Was there a "Fox News" back in the day?

[Rick Blaine]

Sure ya do, thanks to Al Gore..............


http://www.rte.ie/news/player/live/7/#player-live-schedule

THANKS! :thumb:

 

[Stearmen]

If you add Morrow to the Moderate then you REALLY have to add Cronkite to the Lliberal. lol lol We all know they were opposites.

got to watch Cronkite's eyebrow!

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm talking about radio commentators, not television. Cronkite had a negligible presence in radio -- he was a United Press correspondent who occasionally did radio bits, and didn't become a major figure until TV. Murrow, of course, was involved with radio news at CBS beginning in 1938.

The only people who considered Murrow a lefty were Joe McCarthy, Fulton Lewis Jr., and the people from "Counterattack." Those who knew him at CBS knew him as a true middle-of-the-roader, and very much an anti-Communist. Murrow outraged the more liberal members of the CBS News staff, like Eric Severeid, when he approved the requirement that all employees of the news department sign loyalty oaths.

Eric Severeid was another TV-era figure who played an important role in radio, but he wasn't a commentator in radio -- he was a straight reporter who usually broadcast from either London or Paris. He didn't become a commentator until television.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Okey Dokey.

Are we allowed to talk openly about politics here? Yes or no!



Because if we talk lets talk like real men and women and stop pussy footing around the issues.


So


What's going to be!

Politics are BANNED...please remember.....

 

[jamespowers]

I'm talking about radio commentators, not television. Cronkite had a negligible presence in radio -- he was a United Press correspondent who occasionally did radio bits, and didn't become a major figure until TV. Murrow, of course, was involved with radio news at CBS beginning in 1938.

The only people who considered Murrow a lefty were Joe McCarthy, Fulton Lewis Jr., and the people from "Counterattack." Those who knew him at CBS knew him as a true middle-of-the-roader, and very much an anti-Communist. Murrow outraged the more liberal members of the CBS News staff, like Eric Severeid, when he approved the requirement that all employees of the news department sign loyalty oaths.

Eric Severeid was another TV-era figure who played an important role in radio, but he wasn't a commentator in radio -- he was a straight reporter who usually broadcast from either London or Paris. He didn't become a commentator until television.

Severeid was a BIG lefty.

 

[jamespowers]

got to watch Cronkite's eyebrow!

All one of them.

 

[Harp]

I'm talking about radio commentators...

Robert Trout, CBS News-honorable mention:eusa_clap

 

[LizzieMaine]

Severeid was a BIG lefty.

Severeid was a good bit further to the left than Cronkite, but he wasn't Don Hollenbeck. Hollenbeck was an unapologetic liberal who hosted a program called "CBS Views The Press" in the late forties which earned him a spot on the blacklist after he strongly criticized the New York newspapers. He ended up demoted to doing the local WCBS newscast at 11pm, and when he came on the air immediately after Murrow's expose on McCarthy in 1954 and praised the program, the New York Hearst press jumped on his back and stayed there. He was fired by CBS, and gassed himself to death in his apartment not long after.

CBS's reputation for far-left liberalism was greatly exaggerated. By the fifties, William S. Paley was something of a reactionary -- he had gotten rid of people like William Shirer and Norman Corwin, who were very much of the New Deal era, after the war, and by the time television took over, the Boys From Marketing were basically running the network.

Cronkite was, by the standards of the sixties, a moderate who was only accused of being a radical by the far right after he broke with LBJ over the Vietnam War -- something which happened only after the majority of the country had done likewise. Cronkite was not fond of Nixon, however, and made little effort to hide this during the Watergate era.

 

[jamespowers]

Robert Trout, CBS News-honorable mention:eusa_clap

Trout and Murrow were great friends for over 30 years. Trout was a first man on the spot for many firsts in broadcasting.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Trout was a straight newsreader for most of his career -- he had no journalistic background, and had been a staff announcer at WJSV, the CBS outlet in Washington before going to New York. At WJSV he had done "special events broadcasting," which became his entree into actual news by the end of the thirties.

He was most associated with election night coverage -- he did his first election in 1932, and he did his last, for ABC Radio, in 1992. That's a record which will likely never be broken.

 

[jamespowers]

Trout was a straight newsreader for most of his career -- he had no journalistic background, and had been a staff announcer at WJSV, the CBS outlet in Washington before going to New York. At WJSV he had done "special events broadcasting," which became his entree into actual news by the end of the thirties.

He was most associated with election night coverage -- he did his first election in 1932, and he did his last, for ABC Radio, in 1992. That's a record which will likely never be broken.

1992?! What was he then? 100?! :eeek:

 

[LizzieMaine]

He was a sprightly lad of 83 at the time. I was working at an ABC affiliate then and ran tape during part of the coverage he was in -- I wish I could find it. His voice was a bit quavery but still recognizable, and there was nothing wrong with his mind -- his observations were quite sharp.

What's even more remarkable was that after he retired from ABC in the mid-90s he moved on to NPR -- and was still doing the occasional special commentary there right up until his death in 2000.

 

[31 Model A]

Cronkite was, by the standards of the sixties, a moderate who was only accused of being a radical by the far right after he broke with LBJ over the Vietnam War -- something which happened only after the majority of the country had done likewise.

