police stations, covers county courts, brought up that way, has to have a degree of humanity that people who do not have that exposure don't have, and some people interpret that to be liberal. It's not a liberal, it's humanitarian and that's a vastly different thing."

He used that explanation several times. The media is liberal because it is a profession that attracts liberals plain and simple.

Well yeah, consider the time he grew up in when there was war, racism, and injustice (more so than there was today). The very nature of news reporting is uncovering these ugly truths about society. Wheras, conservatives, by their very definition, would not like such unpleasantness discussed. Of course liberals would be drawn to that profession. What we're talking about is a news channel being a mouthpiece of a political party, that's something vastly different.

 

[ZeGermans]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn
There are plenty of Americans who are just as intelligent and educated who are not liberal.

Not nearly as many and that's a fact. Conservatism breeds off of people's ignorance and fear.