October 03, 2005

Uncle Walty to America: you're dumb

America's beloved former CBS anchorman, Walter Cronkite, recently had strong words for us, his former charges. According to the endearing and legendary sesquicentennarian:

"We [as a nation] are not educated well enough to perform the necessary act of intelligently selecting our leaders," CBS News legend Walter Cronkite told the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication last week.

In quotes picked up by the Los Angeles Times, Cronkite said journalists need to find a way to better inform the public, suggesting they pressure their employers to replace the current roundups of celebrity profiles and personal health and finance pieces with "the news of the day."

"If we fail at that," Cronkite warned, "our democracy, our republic, I think, is in serious danger."

In a way he's right. I note, for instance, that CBS' Nightly News frequently ends with a heart-warming tale about animals and such. Perhaps they should replace that with a two-minute reply from an outside source describing all the lies and misleading statements CBS promulgated in the preceding 28 minutes.

Posted to Miscellania at October 3, 2005 12:00 PM

Comments

I know what you mean about false reporting. I was flippin' through the channels last night, and I stopped at Lou Dobbs. He said that there are more illegal immigrants than legal immigrants in the US so I can see the need for "a two-minute reply from an outside source describing all the lies and misleading statements".

Posted by: Ralph at October 4, 2005 05:27 AM

The only solution to this is a no-holds barred fight between all the political groups - not just the Communists and Baby Seal Clubbers, but also the Granola Eaters, Real Real Communists, Dead Patriots, and all the rest. Have Jerry Springer as the moderator and let 'em have at it. It would probably be more productive than what passes for "debate" in the U.S. Congress and the California State Legislature.

Posted by: Ontario Empoblog at October 7, 2005 12:08 AM