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1. 

   rekam said, 4 months ago

   I agree with you, Scott. I feel like Michael Jackson is coming out of my ears. Didn’t like him before and still don’t care for him. Can’t believe how much this country throws its weight around celebrities. Especially when they don’t deserve it. Would much rather have people talk about Uncle Walter.

2. 

   dtroutma said, 4 months ago

   Cronkite was a truly great reporter, journalist, and “conscience” for the country. It shows what “the media”, and unfortunately the public, puts on “celebrity” versus integrity.

   Jackson should have remained in a “secure, undisclosed location”. The coverage is beyond absurd.

3. 

   pitboss67 said, 4 months ago

   i WAS IN MEMPHIS TN WHEN ELVIS DIED . BEEN THU THIS BEFORE BUT MJ NO ELVIS

4. 

   parkersinthehouse said, 4 months ago

   think about michael jackson’s death reported now

   and

   the death of michael jackson when the King Cronkite was reporting

5. 

   stebon said, 4 months ago

   If you really want to know what Ol’ Walter was all about read this: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=104399.

   All true, documented, and mostly in his own words.
   The most trusted man in America–give me a break!

6. 

   nomad2112 said, 4 months ago

   rekam - just find the remove and push the button labled “Off”. It worked for me.

7. 

   cdward said, 4 months ago

   One thing to remember is that when Cronkite was reporting, news reporting mattered to the corporate heads. There were more significant news budgets and more reporters. But news gathering costs money and never made as much as game shows or reality shows, so we get Michael Jackson.

8. 

   churchillwasright said, 4 months ago

   LONG POST WARNING

   CDW: Your analysis is flawed.

   Network news (and Cronkite) started as a 15 minute newscast, not so much for altruistic reasons but to satisfy requirements for a Broadcast License i.e. providing a service for the community. Good ratings was the reasoning to expand it to 30 minutes. It then became a source of prestige to the network (remember, CBS was the “tiffany network”). Execs also realized that high ratings for news translated to a “higher lead-in” to their prime time shows.

   With the advent of Cable, the 2 (later 3) networks no longer monopolized market share. It became harder for bean counters to justify the expense of foreign news bureaus; they could buy their stories from United Press Int’l (UPI– remember them?– now defunct, AP and Reuters). That didn’t stop them from spending mucho bucks on the likes of Katie Couric, who they mistakenly believed could be the next “most trusted woman”. They also justified it looking for that “high lead-in” factor. They were wrong on all accounts. Because we no longer have “broadcasting” in the traditional sense of the word, but “narrow-casting”, and because we no longer have anchors (and networks) without obvious political bent, that was flawed thinking.

   Anchors used to be picked because of their journalistic prowess. Now they are decided based on “Q Score”– how likable and believable they “appear”, as compared to “are”.

   Game shows became popular in the 7pm (ET) time slot because of an FCC mandate for a “family safe” hour. “Prime Time” used to be considered 7-11pm (ET). Networks gave the 7pm time slot back to the affiliates (as compared to O&O [owned and operated]; they could put on what they wished there. That’s why you see “Jeopardy” at 7:00 in one market and 7:30 in another. They are also cheaper than producing “Batman”.

   Game and Reality Shows in Prime Time is purely a matter of economics (again they’re cheap and a dwindling market share).

   MJ (and Anna Nichole Smith, et al.) is solely related to ratings. For some odd reason (and I do mean ODD) research shows that if you don’t have wall-to-wall coverage, people will flip the channel till they find it. So they’re forced to run it whether they think it is newsworthy or not. If you ask people, they say they don’t want all the coverage. But Neilson Ratings say otherwise. Again: economics. Then again, newscasts routinely tell us how much money a movie made this weekend. Outside of someone who reads “Variety”, I don’t know anyone who cares.

9. 

   Cpt. Jay said, 4 months ago

   I believe Ted Koppel said that modern media is a purely for profit business nowadays. Despite Katie Couric’s abysmal ratings, Rachel Maddow, Nancy Grace, and Keith Olbermann, are now what passes for info-mation, and their ratings are evident that the public is tuning out. Some men serve, as ubermensch, reflecting the mind and heart of their viewers, while others merely end up as footnotes, if not dust motes, in T.V. Guide and the Time Life Video Library.