Bob Dittmer: Reflections

By now every pundit has weighed in on the passing of Walter Cronkite; every network has run a special — with more coming. Everyone on Twitter has expressed their thoughts. So instead, here are some personal reflections of the man I grew up with reporting the news every night.

My generation grew up with Walter as our guide to the world and its events. Every night in our household we watched Walter. If Walter said it was true, we needed nothing further to make us believe it. It was so. My parents trusted him implicitly. Even this weekend, in conversation, my 88 year-old mother noted that she hasn’t trusted anyone else quite like that since.

We were on a first name basis with him even though we didn’t know him personally — and yet we did. For he was the most trusted man in America. Yes, you’ve heard that before. But it really was true – at least for us.

So the question is really: Why? No one since has commanded such respect, trust and confidence. Neither presidents nor Popes, pundits nor Press. I think I have at least part of the answer.

Walter Cronkite was not a better journalist than others of his day – nor even today. But he was among the best, there is no question about that. What set Walter apart was his impartiality, his objectivity. Yes, I know, we expect our reporters to be impartial and objective and recognize they are not really – they just do their best. The difference with Walter was that his best was The Best.

He was a thorough reporter of the news, as were and are most. What Walter was able to do was deliver that news objectively with no nuance, no inflection, no expression of opinion of any kind. Watch some of his newscasts. Even his non-verbals (expressions, tone, gestures, etc.) are neutral. His language was factual and neutral. He implied absolutely NO meaning beyond just the facts. He let us decide how we felt based on the facts. And we trusted him for that like we trusted no one else.

Yes, he strayed from that a couple of times. He showed emotion at the report of President Kennedy’s assassination, and again when Armstrong walked on the moon. And he also once expressed an opinion – directly and not ambiguously – about the war in Vietnam.

But other than those few instances, Walter gave it to us straight. No nuanced meanings, no raised eyebrows, no quirky smiles.

Do our newscasters provide us the same level of objective presentation today? Oh, I think they try. But they all fail to meet the standard of Walter Cronkite in my book. Maybe that’s just too high a standard. Maybe the public doesn’t want it that way anymore. Don’t know.

But I do know that as I reflect Walter Cronkite’s style as a newscaster, I know how much I miss that direct and objective approach. Thanks, Walter. We will miss you. Wish us all luck as we continue our adventure into the new world of online and social journalism.

And that’s the way it was.

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