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Cronkite Inspired All Races, Both Genders

richard

Updated July 18

ABC’s Peter Jennings, left, NBC’s Tom Brokaw and CNN’s Bernard Shaw with Walter Cronkite in New York in 1988. "If he did not believe in diversity, we certainly would not have been on CBS’ team," Shaw said of himself and other black journalists. (Credit: ¬©Time Inc.)

Ex-Anchor, "Most Trusted Man in America," Dies at 92

Walter Cronkite, the "most trusted man in America" who became the model for television news anchors and guided the nation through the tumultuous 1960s, died Friday at age 92. He had been suffering from a cerebrovascular disease, which affects blood vessels in the brain, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The legendary former CBS News anchor inspired young people of all races and both genders to become journalists.

"I should tell you, ever since I was 13 years old, growing up on the south side of Chicago, my only goal and ambition in life was to be a CBS News network correspondent because my idol was Edward R. Murrow," Bernard Shaw, the former CBS News correspondent who became a CNN anchor, told Television Week in 2007.

"When we got our first little 13-inch Zenith black-and-white television set, I would watch his programs," said Shaw, a black journalist.

"And I would watch Walter Cronkite, who was my other idol. I met him when I was in the Marine Corps in 1961 in Hawaii. I met him to discuss what I had to do to become a journalist. We had a 45-minute conversation in a Waikiki Beach hotel and he was very inspirational, and after that [meeting], we became fast friends. I worked at CBS for seven years and we’re still friends."

Actually, Shaw told Journal-isms, he knew Cronkite for 48 years. Cronkite fathered a corps of journalists "who believed in reporting, gathering and writing the news straight, without opinion, innuendo or facial expressions because of the standards he believed in and the standards he strove to uphold."

Moreover, Cronkite was a "voracious student of history who used his understanding of history as a prism for viewers and listeners to understand the present," Shaw said.

"He will be forever missed at CBS NEWS," CBS correspondent Byron Pitts told Journal-isms via e-mail. "Walter Cronkite set the bar at CBS and it remains the one we all strive for."

CBS News announced a prime-time special to air Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern time, "That’s the Way It Was: Remembering Walter Cronkite." Filmmaker Spike Lee is scheduled to offer a tribute, along with Mike Wallace, Morley Safer, Katie Couric, Ted Koppel, Diane Sawyer, Brian Williams, George Clooney and Robin Williams.

Cronkite, anchor for 19 years, took the nation through the assassinations of the 1960s, the Vietnam War, the 1969 moon landing, the civil rights movement and Watergate.

"Those of us who reported civil rights stories then often felt uneasy with the protocols of objectivity," Cronkite reflected in a National Public Radio report on the events surrounding the 1964 slaying of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner in Mississippi.

"It seemed dishonest to pretend that a Ku Klux Klan leader had the civic or moral equivalence of Rosa Parks or Medgar Evers. But CBS management reminded us often that that was not our judgment to make."

And just as Cronkite’s growing skepticism of the Vietnam War was cited as a turning point in public opinion, his coverage of the civil rights movement also had an effect.

In the Chicago Tribune, Dahleen Glanton wrote in 2005 about Patsy Brumfield, who temporarily left her job as news editor at the Daily Journal in Tupelo, Miss., to serve as the self-proclaimed "house mom" to the visiting media during the trial of former Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen.

"According to Brumfield, it is important to Mississippians that the world sees them in a positive light," Glanton wrote. "During the summer of 1964, Brumfield was a 15-year-old growing up in McComb when CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite dubbed her hometown ‘the church-bombing capital of the world,’ she said, a label that town never has lived down."

While Cronkite solidified the image of the avuncular white male as the ultimate television anchor, he became a model for would-be journalists of all backgrounds. He was supportive of Couric when she became the first woman to anchor the "CBS Evening News" despite criticism that she was too soft for the job. He provided a voiceover to introduce the former "Today" show host when she debuted on CBS in 2006.

"If he did not believe in diversity we certainly would not have been on CBS’ team," Shaw said of himself, Ed Bradley, Hal Walker and other black journalists. "He welcomed me personally with a letter" back in 1961.

["Does anybody past the age of the millennials not recognize that Cronkite’s era in television news was one of the two or three greatest?" Lee Thornton, who was hired by Cronkite to cover the White House for CBS News, told the Baltimore Sun. "That a newsman was widely considered to be and was called the most trusted man in America – given the public perception of journalists today – that’s almost incomprehensible."

