It might be helpful to remind folks that Walter Cronkite passed away last Friday after having lived nine decades.
I was traveling that week in Tennessee and Mississippi and I noticed that so many people had not realized that Mr. Cronkite has died. However everybody I encountered knew that Michael Jackson had died. I found this somewhat disconcerting but not entirely surprising. It was almost like I was waiting for CNN or some other 24 hour news cast to announce a month after his death that, “We interrupt this program for a breaking news story: Michael Jackson is still dead. Film on the hour every hour for twenty four for the next five years.”
Yes, indeed, I was reminded once again that Michael Jackson was in fact dead.
Late one evening last week, the day after Mr. Cronkite died, I watched a several-hour tribute, which in comparison with what has aired about Michael Jackson, was a brief tribute. Let’s remind ourselves that Walter Cronkite was widely acclaimed as the best and finest in television journalism of our time, and while I was sitting in my bed in the hotel, I reminded myself that Mr. Cronkite had been elected “the most trusted man in American” in 1972. In about two hours this tribute (on cable news) was finished and I felt cheated. I wanted more. I thought that in this age of 24 hour news, the cable news network, the major networks, and all the accessory means of beaming out stories to the world, that the media might have been able to fill a few more hours with reflections on Walter Cronkite’s singular contribution to American and world history, but that was not to be.
But what an influence Walter Cronkite had! I remember as a young lad in Iowa hanging on every word that come out of his mouth, including his announcement of President Kennedy’s assassination, and how touched I was that he shed a tear after he announced to the world that Kennedy was indeed dead. I was listening to Walter Cronkite while in a funeral coach responding to a death call in 1969 when he play by play took us through the landing of a man on the moon.
I recall vividly Mr. Cronkite’s moving reports from the war front and how he almost challenged President Lyndon B. Johnson on the war when he proclaimed on the CBS Evening News that he thought the Viet Nam War was in a stalemate. Mr. Cronkite’s treatment of the Watergate scandal was professional and diplomatic, which was a requirement to help hold the country together, and his unforgettable coverage of the Iranian Hostage crisis helped to calm and reassure a panicked nation when even the president of the United States appeared lost and alone.
Interestingly, while most Americans remember the Beatles only in association with Ed Sullivan and his Sunday evening variety show, the truth is that the Beatles' first exposure to America was on Walter Cronkite’s televised news report
Walter Cronkite was able to accomplish exactly what Edward R. Murrow had pulled off a generation before, and that was personifying the absolute best in television journalism. “BREAKING NEWS: MICHAEL JACKSON IS STILL DEAD.”
The evening I watched the two-hour tribute to Walter Cronkite, the program was competing here and there during the same two hour period with a story about Michael Jackson’s favorite tooth paste and an “exclusive” fifteen minute report on what literature the Jackson children were presently reading that week. Nothing was said about the literature that Mr. Walter Cronkite enjoyed reading.
Without question, the death of Michael Jackson was indeed a tragic event, and yes, Walter Cronkite lived 9 decades while poor Michael only got 5 – certainly not fair. With that said, I found it odd and interesting that “Bubbles the Chimp,” Michael Jackson’s self proclaimed friend, got more airtime over the weekend than did Mr. Cronkite.
The death and funerals of these two highly divergent men make for interesting observations, which once again proves that funerals do reflect life. Michael Jackson created news, Walter Cronkite reported it. Michael Jackson was a showman, Walter Cronkite was terribly aware of the potential use and abuse of showmanship. Here is an example. For while Mr. Jackson’s death and funeral are still news stories night after night this was NOT how Walter Cronkite handled the reporting of the death and funeral of President John F. Kennedy. For two weeks in the latter part of November 1963, Mr. Cronkite reported on the deceased president night after night, but Cronkite himself called an end to it after two weeks. Enough, was his reason. Enough – it was time for the country to move on, and he was correct.
