Today, July 17th, exactly 40 years from the Apollo 11 mission he so famously reported on, Walter Cronkite has passed away at the age of 92. There was a time in my life when the news was taken seriously, when it wasn’t part of show biz, when it represented a broadcast network’s legal responsibility to provide for the public good, when it wasn’t one big infomercial, when it’s main concern was providing information for it’s viewers, and not market share for it’s sponsors. This was the time of Walter Cronkite. He was referred to at one time as “the most trusted man in America”, and it was not without good reason. He told us the truth as he knew it, and tried his level best not to color it with personal or political bias. He was one of a small club of network news giants. There aren’t many left from that era. I will never forget him.
