26th
John Carney’s Ridiculous Anti-Cronkite Essay
I have to agree that John Carney’s thinly-veiled contempt at Cronkite seems to lack a logical base, his argument is unusually unconvincing, and I have to assume that it’s just some irrational political-based grudge.
True.
I agree with the sentiment, though, that it was bad for our national dialogue that Cronkite was the monolithic news figure of his time, that he had no competition or debate equal; things are somewhat better now, even if many of the TV pundits of modern times are irresponsible blowhards.
To be honest, I’ve never understood it when people in 2009 talk smack about the way the media was in the 60s or 70s or really anytime pre-internet. It was that way because it had to be that way. It wasn’t “bad” and it wasn’t “good” or anything. It just had to be that way due to technological necessity.
I’ve heard people criticize newspapers for being a random mishmash of horoscopes, cartoons, op-eds, golf coverage, stock tables and “news.” But someone should try going back to any point in the 1900s and create a commercial product that was something different? What we have now is better, but I guarantee that in 2100 they’ll look back at our crap now. It doesn’t mean that we, today, have to consider it bad.
