Walter Cronkite's family, friends, and broadcasting compatriots deserve our sympathy. May he rest in peace, and may those who miss him find solace in the worshipful media coverage. He appeared to be a very nice man, someone whose avuncular presence on the screen seemed to reflect a personality that combined warmth and strength.That said, I am disturbed by the tone and volume of coverage afforded his passing, particularly by his own colleagues appearing on television news outlets. Perhaps in mourning him, they are also mourning the decline and fall of television news. The reverence with which the words "America's most trusted man" are repeatedly invoked suggest a nagging comprehension that almost nobody trusts TV news any more. In the pre-cable era, three broadcast networks divided the TV news audience, and "Uncle Walter's" folksy approach drew viewers away from the Huntley-Brinkley report on NBC. He became the single most influential man in the news business, whose...(Read Full Post)