Walter Cronkite, who died today at age 92, left a tremendous imprint on the lives of millions of Americans and generations of journalists, including myself.
He stood for being the people’s tribune, he stood for a dispassionate accounting of the facts, he stood for all of the ideals that today’s journalists consider articles of faith, chief of these being reporting the news without fear or favor to those in positions of political or financial power.
For practicing journalists today, both Cronkite and the man who brought him to CBS News, Edward R. Murrow, have set a bar that we are unlikely to live up to. But try to live up to it we must. Upon this, our democracy and true freedom depends.
Good bye Mr. Cronkite. Thank you for your life and your legacy.
May those of us who follow in your footsteps endeavor to live up to it.
Founder and Managing Editor of Worldmeets.US