I dis-agree....Cronkite's apposed the Vietnam War when he returned from Vietnam on 27 Feb 1968 and made his famous "stalemate in Vietnam" speech. This was at the height of the Tet Offensive of 68. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong loss during that ill faded offensive was enormous. We finally had a greater than great tactical advantage but.....along with Kerry Congressional testimony , Cronkite sold us out also, sold me out to be more direct, when he made that speech. There might have been opposition to the war back home, no more than any other war, but, it really didn't escalate until after we became fodder to the likes of Cronkite and Kerry and that happened 'after' Cronkite returned from Nam. Which explains my feelings today about journalist and politicians, we are sent off to war with our hands tied by politicians and when something is changed to win battles, the journalist are there to tattle tell on us. "Damned if we do, damned if we don't".

 

[31 Model A]

I wonder what Cronkite would be saying about Iraq and Astan today?

 

[jamespowers]

I wonder what Cronkite would be saying about Iraq and Astan today?

Just what he did for you before I would imagine. He was nothing if not consistent---wrong but consistent

 

[jamespowers]

He was a sprightly lad of 83 at the time. I was working at an ABC affiliate then and ran tape during part of the coverage he was in -- I wish I could find it. His voice was a bit quavery but still recognizable, and there was nothing wrong with his mind -- his observations were quite sharp.

What's even more remarkable was that after he retired from ABC in the mid-90s he moved on to NPR -- and was still doing the occasional special commentary there right up until his death in 2000.

They didn't call him The Iron Man of Radio for nothing. lol lol He interviewed every president from FDR to Clinton! The man even scooped the British Prime Minister about the War being over. He announced it before Atlee even got to the microphones. lol lol

 

[LizzieMaine]

I dis-agree....Cronkite's apposed the Vietnam War when he returned from Vietnam on 27 Feb 1968 and made his famous "stalemate in Vietnam" speech. This was at the height of the Tet Offensive of 68. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong loss during that ill faded offensive was enormous. We finally had a greater than great tactical advantage but.....along with Kerry Congressional testimony , Cronkite sold us out also, sold me out to be more direct, when he made that speech. There might have been opposition to the war back home, no more than any other war, but, it really didn't escalate until after we became fodder to the likes of Cronkite and Kerry and that happened 'after' Cronkite returned from Nam. Which explains my feelings today about journalist and politicians, we are sent off to war with our hands tied by politicians and when something is changed to win battles, the journalist are there to tattle tell on us. "Damned if we do, damned if we don't".

According to the Gallup polls, during the first week of February 1968, 46 percent of those surveyed believed the war in Vietnam was a mistake, with 41 percent believing it wasn't a mistake and 12 percent undecided. Two weeks later, the figures stood at 49 percent thinking it was a mistake, 41 percent saying it wasn't, and 10 percent undecided. Cronkite was merely part of a trend, not the motivator of it -- in fact, the next poll, taken in the first week of April showed the figure for those thinking the war was a mistake *dropping* back to 48 percent, with 40 percent endorsing the war and 12 percent undecided.

Cronkite's speech came at the tipping point of public opinion, but it had a lot less influence than legend would have it. One individual it *did* affect was LBJ himself, who famously stated that "if I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the nation."

 

[Harp]

I dis-agree.... Cronkite sold us out also, sold me out to be more direct... Which explains my feelings today about journalist and politicians, we are sent off to war with our hands tied by politicians and when something is changed to win battles, the journalist are there to tattle tell on us. "Damned if we do, damned if we don't".

"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori."
Horace

NVA/VC casualties were greater throughout the war, however Cronkite expressed his own belief which was largely shared
back home and within theatre. April 30th 1975 is my second birthdate, never celebrated but intensely felt.

 

[31 Model A]

According to the Gallup polls, during the first week of February 1968, 46 percent of those surveyed believed the war in Vietnam was a mistake, with 41 percent believing it wasn't a mistake and 12 percent undecided. Two weeks later, the figures stood at 49 percent thinking it was a mistake, 41 percent saying it wasn't, and 10 percent undecided. Cronkite was merely part of a trend, not the motivator of it -- in fact, the next poll, taken in the first week of April showed the figure for those thinking the war was a mistake *dropping* back to 48 percent, with 40 percent endorsing the war and 12 percent undecided.

Cronkite's speech came at the tipping point of public opinion, but it had a lot less influence than legend would have it. One individual it *did* affect was LBJ himself, who famously stated that "if I've lost Cronkite, I've lost the nation."

And Gallop Polls are taken where, large metropolitan areas, SF, NY, Washington DC. The south, Midwest, northeast didn't follow the urbanites and city dwellers same feelings. But like it is still today, those people count, rural America doesn't. I have never had any desire to follow or believe in Polls. 1000 people don't and can't speak for an entire nation about anything. Polls today also say that 86% of Americans have respect for the VietVets. I've often wondered, how many of those 86% today are waving the flag because they have sons and daughters, grandsons and daughters wearing the uniform and were burning the flag back in the 60s. The Vietnam War no doubt tore the nation in two and that's because Vietnam was in everyone's living room every night and being presented by people like Cronkite and Kerry. The media, both radio and TV control people into hysterics. So many people are so gullible, War of the Worlds comes to mind........... Put enough drama, suffrage and fear into anything and people will believe whatever they are lead to believe.

One other thing...Tet started on Jan 30..............any large scale offensive will cause casualties......remember Hitler's Ardennes Offensive??? They threw us way back beside casualties.

 

[31 Model A]

"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori."
Horace

NVA/VC casualties were greater throughout the war, however Cronkite expressed his own belief which was largely shared
back home and within theatre. April 30th 1975 is my second birthdate, never celebrated but intensely felt.

Gen Giap's forces were just about all but decimated. It would have taken him a few years to get back to the same strength level.