EVENT REPORT: Walter Cronkite event
Notes from Walter Cronkite Event on Oct. 20
Notes by Shira Ovide, J2006 - so2171
NYC, THURSDAY, OCT. 20–Former “CBS Evening News” anchor Walter Cronkite and Andy Rooney of “60 Minutes” held a free-ranging discussion Thursday about their
careers, bloggers, news satire programs like the “Daily Show” and other media topics.
Cronkite spoke at a ceremony honoring his Lifetime Achievement Award from the Freedom Broadcasting Foundation, which runs the government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The legendary newsman, 88, still possesses his trademark sonorous voice, though he walks with difficulty and had trouble hearing some questions
from the audience (”I’m a little hard of hearing,” Cronkite quipped. “That’s not true; I’m as deaf as a post.”)
In the discussion with surprise guest Rooney, Cronkite said he believes blogs are often “the worse kind of slander” and worries that they are considered legitimate journalism. He also criticized the U.S.A. Patriot Act passed in the wake of 9/11. He said the law allows the Department of Justice to pursue people who are perceived as unpatriotic.
Rooney was the comedian of the afternoon, joking that he doesn’t understand why the advertising industry tries so hard to appeal to young people: “You don’t have any money; you don’t have any brains,” he told the audience comprised mostly of journalism
students from Columbia, Brooklyn College and elsewhere.
At one point, Cronkite sounded an off note about women anchors on network television. He said he thinks women on television talk too quickly and in too high a register, but said they can be coached to deliver the news in a more viewer-friendly way.
Capping the event at the Museum of Television and Radio, Cronkite said he had no regrets about his career, which ranged from World War II to the Reagan adminstration. “I think it worked out pretty well,” he said of his life in news.
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