Walter Cronkite is Turning in His Grave

 

Walter Cronkite is Turning in His Grave

I have had the experience of Walter Cronkite anchoring the newscast of CBS Evening News. It was nothing great, but perhaps with the authoritative (not necessarily truthful) “That’s the way it is ...” line ending the newscast, it could have made an impression on me, I admit. This was in the late 1970s.

I have been recently watching literally bucketful of YouTube videos of news anchors with an army of talking heads seated around what looked like King Arthur’s Round Table (a table, no doubt, but not round), during the US Presidential election of 2024 (not because of Kamala Harris, but more because of the “pussy grabbing” Donald J. Trump), the subsequent “transition” drama, Trump’s “enthroning” (as he sees it), and how he conspired, along with Elon Musk, to take hostage of the GOP.

The host of the round table starts off with what appears to be a question directed at one talking head, and the question goes on and on, taking a full four minutes (I have timed it). By the time the host turns their quizzical eyes towards the target, I am not sure the addressee remembers where the question started, all the topics it addressed, and must wonder how the final statement looks more like an assertion rather than a question.

But, do not forget that the addressee has come well equipped to find a response–any response–to the puzzle wrapped in verbiage. They too go off on their own versions of “Around the World in Eighty Days”. At the end of this, the puzzle remains wrapped, as tight as ever, and none the wiser. But, the TV producer is happy as they have filled in the time between the commercials.

Of course, there are multiple round tables, each seating its own knights­–Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, TKT–and each hour or half hour carrying its own King Arthur–Ari Melber, Jessica Tarlov, Chris Hayes, Harold Ford Jr.. Jim Axelrod, Errol Barnett–making the table truly  a merry-go-round. More the merrier, the Networks’ honchos scream!

I understand that times have changed and the current anchors are a different breed from those of earlier visage, and I am not talking about their face, hair etc. though on that Ted Koppel will beat every one, for my money! What I do mean is that today if you can string a paragraph long sentence that makes no sense, you are a news anchor on American TV! If you can put in dozens of fillers like ‘Um’, ‘Er’ ‘You know’ in a sentence, you are a news anchor on American TV! The same qualifications would also make you an expert on any topic that is “trending” at the time of the broadcast!

You should watch some of the news channels in India. None of them would have even heard how an interview should be. The questions must be short, but heavy enough to extract a long explanatory response that could lead the interviewer to the follow–up question. The hook in the line must be baited and not obvious, precisely prepared aided by thinking on one’s feet. The questions in the Indian news channels are precisely antipodal. They are long winded that are answered in a single syllable, not even a word.

This is what the shows’ producers prefer, as they sell their anchors as their prime products and neither the news nor the interviewees are valued that highly. This is the new ecosphere of television news that would make Walter Cronkite writhe in his grave, not just turn.

Raghuram Ekambaram