[Thornton now heads the broadcast news program at the University of Maryland, College Park.]

In a Facebook message, Kathy Chaney, a black journalist based in Chicago, said, "I was nicknamed Walter Cronkite as a child by peeps from my neighborhood."

She wrote later, "One of my older cousin’s friends gave me the nickname. I was about 10 years old. every time he would see me he would say, ‘so what’s going on with me because you seem to know before I do.’ everyone in my neighborhood knew that I was nosy and got the goods all the time no matter what it was.

"the name stuck."

Speaking for the National Association of Black Journalists, Barbara Ciara, the group’s president, said in a statement:

‘In my formative years, one of the people that we all relied on – we, Americans – was the truth through journalism and Walter Cronkite was always considered the truth,’

‘He was certainly grandfather of journalism in its infancy and continued to make contributions throughout the rest of his life even into retirement.’

‘Walter Cronkite set a standard for all of us to follow, which was the truth whether it was the struggle of the Civil Rights movement, the travails of the Vietnam War or questioning authority at its highest level.’

‘He was a voice that we will miss, but one that we will emulate and honor through his passing.’

Brian DeBose, a former political writer at the Washington Times, told his Facebook friends, "I always said journalism would end the day Walter Cronkite died . . . he missed it by about six months. I guess he wanted to see it for himself. Goodbye Uncle Walter." [Updated July 18.]

AAJA Replaces Executive Director as Convention Nears

Less than a month before its annual convention, the Asian American Journalists Association has replaced the executive director it hired in December, citing "philosophical differences over AAJA’s vision and direction," the association announced on Friday.

Maya Blackmun, a 22-year AAJA member who recently left the Oregonian in Portland after 21 years, was named interim executive director, She replaces Ellen Endo, who spent 24 years in TV industry senior management positions before her December appointment to succeed 10-year executive director Rene Astudillo.

The announcement by the AAJA governing board, posted on the AAJA Web site, did not elaborate about the "philosophical differences" except to say the parting of the ways was a "mutual decision." AAJA officers were not available on Saturday.

"AAJA will launch a search for a new executive director this summer," the announcement said.

Meantime, the board praised Blackmun, who has co-chaired its MediaWatch Committee for the past two years and served several terms on AAJA’s Advisory Board and Governing Board.

The office staffs at journalism organizations, led by the executive director, are usually busiest before the annual convention. AAJA is holding its conference in Boston from Aug. 12 to 15. [Added July 18.]

Kevin Chappell of Ebony and Jet magazines was among seven black-press journalists on Air Force One with President Obama. "Immediately, I noticed a difference from my first flight six years ago," he wrote. "More Black folks." (Credit: Johnson Publishing Co.)

Obama Flies to N.Y. With Seven Black-Press Journalists

Seven journalists from the black press received an unprecedented audience with President Obama Thursday as they rode in Air Force One from Washington to New York for Obama’s address to the 100th anniversary conference of the NAACP.

During the interview, Obama put cold water on the notion that the United States has entered a "post-racial era" with his election as the nation’s first African American president.

"Herb Boyd of Amsterdam News asked the President how he felt about the dichotomy of Sasha and Malia Obama being the First Daughters while Black children in Philadelphia were recently turned away from a private swimming pool," Cynthia Gordy of Essence magazine reported. "Obama said it underscored the fact that his election has not, in fact, ushered the country in a so-called ‘post-racial’ era. ‘On the other hand,’ he said, ‘The biggest barriers that young African-Americans face today have less to do with blatant discrimination and more to do with long-term inequalities.’"

All of the seven wrote online accounts of the experience.

"It would not be compromising my status as a fair and balanced journalist to admit that a wave of pride washed over me," Derek T. Dingle, editor in chief of Black Enterprise magazine, wrote. "I had come a long way from my hometown newspaper in Norfolk, Virginia. More importantly, African Americans had trekked an incredible distance over the last century to possess this level of power — and literally have a front-row seat covering it.

"The trip started in the White House press briefing room where I met my fellow travelers — TV One’s Roland Martin, American Urban Radio’s April Ryan, Ebony’s Kevin Chappell, Essence Magazine’s Cynthia Gordy, New York Amsterdam News‘ Herb Boyd and BET’s Pamela Gentry. When the van that carried me and my colleagues from the White House arrived at Andrews Air Force Base, my heart began to leap out of my chest as I viewed the huge blue-and-white 747 jetliner in front of me.

