Posted on 07/12/2019 9:37:20 PM PDT by ransomnote
Walter Cronkite unnerved a nation 56 years ago, by taking off his glasses.
The video has been seen by countless millions over the decades: Cronkite announcing on live television in 1963 the death of President Kennedy. He stops for a moment, removes his glasses, composes himself and moves on. That gesture rattled Americans because they expected journalists to convey a calm sense of authority, a reassuring stoicism in the face of Cold War standoffs, civil unrest and even the assassination of a president.
Things have changed. Emotion now blankets the media landscape like an infants crib at bedtime. Google Shepard Smith emotional, and up come nearly 3 million results, many of them focused on the Fox anchors recent visceral response to immigrant suffering. A search of Rachel Maddow crying delivers more than 1 million offerings, many for the MSNBC hosts reaction to border detentions and the Mueller report. Brooke Baldwin tears uncovers nearly 2 million entries for the CNN reporters reaction to a variety of news events.
They are not alone. Contemporary culture trusts feelings over facts, rewards heated emotion tears or anger and rejects medium cool. The effect on journalism is unmistakable. And a lot of the blame can be placed on those all-too-common twin devils: television and the internet.
From the earliest days of television, journalists understood the power of an image to overwhelm objectivity. Thats why Cronkite and others worked hard to present the news without emotional cues: no raised eyebrows, head-shaking, or wide-eyed incredulity. They presented the news simply, expecting this would counteract that gut-level response all humans have to striking images.
Oh spare me! The writer doesn’t understand the difference between PUNDITS and JOURNALISTS. Sheepy Smith interjects his personal opinions, frequently. Maddow is a pundit. Cronkite had his leanings but was objective in the days when JOURNALISTS actually had basic integrity. The writer of this is helping NO ONE!
haha!
They’re all Walter duranty.....
It’s the chickification of the news, which has grown steadily for 40 years. Women are criticized for reporting in a cold, detached way because we expect women to have an emotional reaction to news, unlike men. To get more women reporters on the air, we had to be less discerning about what was fact and what was emotion. Now, most of the male news network anchors are gays because gays are biological men who emote like women.
Naah. Cronkite had as much of an agenda as every other leftist propagandist of today.
Rot in hell Walter.
Scary stuff.
CBS was once the gold standard in news gathering.
It was a long time ago...
“Acting!” - Jon Lovitz
Cronkite was a closeted one world government globalist since the 1940s. He said that he tried to remain impartial but he wasn’t.
And he whored out his ‘integrity’ by appearing alongside Bill Clinton boating during BJ’s presidential scandals. cronkite was ‘retired’ at that point but it was a stunt to tell the public ‘trust uncle walter, this is not a problem’.
Walter Crookedkite, the Father Of Fake News.
Posts BUMP!
(programming)
News readers (which is what they are) know beforehand what’s in the news; guess they rehearse how they’ll read it.
Today, journalists are nothing but a bunch of silly 12 year old girls telling their mythical tale of the day’s events. We need reporters reporting the facts and nothing but the facts. The who, what, where, when, why and how. The “why” isn’t their fantastical twistings but the actual factual honest to goodness real reason why.
I would be happy if they just put text on the TV screen and let me read it. I’ll make up my own mind as to what it means. That still leaves the MSM with enormous power - the power to report & the power to ignore!
Just shut off the TV news completely
I did years ago. Best thing I ever did.
Next to Ho Chi Minh Walter Cronkite is the man most responsible for the defeat of the American effort in Vietnam. After a resounding defeat of the Viet Cong during the Tet Offensive that son of a bitch instead proclaimed it a North Vietnamese victory and soured American public opinion against the war.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.