Apollo 11 lands on the moon:

Apollo 13:


As always, Walter shows everybody how news is done. And of course he was following in the footsteps of giants. Edward R. Murrow, Robert Trout, William Shirer, and other, often unsung, CBS journalists.

It's very sad that CBS and the other big three networks have lost that sense of ethics, to say nothing of the cable news networks who had a chance and blew it away for fucking money. Like a cheap pimp.

Walter Cronkite maintained his ethics until his death, which is a honorable way to go.

I raise a glass to him.
Skäl!


on edit: The second clip gives an incredible example of both good news journalism and superb science reportage. Cronkite reports the science and is confident enough to know that he knows the subject. As a trained physicist, I can say that he hits the nail on the head.

Cronkite was a very rare anchor person. The story was always the most important thing to him. And one had to get it right the first time, because there were no retakes on live news reportage. And no wild speculations! As Jack Webb's Sergeant Friday might say: "Just the facts."

called "The 21st Century". It was fascinating and terrifying at the same time.

I cannot forget the Rock of Gibralter as the iconic image of that program, a Prudential Insurance trade mark of sorts. It was a history documentary program and my family never missed an episode. And AFAIK, Conkrite was the host. And he was great.

Wiki: The 20th Century

This was CBS back in the day when News was not mere entertainment, and when a television network took seriously their power to inform the public. And Cronkite did that better than just about anybody after Edward R Murrow's war time reports from the UK " This is London", Robert Trout's marathon D-Day anchorage (the first ever anchored news report), and William Shirer's reports from Nazi Berlin before the US entered the war.

All were memorable historic documentation of how a news organization can do good in the name of getting the facts straight, on time, and on the scene. Trout's D-Day reportage is astounding as was Cronkite's on November 22, 1963. But Trout laid the ground for all who came after him. It was the amazing confluence of events and technology that made it possible for everything Cronkite and all the others to achieve what they did.

Sadly, CBS has forgotten that history. And few people remember it. It is a monumental mistake which we ignore at our peril.

With seriousness and some solemnity, not the breathless excitement of today's "reporters," who are thinking mostly of how it will affect them and practically salivating over things which make people suffer, but further their stupid careers.

couldn't get a job in today's "media". He called it like he saw it.

Cronkite and JFK were the same age, which I managed not to know until quite recently.

I was working at National Airport in Washington DC the night Nixon resigned. I can tell you that during Nixon's speech not a single airplane loaded or was pulled away from the gate because every single person wanted to watch what he said. I NEVER in ten years of working there ever seen things come so completely to a halt as that night.

And every single time I see that speech replayed I hold my breath for fear that Nixon will say, "Well, I am not a quitter, and I am going to remain in office until January 20th, 1977." Honestly, every time it's like the first time and there's the fear that he will not resign.