Ron Bryant: Walter Cronkite, We Need You

Are today’s political commentators a help or a hindrance the American voter’s understanding of national issues?  In the past, if a newspaper editor or television news anchor felt it necessary to comment on national issues, they did it sparingly if they wanted to change the public’s opinion on matters of importance.

As American journalism became more sophisticated, the old “Yellow Journalism” with its outlandish headlines and rabble rousing editorials began to fade.  The World War II generation of journalists such as Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Howard K. Smith, Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Douglas Edwards, Eric Sevaried, and many others dominated the news media for decades.  Their dedication to reporting the news as accurately and unbiased as possible, along with their dignified style, made them the epitome of what a journalist should be.

Throughout their long and successful careers, they reported the news and kept their personal opinions to themselves.  When they deviated from reporting, and did editorialize, they did so for unselfish reasons.  During the long and tragic war in Vietnam, Americans read and listened to journalists’ reports of the conflict.  Americans also listened when some of them did decide to speak out in an editorial fashion.

Walter Cronkite’s influence was so great that when he spoke out about the futility of the Vietnam War, President Lyndon Johnson knew that the war he had prosecuted so intensely would lose the support of the American people.  The same could be said of the Watergate scandal.  When respected journalists felt it necessary to offer an editorial, they did so with dignity as befitted the grave situation that prompted them to speak out.

The World War II generation of journalists is all but gone.  Death and the infirmities of age had taken its toll.  The younger generation of newsmen in many ways, tried to carry on the tradition of journalistic excellence, and to adhere to the high standards set by the previous generation.  Unfortunately for them, the news media and the nation had begun to change.

Many people cared less about hard factual news reporting, instead, they wanted entertainment.  The inadvertent celebrity status of some of the more prominent television news anchors had become a curse.  Reporters needed to be media “stars,” and these stars had to report not just news, but “sensational” news.

Well established newspapers had to print some questionable and sometimes salacious material to sell papers.  However, it was television news that suffered the most from the “new journalism.”  Ratings had always been important, but now ratings constituted survival.  In some instances, the evening news had fallen to no more than another show.

With the advent of cable television, journalism took another damaging blow.  So-called news programs became the “bully pulpit” of political and social causes.  Both liberals and conservatives have stations where their agendas are aired twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.  Both sides have some of the most outspoken and sometimes ludicrous guests possible.  Most of these broadcasts made no effort at impartiality.  The hosts of these programs smirk and gesticulate while blatantly skewing the day’s events to fit their particular prejudices.

While there are journalists who still work to deliver the news as news, and not commentary, it is sad that a profession that could help end a war and topple a president, now has members that run more of a sideshow than a newsroom.

Where are the Walter Cronkites of today?  America needs them.  Give us back our journalists and let commentators take a much smaller role in news programs.  The country would be far better off listening to the facts than the divisive rhetoric of political sycophants.

Ron Bryant is a Kentucky historian.