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Time: Cronkite, the 'Patron Saint of Objectivity' -- Well, Actually, Thankfully, No By Tim Graham (Bio | Archive) July 18, 2009 - 09:02 ET     Most Americans who were born before 1970 remember Walter Cronkite as a towering figure of TV news. I remember being riveted to the set during his final newscast in 1981. But one grand claim about Cronkite should not stand: that he was "TV’s patron saint of objectivity," as Time TV writer Jim Poniewozik wrote in a tribute. Even Poniewozik can’t stick with that claim. He went on to honor Cronkite for trusting his...

John Podhoretz does a great job unpacking and re-assembling the information in the CBS Report, to show that: Mapes was not "focused on any particular event or topic." In other words, she had nothing to go on. And yet on she went, searching for a "viable story line." Mapes was on a gigantic fishing expedition. She was trying to bag a president. She did so with the consent and support of her superiors. With that aim in mind, she partnered up with one Michael Smith, a Texas journalist. Smith told her he had a "tasty brisket of information" to share...