"We didn’t board the plane from the rear with the rest of the White House press corps. We climbed the stairs in the front of the plane — the same stairs as the president. As we entered the plane, I was immediately awed by the stately interior. It smelled like power. We were then taken to the guest area — a row of brown leather seats and elegant dining tables. This is the same area where dignitaries and the presidential guests are seated — most recently, baseball legend Willie Mays who accompanied President Obama to Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game. [Chappell,] Ryan and Gentry had traveled on Air Force One before, but never from this vantage point.

"VIP members of the White House press corps.

"It was an hour and a half that I will remember for the rest of my life."

The New York Times had one interpretation on its front page; another inside.

One Speech Before NAACP, But Different Interpretations

President Obama spoke to the NAACP about both the persistence of racism and the need for African Americans not to let that slow them down. Moreover, the words from the nation’s first black president were delivered on the venerable civil rights organization’s 100th anniversary.

A lot to squeeze into a headline. How it was handled by news organizations said much about those who covered the event and the editors they work with.

The New York Times, which ran a front page photo of Obama speaking to the crowd, referred to a story by Sheryl Gay Stolberg inside. The front-page caption read, "President Barack Obama, addressing the 100th anniversary conference of the NAACP, said he owes his ascent to those who fought in the civil rights movement.

But the headline on the story said simply, "Obama Tells Fellow Blacks: ‘No Excuses’ for Failure."

Here how some others handled the story:

"Race war still rages ‚Äî Obama tackles inequality on 100th anniversary" (The Daily Telegraph, Australia). "Passionate Obama hails black history, urges ‘new mindset’" and "Fiery Obama hails black history, urges ‘new mindset’" (Agence France-Presse). "Obama deplores race discrimination" (Al-Jazeera). "Obama tells NAACP more yet to do on civil rights" and "Obama: Civil rights leaders paved way for him" (Associated Press.)

"Obama Marks NAACP Centennial; President Points to History, Urges Goal of Wider Equality" (Baltimore Sun). "At NAACP gala, fiery words from Obama" (Boston Globe). "Obama visit a milestone for NAACP; President pays tribute on group’s centennial" (Chicago Tribune). "Obama calls for ‘far better’ education for black children" (Deutsche Presse-Agentur). "Obama to NAACP: Journey is not over" (Detroit Free Press). "President Obama hails NAACP’s centennial; Saying its forebears made his presidency possible, he urges the group to keep fighting for rights for everyone." (Los Angeles Times). "President Obama honors civil rights pioneers with speech at NAACP centennial convention" (New York Daily News).

"SCHOOL THE NEW COOL; O TO PARENTS: IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT RAP" (New York Post). "Obama: Thanks; Credits election to NAACP’s past leaders; Tells group’s convention barriers to success persist" (Newsday). "President notes racial progress to NAACP; But ‘structural inequalities’ remain, he says." (USA Today). "Obama says his life proves possibilities" (Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk). "President says discrimination in U.S. is at lowest level ever" (Washington Times). "Obama Speaks Of Blacks’ Struggle; Disparities Remain, He Says to NAACP" (Washington Post).

Not to mention that Obama mentioned his visit last weekend to the Door of No Return at a Ghanaian castle, where Africans departed as slaves for the New World. The president noted that a church stood above the dungeon. "Tells you something about saying one thing and doing another," Obama said.

The stories also differed in their interpretations of Obama’s demeanor and the intended audiences of his remarks.

In Britain’s Guardian newspaper, Michael Tomasky wrote a story with the headline, "Obama gave two speeches last night, apparently."

At least.

Paper Sees NAACP Membership as "Personal Choice"

"After years of putting it off, I went ahead and bought a lifetime membership in the NAACP this week. It’s the smartest $750 I’ve spent in a long time," Errol Louis, editorial board member and columnist for the New York Daily News, told readers on Sunday.

That’s quite a statement about how times have changed. In earlier eras and in some parts of the country, the NAACP was considered nearly a subversive organization. Even if the organization has gone mainstream, it still makes headlines. But NAACP membership is not a problem, Louis told Journal-isms.

