The end of an era that I was barely aware of …
Posted by episode81 on July 19, 2009
Much has been made in the US media of the passing of the US newscaster and journalist Walter Cronkite. As a foreigner, I missed his era in its entirety. I was vaguely aware of his name and of ‘the voice’ from TV clips shown since I arrived in the US, but that is it. It is a different perspective, looking at this as a spectator. Someone asked me what I thought about him and I said “He meant nothing to me” … which was clearly insensitive, but true.
I read in a post (and comments) from the NYT MediaDecoder blog, that back in the day, there were only a few newscasts to choose from and that may have added to his iconic status. Growing up, I had 2 newscasts to choose from (BBC and ITV), but in reality only 1. My parents would not tolerate ITV, so I watched the BBC. Frankly, the news bored me stiff until I was in my late 20’s. Now I absorb news like a sponge from both the TV and the internet. And yes, I do get some of my news from Jon Stewart!
Anywho, I digress …
My Walter Cronkite is Robert Dougall, although I confess to being a bigger fan of Trevor McDonald.
Ah, McDoughnut 🙂
Lisa.
Anywho, I digress ... 
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