OT Walter Cronkite

[SFP]

I was fairly young when he retired but he was an American icon that everyone respected and trusted regardless of race or region. He set a standard that will never be achieved. Was there another anchor while he worked? To most of us who listened to his broadcast he was Uncle Walter and he sounded like one of us. Ask a southerner or someone from the mid-west and they'll tell you that he sounded just like them.

[Da Coach]

I liked Cronkeit, so don't take this the wrong way-
but there are a lot of people, millions of them, who live their lives respectably, and do their jobs as well as Cronkite did his job.
I don't understand why we idolize people just because they were in the media. He was honored with numerous awards and honors while he was alive (BTW, entertainment and media are the only businesses that heap such accolades and awards on themselves just for people who do the job they are paid very well to do), and we'll eulogize him unendingly now that he's dead.
And we'll see many more TV programs over the next months honoring and praising Cronkite, because he did his job well. Heck, I still see the media telling us how great a man Tim Russert was, and it's been over a year since he died.

[tornado]

...entertainment and media are the only businesses that heap such accolades and awards on themselves ....

bingo....
all the sports awards are voted by the media people,
all the accolades given to politicians, athletes, and other professionals are awarded by the media people,
even the various other forms of talent awards (dancing, musical, etc.) are voted by the media and entertainment people,
while all the media and entertainment awards are all voted and awarded by...the media and entertainment people.
In most professions....the very best simply do their jobs and hope to avoid getting canned or sued...

[SFP]

Da_Coach I understand your comment if you were talking about Michael Jackson! Walter Cronkite was a trusted source that presidents watched every evening to gage how they were viewed. As LBJ said,"If I lost Walter Cronkite I lost America." He was the most trusted journalist ever and was all about the news first not ratings. Big difference between him and every other media/journalist since.

[Beninator]

Da_Coach I understand your comment if you were talking about Michael Jackson! Walter Cronkite was a trusted source that presidents watched every evening to gage how they were viewed. As LBJ said,"If I lost Walter Cronkite I lost America." He was the most trusted journalist ever and was all about the news first not ratings. Big difference between him and every other media/journalist since.

I am in you camp on this one SFP. Especially with the depth of work that Cronkite accomplished in his lifetime.

[Da Coach]

I am in you camp on this one SFP. Especially with the depth of work that Cronkite accomplished in his lifetime.

My point is that innumerable people in every profession are just as dedicated, hard working, and successful. But we won't see such adulation and deification as we see from the media when one of their own dies.
OK, he was a great newscaster. Enough.

[Beninator]

My point is that innumerable people in every profession are just as dedicated, hard working, and successful. But we won't see such adulation and deification as we see from the media when one of their own dies.
OK, he was a great newscaster. Enough.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one... If we were talking someone like a Tim Russert who passed away before he could compile the body of work that Cronkite accomplished, or the extent of reporting done on Michael Jackson than I could agree.