Walter Cronkite: Called “the most trusted man in America,” he is now denigrated by CBS

The greatest broadcast journalist in its history

Americans are now being told that to be a great journalist you have to “love America.”

Edward R. Murrow must be outraged that his network would ever say that.

Who is Edward R. Murrow? He was the consummate broadcast journalist best known for his excellent reporting from Europe in World War II, and also for his  scathing critiques of Sen. Joseph McCarthy, who tried to destroy democracy in America. He is renowned for setting the exemplary standards for journalism that were followed for so many years.

He was followed at CBS-TV by the venerable man who was eventually called the “Most trusted man in America,” Walter Cronkite. That was how America felt about Cronkite, the man who reported on the moon landing that brought such pride to America; and on cataclysmic events the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Bobby Kennedy; and of the devastation that rocked America in the 1960s.

Cronkite was a true journalist, but imagine this about a person who is trying to destroy his legacy: a person nobody has ever heard of has just denigrated him, saying that he was not transparent and that those of his ilk and era did not “love America.”

When he retired from CBS in 1981 after 19 years as the host of the CBS Evening News, he said this,

“Old anchormen, you see, don’t fade away,” he said with a hint of a smile. “They just keep coming back for more.”

Then, just like that, Cronkite delivered his famous sign-off.

“And that’s the way it is.”

Amaris Castillo, “Walter Cronkite signed off — and trust in the

press steadily eroded,” Poynter.50, Aug. 6, 2025

However, great journalists are not those who simply answer the questions “Who, What, When, Where, Why” the questions that every introductory journalist is told to focus on in the stories that the individual writes.

In fact, the most trusted man in America developed his reputation by being honest.

Walter interviews President Kennedy

Journalism includes being critical

Unlike many contemporary journalists, Cronkite dug for the truth. When the Vietnam War was out of control in the 1960s, he went to the country to discover why the U.S. could not put away some small, weak communist country.

When he returned his words stunned the nation — and its president,

For its seems now, more than ever, that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate. But, it is increasingly clear to this reporter, that the only rational way out then, will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as honorable people who lived up to their pledge to honor democracy, and did the best they could.

Feb. 27, 1968

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn2RjahTi3M

That was honesty.

That was journalism.

Three weeks later, President Johnson announced that he would not run for reelection. He said that when he lost Walter Cronkite, he lost middle America.

Denigration: Who the hell is Tony Dokoupil?

One approach that the most trusted man in America did not take was to condemn those who criticized him. He would not be taking actions like answering critics in the comments section of stories, as a man who never served as a news anchor did while criticizing one of the best broadcast journalists of all time.

One commenter told Tony Dokoupil, who will now fill Cronkite's venerable seat, that he grew up and loved Cronkite. Instead of the new anchor thanking him for that, he said this,

“What did you love most about him? I can promise you we’ll be more accountable and more transparent than Cronkite or any one else of his era.”

Todd Spangler, “New CBS News Anchor Tony Dokoupil claims he will

be more accountable than Cronkite…” Variety, Jan. 3, 2026

The problem for CBS is that they are the lowest rated news broadcasts of the three major networks, with ABC first and NBC second. That has been the case for quite a while.

Cronkite had brought America through some turmoil in the 1960s, and that was when he earned the respect of America. Civil rights. Vietnam. Assassinations. Battles on college campuses. And on and on.

But, to intimate that Cronkite was not transparent is a reach, especially for a person who has never been a broadcast journalist.

And for CBS to hire a right wing hack like Bari Weiss to head its news department is an insult to the memory of the great CBS journalists in its history.

Walter saw the “cracks” beginning to develop

In an interview in 2006, long after he had retired, the trusted man said this about his field of endeavor,

Cronkite pointed to core values of journalism. Honesty. Fairness. Truth. Totality of the story. Telling both sides of a controversial issue.

He said even the better newspapers had struggled, and lost readership.

“I think that the good journalists, the old journalists, the old-timers in there, are fighting the good fight and trying to hold onto what we know to be the principles of good journalism,” Cronkite said. “And I think we’re succeeding most of the time. But I see a little few cracks appearing in the walls there.”

Amaris Castillo, Poynter.50, 2025

The cracks started in the 1980s with the advent of 24 hour news coverage. CNN started it and became a leader in the field, but then others, less reputable, followed. The whole idea of honesty, fairness, and truth disappeared. Opinion and news were intermixed, and viewers could not tell one from the other.

Then the bias destroyed journalism and is responsible for what is taking place today, we hear names of hacks instead of accomplished journalists.

Walter breaks down after announcing that President Kennedy had died

CBS and Washington Post demonstrate how billionaires are destroying journalism

Two of some news outlets that have built a great journalistic ethos have suddenly fallen to depths that will never be rebuilt based on the people who have bought them. Traditionally, billionaires come to journalism with deep-seated biases. In early years, those biases are often overlooked because men like Andrew Carnegie were also great philanthropists. Carnegie was a traditional conservative, but he gave tremendous amounts of money away for people in the community.

As we visited Pittsburgh when we were children, the first area that my mother focused on was the Carnegie Museum. He gave almost 90 percent of his fortune, which was around 350 million dollars for the community. He provided money for 2,500 public libraries, funded a university now known as Carnegie-Mellon, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and other groups.

How much money has wealthiest businessman in America, who owns Amazon and the Washington Post, given to any organization or people?

None.

How much has David Ellison, the owner of CBS, given to charity?

Nothing of substance.

What they are doing is destroying two formerly outstanding journalistic organizations in order to bend their knees to Donald Trump and the far-right. They are despicable people, and now they denigrate great journalists like Walter Cronkite.