"At the News, joining the NAACP is akin to selecting a church or political party affiliation, or making a charitable contribution: it’s a personal choice that would only kick in as a concern if I were holding a leadership position or otherwise identified with the group’s activities. Even in such a case, the main issue would be disclosure rather than membership," he said.

Louis said he participated in a News editorial welcoming the NAACP to New York for this week’s convention.

News representatives did not respond to inquiries.

Final Call Reports from Ghana on Presidential Trip

Richard B. Muhammad, editor in chief of the Nation of Islam’s newspaper, the Final Call, was among those reporting from Accra, Ghana, last weekend on President Obama’s trip to Ghana. Muhammad told Journal-isms he also called in from Accra to the "Warren Ballentine Show" on Radio One.

"Despite the optimism, there were voices that questioned whether Mr. Obama could change U.S. policy from paternal and exploitive domination to equal partnership," Muhammad wrote.

"Part of the discussion was fueled not only by the general exploitation of Africa, but also by the United States and CIA role in the overthrow of Pan Africanist visionary Dr. [Kwame] Nkrumah in 1966. Analysts accepted Mr. Obama’s sincerity but debated whether the United States ‚Äî with its no permanent friends or enemies, just permanent interests philosophy ‚Äî would be willing to change. Some expressed concern for Mr. Obama’s safety should he move too far away from the manipulation and exploitation of Africa.

‚Äú’A leopard does not change its spots,’ warned Dr. Hamet Maulana, during a program broadcast from Vibe FM radio in Accra’s Pyramid Building. Host Kwaku Horford moderated the discussion as Dr. Maulana, A. Akbar Muhammad of the Nation of Islam and ‘Africa and the World’ columnist, Timothy Ihemadu of the Nigeria- based International Organization for Sustainable Development, analyst Ibrahim Adjei and G.A. Pele, Ph.D., of Pelgha University in Accra, explored ‘The Real Visit Behind the Visit of President Obama.’‚Äù

The significance of the Ghana trip was raised by black-press reporters traveling Thursday with Obama on Air Force One.

"Foreign policy and Africa were among several issues posed by April Ryan of American Urban Radio, and the president listened intently, Herb Boyd wrote for the Amsterdam News.

‚Äú’In terms of foreign policy, that‚Äôs one of the reasons I just came back from Ghana,’ he stated, ‘and that was to focus attention on the fact that Africa was not just a side note in our foreign policy, but a central concern of our administration.’ The encouragement of economic development and good governance are among some of the key points in providing aid to African nations, Obama stressed, and he mainly reiterated a policy he outlined during his speech before the Ghanaian parliament."

Segregationist Editorials Resonated Into the ’70s

"A Virginia newspaper expressed regret Thursday for supporting a systematic campaign by the state’s white political leaders to maintain separate public schools for blacks and whites in the 1950s," Larry O’Dell wrote for the Associated Press.

"The Richmond Times-Dispatch acknowledged in an editorial that it and its now-defunct sister newspaper, The News Leader, played a central role in the ‘dreadful doctrine’ of Massive Resistance. "The record fills us with regret," the newspaper said.

"The newspaper took the unusual step of promoting the editorial on its front page. The editorial was published on the eve of a conference in Richmond marking the 50th anniversary of the end of Massive Resistance, which was dismantled by a 1959 court ruling."

On the e-mail list of the National Association of Black Journalists, Charles Robinson of Maryland Public Television said the ramifications of the editorial stance lasted well beyond 1959.

"As a college student during the mid 70’s many of the same editorial writers were instructors at Virginia Commonwealth University," he wrote. "It was common knowledge among those of us matriculating at the school that our worth would not be determined by them. We formed lasting relationships supporting each other.

"A year ago I attended a VCU Mass Communications reception in Washington where I had a chance to meet the current chair. I express to her my deep concern the school continually gave a special honors to those who defended the practice of ‘massive resistance.’ I explained I was appalled when I received an invitation to honor former Sen. Harry Byrd who also ran a paper in the Shenandoah Valley. As [a] cub reporter he told me ‘he would never allow a Black federal judge in the state of Virginia because none were qualified.’

"My final words to the chair were ‘I’d be interested in coming back to talk with the students because VCU taught me one thing, ‘how to be strong when faced with racial adversity.’"

Robinson added for Journal-isms: "I gave her my card and told her to, ‘call me.’ I got the stare which said, ‘scary Black man let’s not invite him.’ I’ve not received a call."

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