I fear that Mr. Cronkite’s beloved television journalism has left that clear type of thinking years ago, and the diatribe of Michael Jackson will probably go on and on and on and on.
Michael Jackson made records which had little if anything to do with real life. Mr. Cronkite told real life stories which had everything to do with how things were on that particular day. There is a big difference between the two. Records and videos can be played time and time again – but announcing the death of the president of the United States comes only once. “This just in: MICHAEL JACKSON IS STILL DEAD, in spite of reports that he was seen with Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley yesterday at a Hollywood Starbucks drinking a latte mixed to Michael’s exacting specifications. Film at 11:00 p.m.”
Michael Jackson made news. Walter Cronkite reported it and helped interpret it. Mr. Jackson made news by marrying Elvis Presley’s daughter, dangling a baby over a balcony, and, well, his activities with the young – you decide. Walter Cronkite however reported to the world some of the most important events in history, and no million-selling album will ever compete with that concerning depth and character.
This is a terribly sad thought. As I was watching the limited media attention to a 90 + year old man’s life, the thought crossed my mind that if Walter Cronkite had been accused of pedophilia or had dangled one of his children from the balcony of the Waldorf-Astoria, the media attention at his death might have been far greater than what it was. Is that not sick?
However in the end both men’s funerals have turned into a truth serum concerning how they lived their lives. Mr. Jackson’s funeral was a grand affair held in the Staples Center in downtown Lost Angeles which ended up costing the city millions of taxpayer dollars. Mr. Cronkite’s funeral will be held at an Episcopal Church on Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan where he had sent his children to Sunday school and where his wife’s funeral had been held in 2005.
At present to one seems to be sure of the fate of Michael Jackson’s body, but Mr. Cronkite will be laid to rest in a quiet Kansas City cemetery in the midwest which he loved so much, next to his wife Betsey.
I always thought that Mr. Cronkite had an outstanding and real cool signoff with “And that’s the way it is.” However, given the state of the television journalism in these times, I think that if he had done his signoff while wearing one white sequined glove he might have gotten a few more tributes and mentions from his own beloved profession – television journalism.
Of course in Mr. Cronkite’s broadcasting heyday, such a nutty stunt would have certainly have gotten him fired from CBS and well might have sent him packing off to the nearest funny farm.
Walter Cronkite is no more, and with his death television news journalism lost one of the moral icons that kept news focused, kept news honest, and kept news interesting – and Mr. Cronkite was able to do all three for over 5 decades – not bad.
Now at the present when I watch a “television journalist” reporting once more on such “critical” events as the status of Lindsay Lohan’s love life or the utterly tragic world-shattering and devastating news of Jessica Simpson’s horrible breakup with a man named Tony Romo, I have to wonder – did Mr. Cronkite really die of advanced vascular disease, or, my friends, did he really die of a broken heart?
In my heart of hearts I can easily imagine that it just might be that Mr. Walter Cronkite’s last words were, “look at what they’ve done to my medium.” “News Flash: MICHAEL JACKSON IS STILL DEAD. However his music will live on after record producer Lance Loveguard announced that Michael’s son Blanket will record a box set of Michael’s ‘cover’ tunes. Film at 2:30 a.m.”
There will not be a televised tribute show at the Staples Center featuring celebrities singing songs and forgetting the lyrics in front of a framed photo of Walter Cronkite. As well it should be. Also news stations across the world will not be interrupting “All My Children” and pissing off one million soap opera fans to show the solemn funeral procession or Mr. Cronkite’s burial in Missouri. As well is should be.
Walter Cronkite thankfully will be buried in the same way he delivered the nightly news for two decades – with dignity, free of any hyperbole and sensationalism. Mr. Jackson’s funeral reflected his life, Mr. Cronkite’s funeral reflected his – only difference is that Uncle Walter, as he was known to millions, really did deserve more air time on his air waves – he basically invented the profession and hence he earned it.
Anyway that is one old undertaker’s opinion. TVB
