So long, Walter
Cronkite, we'll miss you
His death last year marked the end of an era in news
By Toni Fitzgerald
Jan 5, 2010
In a year when so many notable celebrities passed away, his death was neither the most shocking nor the most lurid.
But Walter Cronkite's demise at age 92 last July may have been the most notable. It signaled, as much as anything, the end of an important era in television news, and news in general.
He reigned at a time when viewers' choices were few and the nightly news was as much a part of Americans' routine as brushing their teeth or eating dinner.
Twenty-seven years after he left the anchor chair, the nightly news' influence has fallen somewhere behind the internet, the 24-hour cable news cycle and legions of citizen journalists churning out their own version of the days' events.
These days, there's no one anchor to whom everyone turns in a crisis. For an entire generation, Cronkite was that anchor.
By offering a rare show of emotion upon receiving the news of President Kennedy's death, Cronkite brought a nation together on one of its darkest days.
He acted as the country's collective moral conscience five years later when, upon returning from a trip to Vietnam, he said during his newscast, "It seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is a stalemate."
He was, in short, "the most trusted man in America," as he was often described. There will never be another like him.
Indeed, a poll taken by Time.com shortly after Cronkite's death found that Jon Stewart, who presides over a fake newscast on Comedy Central, is now America's most trusted anchor, proving just how much the country has come to mistrust the mainstream media.
Cronkite had been in poor health for months, which gave journalists time to prepare their tributes. They were many, and they were heartfelt. He will never be forgotten by journalists and viewers alike who prefer their news straightforward and steady, just like the man himself.
Here’s a look at some of the other media notables who died last year.
Don Hewitt
Hewitt, who died of pancreatic cancer in August at age 86, was a television pioneer in many ways. He directed the first TV newscast in 1948, anchored by Douglas Edwards, and he introduced the first cue cards to television.
But his lasting legacy was creating the TV newsmagazine as we know it today. "60 Minutes" debuted in 1968, and it has become one of the longest-running programs on television, airing many memorable exposes, interviews and Andy Rooney rants in the time since.
Hewitt exited the show reluctantly in 2004, and kept active by producing specials in the years before his death.
Farrah Fawcett
Her not-unexpected death was overshadowed by the shocking passing of Michael Jackson just hours later. But Fawcett, who lost her very public battle with cancer in June at age 62, was still one of television's most beloved stars, despite her relatively brief time on the small screen.
Just weeks before her death, NBC aired a special chronicling the former "Charlie's Angels" star's search for a cure for her disease, which took her to Europe.
It drew nearly 9 million viewers, a good number for a Friday night and a tribute to the blonde bombshell's continued popularity some 32 years after she left "Angels" after just one season.
Michael Jackson
Jackson's death was undoubtedly the most unexpected and most hyped passing of the year, inspiring loads of television coverage and huge online viewership for his memorial service, held weeks after the King of Pop died at age 50 on the same June day that Fawcett passed.
Jackson was the world's biggest music star, even though he had become better known for his eccentricities than his entertaining. At the time of his drug-induced death, Jackson was practicing for a comeback tour, and footage from those practices was later turned into a movie.
Some 31 million viewers tuned in to Jackson's memorial service, which was broadcast on 19 TV networks.
Ed McMahon
The consummate sidekick, McMahon had fallen on hard times in the years before his death. He and his wife faced foreclosure on their million-dollar mansion, and the former "Tonight Show" announcer even spoofed his financial problems in a cash-for-gold Super Bowl spot in 2008.
That was vintage McMahon, smiling through the pain. As Johnny Carson's longtime sidekick, the 86-year-old, who passed away in June just a few days before Jackson and Fawcett, was best known for his jubilant "Heeeere's Johnny" that began every show.
But he also perfectly played off of Carson, providing whatever the legendary funnyman needed to help get a laugh.
Bea Arthur
One of the defining television stars of the 1970s and '80s, Arthur was known for her deep voice and withering stare, both of which she employed on hugely successful TV shows late in her career.
The actress was already into her 50s by the time she catapulted to fame as the star of "Maude," the socially conscious '70s comedy that famously addressed abortion at a time when the topic was taboo.
She had another golden moment in the '80s as star of "The Golden Girls," an unlikely NBC hit about four randy senior citizens living together in Florida. Arthur died in April at age 86, after winning Emmys for "Golden" and a Tony for the stage show "Mame."
Bob Novak
Even after 50 years in D.C., Novak considered himself a Washington outsider. It was a role he relished. He broke hundreds of stories, including the infamous unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame in 2003, the story he'll likely be most remember for.
He worked for years as a columnist and later a cable commentator. But Novak, who died in August at age 78, never settled for the cushier role of Beltway insider. He spoke his mind, not caring who he offended or what bridges he might burn.
Percy Sutton
Before he became a media mogul, Sutton was best known as the lawyer who represented civil rights leader Malcolm X. But in the 1970s, he also became New York's first black radio station owner as head of Inner City Broadcasting, which bought WLIB-AM and, later, WLBS-FM.
Sutton's group eventually bought other stations across the country, in cities including Los Angeles and Detroit. Still, Sutton, who died last week at age 89, will be best remembered for his role as a civil rights pioneer.
Also dying in 2009:
Bernard Birnbaum, CBS News producer, 89
Bill Bresnan, founder and chairman of Bresnan Communications, 75
David Carradine, "Kung Fu" actor, 72
Roy E. Disney, Walt's nephew and leader of two shareholder revolts, 79
Dominick Dunne, journalist, TV producer and novelist, 83
Larry Gelbart, 'M*A*S*H' creator, 81
Henry Gibson, "Laugh In" actor, 73
Adam "DJ AM" Goldstein, host of MTV's "Gone Too Far," 36
Jade Goody, British "Big Brother" reality star, 27
Andy Hallett, "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" actor, 33
Connie Hines, "Mr. Ed" actress, 78
Ryan Jenkins, VH1 reality show contestant who murdered his wife, 32
Irving Kristol, neoconservative essayist and editor, 89
Mark Mandala, former ABC president, 72
Billy Mays, infomercial pitchman, 50
George Michael, former Washington, D.C., sportscaster and syndicated host, 70
Mike Penner, LA Times sportswriter, 52
Alaina Reed Hall, "Sesame Street" and "227" actress, 63
Ardath Rodale, former chairman of Rodale, 81
William Safire, NY Times columnist, 79
Soupy Sales, slapstick comedian, 83
William Tuohy, former Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent, 83
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