“...without doubt, Mr. Cronkite would be mortified to see how far journalism has fallen...”
In 1968, after the Tet Offensive, Mr. Cronkite reported that the war was lost. He said so in light of the offensive being a failure and the American attempt to repel it being so successful.
There was no apology to all the young men who lost their lives in the victory that was cast as a loss.
The press then was just as biased, maybe more so, back then. The only difference between then and now was that the cosmeticians did such a good job in making it look good.
The “American People” were fed a line of pap that was glaringly specious yet the cosmeticians dressed it up as the truth.
IMHO
exactly, the Tet Offensive broke the back of the North Vietnamese military but Cronkite and the US media bolstered them
I disagree completely
Cronkite was a lib no question but he supported the war early on Big time.....he grew disenchanted
I think he viewed it as unwinnable and they knew likely the GOP....a very moderate GOP was likely to assume the war headed by a politician they all detested
They were vested in LBJ and JFK war not a Republican war....a party likely led by Nixon who they hated even more than Barry
There was no comparable MSNBC then a no women pretty much....till Babs came along
Some reds here and there and a lot of old school Democrats hawkish on Cold War.....that’s a dead breed
There was no nationwide abortion on demand or homosexual marriage or racial quotas and barely gun control
A different world and a number of somewhat moderate men in the jockey seats even in print
Today everyone but Fox is hard left
Tech industry is overrun by younger progressives
Sports networks all left leaning
Print all left or one or two moderates......back then southern papers were socially conservative
It goes on and on
We have more choices now and stuff leaks out but the left owns 90% of the real estate
And academia and advertising and film
I lived it as a boy
This is a different country.....Eric Severied or Howard K Smith or even Huntley and Brinkley would be considered righties compared to Cooper Maddow Soledad or that buxom Robin Meade
“The press then was just as biased, maybe more so, back then. The only difference between then and now was that the cosmeticians did such a good job in making it look good.”
I agree. In that era the big three news broadcasts all originated in New York City and they reflected the liberal culture of that city. Only Brinkley was elsewhere, based in Washington DC, but his partner Huntley was in NYC.
I think I would rate Brinkley and Severeid as the best of the bunch. Huntley and Cronkite were on the left. Cronkite was found to have been helping the antiwar left modify their demonstrations for maximum impact on the public. I saw Cronkite at a McGovern rally back in 1972. I figured he was as much a camp follower as a reporter.