The "news" stars are currently filling the airwaves flamboyantly commemorating Walter Cronkite's death as though his work reflects well on them.
But their sycophantic servitude to mindless talking-point stenography represent what they actually do.
In Walter Cronkite's "Tet Offensive Editorial" I find the essence of journalism that today's modern media stars not only fail to exhibit, but explicitly disclaim as their responsibility:
"I think there are a lot of critics who think that [in the run-up to the Iraq War] . . . . if we did not stand up and say this is bogus, and you're a liar, and why are you doing this, that we didn't do our job. I respectfully disagree. It's not our role"
- David Gregory, MSNBC, May 28, 2008.
Yeah, right. Over the past eight years, David and his ilk allowed our politicians to run amok.
My generation came of age at a time when Walter Cronkite was the name in American culture synonymous with credibility and respect. His role in our society transcended his TV news anchor position.
When he said ‘and that's the way it is,' we believed his every word because his compassion, dignity and respect merited our trust.
I'd like to think that Walter Cronkite and the news did not die on the same day.
*** Hold the Presses!
After I posted this depressing piece I saw something that made my heart sing!
I saw news anchor (MSNBC's Rachel Maddow) apologize for mistakenly allowing lies to be presented as facts on her show - and - she did the research and corrected them!
Can you imagine how refreshing it would be to tune in to the news at the end of a busy day and trust that you were hearing factually researched material?
How nice to think that "Faux News" could no longer dominate the opinions and stirs up prejudice and lies among low-information voters.
Sticking to facts would be the beginning of a better and more realistic peaceful world.
I think that Walter Cronkite would have been very proud of Rachel Maddow.
You can see her show weeknights at 9pm EST on MSNBC-TV and it is rebroadcast at 11pm and 2am. She is also on the radio - check here for times and stations.
Meanwhile, TV (and radio) News Shows continue to swim in the sewer:
Depressing update: CNN's mainstream's prime time news anchor Lou Dobbs is taking the far right "birthers" mainstream, with his own signature, xenophobic touch: Dobbs uses substantial airtime to wonder aloud whether President Obama might be "undocumented"—a word Dobbs typically reserves for the illegal immigrants he rails against nightly.
And most mainstream media is giving Liz Cheney unfettered access to spew "birther" beliefs in order to deflect investigation into the legality of daddy Dick's actions during the Bush years.
The result of this mindless media diatribe is that a bunch of republican congresscritters have signed on to a "birther bill" whose only purpose is to divide the country.
The utter stupidity of it all makes me wanna cry. As a nation, we're not a sitcom, we have real problems to solve.
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