Walter Cronkite wasn't the Most Trusted Man in America? Q&A with author Joseph Campbell

"It's safe to say that Walter Cronkite was not the most trusted man in America, and it's safe to say he was not even the most trusted man among newsmen," says American University Professor Joseph Campbell, author of "Getting it Wrong".

Campbell says the 1972 survey that gave Cronkite the title of "Most Trusted Man" compared Cronkite with prominent politicians of the time, not newscasters, and so he "inevitably came out on top." He says CBS then used the survey results to promote the network.

"It was a way to tout Walter Cronkite as a source to go to for election coverage among the three networks," says Campbell.

Campbell sat down with ReasonTV's Nick Gillespie to discuss Cronkite and other myths propelled by the media.

Approximately 6 minutes.

Shot by Jim Epstein and Tracy Oppenheimer, and edited by Oppenheimer.

Go to Reason.tv for downloadable versions and subscribe to ReasonTV's YouTube Channel to receive automatic updates when new stories go live.

• Category

  News & Politics

[Rolf Hartmann]

Trey Parker and Matt Stone are probably the two most trusted men in America today. The only truly non-partisan satirists with wide exposure.

[LibertyInOurTime]

Walter Cronkite: Establishment Man - Lied to the American people about the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and propagated for world government under the Untied Nations as a member of the subversive World Federalist Association, or whatever the hell they call themselves now.

[Tim C]

Any moron can create a story, as the mainstream media demonstrates daily. The worst of these stories are created by the worst of the media: e.g., MSNBC, CNN, and NBC. And they warn us: They actually call their product “narratives.”

[Tim C]

It seems clear that few journalists today even accept the fact / fiction distinction. They are doing very low-level creative writing under the influence of the French fad of deconstructionism as expressed by Prof. Jacques Derrida -- a fad that no longer even amuses French cafe society.

[Tim C]

“Mainstream media" (and especially the co-called "liberal media") no longer see a commercial interest in reporting who, where, what, and when. Rather, it creates narratives -- made-up, fictional stories, which it then tries to make the "dominant narrative" among competing narratives.

[Tim C]

As a descriptive statement, one that could be true or false, it is as Prof. Joseph Campbell says "… safe to say that Walter Cronkite was not the most trusted man in America, and it's safe to say he was not even the most trusted man among newsmen," But that was not the purpose of the claim. CBS simply made use of the claim as part of a “narrative” it was creating to promote Cronkite and CBS commercially.

[alvinwren]

What's the purpose of criticism when the subject of the program is not around to comment? How about these "experts"????? criticizing someone who's still alive.

Coould it be they know the lawsuits that would follow? And let's not limit this thought to this program...........but why not ask this of all those who write books, articles, produce programs, etc., etc. about those who are dead. Regardless of these comments, Cronkite "was" respected by the public, as were others like Huntley & Brinkley.

[geezusispan]

ALL so called news is propaganda and/or diversion. The media, the government and business are a three headed ogre.

Wake up, people!

[SCHRUBBE1966]

F-ck Cronkite

[t4705mb6]

I met both Cronkite AND Agnew (as well as Hugh Downs) at the Royal Oaks Golf and Country Club in Titusville , Florida during the Apollo missions when I was working as assistant to Pierre Lenders there. I can tell you without hesitation that BOTH were complete and total assholes.

Out of all the celebrities that stayed with us, those were the two that both staff and guests couldn't stand.

(Agnew didn't actually stay - he crashed the party. Cronkite bumped a Hollywood star out of his luxury suite.)

[Rolf Hartmann]

The creators and writers of South Park

[frendlydude2k]

so you declare libertarians to be hateful, and then speculate that this "hate" is the reason so many people (otherwise "non-haters" presumably) hate them. Awesome. No really, that's just brilliant.