"AND THAT'S THE WAY IT WAS!"

This past Sunday night I was riveted to the couch watching 60 Minutes' special tribute to the late Walter Cronkite with my boyfriend. Even though Cronkite was way before my time and I didn't grow up watching him report the moon landing or Kennedy assassinations, I appreciate his contribution to history and television journalism. I could tell my boyfriend was itching to change the channel, but I said with a tear in my eye, "Wait, I love this stuff. Don't change the channel!" He said, "Oh that's right, you have a connection to people you don't know!" It's true. I cry at the drop a hat watching tributes to presidents, military heroes, or television journalists like Cronkite. Maybe I was tearful that I can't imagine anyone crying for Brian Williams or Katie Couric in quite the same way unless they debuted an unfortunate new hairstyle on camera. Back then in the days of Cronkite, people trusted their television anchors. Now we read about how much money they make and we can get our news anytime we check email on our phones. I did read something interesting in a Cronkite tribute article that proves there was more going on behind the cameras even back then. Cronkite actually retired from CBS News 8 months earlier than scheduled because CBS was afraid that his successor Dan Rather would jump ship to a competitor. Interesting....and we all know how Dan Rather went out in a blaze of controversy over his 60 Minutes report on President Bush's military record. Now that's some investigative blogging! As Cronkite would say, "and that's the way it was!" RIP Walter! Just trying to keep up the standards of blogging and reporting that you raised for us all!