Uncle Walter Was Too Old for Prime Time - The Daily Beast

The media may be celebrating Cronkite now, but Adam Hanft says it was they who pushed the veteran anchor out in a futile quest for the new and trendy. Walter Cronkite retired in 1981, ironically, a few months before the launch of MTV. His career was actually a victim of the youth culture, but that’s something we’re not reading much about today. In fact, the sound of the media reporting on itself—a single-note rendered in different keys, from Gawker to CBS—has been consistent and stunningly unoriginal. The drumbeat: Uncle Walter represented an ancient era when we all watched the same programs; never again will we see a single broadcaster command that much trust; young people are glued to fake news instead of real news. It would have been honest for the media to recognize that it leaves its old out to die in the jungle. Lost, or at least overwhelmed in these teary encomiums is the wrinkly and craggy elephant in the room: 64-year-old Cronkite was pushed out of the anchor chair in 1981 for a younger and, yes, edgier Dan Rather. Although he had announced his planned retirement, it was clear to observers at the time—and confirmed by his book A Reporter’s Life—that Cronkite was urged into retirement by network brass who were afraid to lose piss-and-vinegar Rather to another network. Read More