Walter Cronkite

The television news reporter/reader Walter Cronkite passed away this week. The man lived a very long life. He died at the age of 92.
For some reason, the news organs of the nation have deigned him the "Dean of Television news", when, in fact, his real claim to fame was being one of "Murrow's Boys" during WW II. Mr. Cronkite's fame lies much with his longevity i.e., he outlived his contemporaries. John Cameron Swayze was, if anything, the Dean of Television News because he was there first.
But, a generation and a half grew up with Cronkite on the television at six o'clock in the evening, so he got the title.
And, while Mr. Cronkite was a good news reader, and ad-libber, he was, during his on-camera career, no more special than the new readers on the other television networks. Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, and Eric Severide were as good or better. Severide was especially good. He was a news reader who, in his reading, demanded some thought from his audience. Cronkite, on the other hand, appealed to the middle-brow who took his word for Gospel.
But, let's face it. What is a television news reader but a herald or town crier standing in a village public square ringing a bell and crying that five sheep have been stolen from Mr. Jones' field or that a footpad is abroad?
We here at the Manor hope that Mr. Cronkite rests in peace, but we do not feel that his death is the death of journalism.