Results tagged “waltercronkite”

             

Yesterday, numerous bold-faced names were at Lincoln Center for a memorial in honor of late CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite. President Obama was on hand to pay tribute, "I did not know Mr. Cronkite personally. But I have benefited as a citizen from his dogged pursuit to find truth, his passionate defense of the truth of reporting. Walter wasn't afraid to rattle the high and the mighty...Too often, we fill that void [today] with instant commentary and celebrity gossip and the softer stories that Walter disdained, rather than the hard news and investigative journalism he championed." Other speakers included CBS News anchor Katie Couric, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, former President Clinton and singer Jimmy Buffett, who performed "Son of a Son of a Sailor."

A tipster emailed us saying, "There's some sort of insanity from Fairway to the 72nd St subway station. Cops everywhere, streets closed off, flashing lights and no cars are budging - any idea what's going on?" Our stab in the dark: Possible motorcade for President Obama, who landed at JFK Airport this morning to attend the memorial for CBS anchor Walter Cronkite. The memorial is being held at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall and the expected guests include astronaut Buzz Aldrin, CBS News' Katie Couric, Andy Rooney and Bob Schieffer, and NBC News' Tom Brokaw, with musicians Jimmy Buffett, Michael Feinstein, Wynton Marsalis and the U.S. Marine Band.

In tribute to both the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing and the passing of Walter Cronkite, blogger Jason Kottke has set up a page on his site where you can view the original Cronkite-anchored CBS newscast "40 years to the second after it originally happened." Coverage for the lunar landing begins at 4:10 p.m. followed by the first moonwalk (no, not that one) at 10:10 p.m. Kottke credits the real-time replays on other sites like WeChooseTheMoon.org and the ApolloPlus40 Twitterfeed for the inspiration, adding: "I hope that with the old time TV display and poor YouTube quality, you get a small sense of how someone 40 years ago might have experienced it."

Legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite's death is still being mourned by the country. In a statement released by CBS News, President Obama said, "He brought us all those stories large and small which would come to define the 20th century. That’s why we love Walter, because in an era before blogs and e-mail, cellphones and cable, he was the news. Walter invited us to believe in him, and he never let us down."

Walter Cronkite, known as the "most trusted man in America" as CBS News anchor, died at age 92 last night. The NY Times' obituary states, "From 1962 to 1981, Mr. Cronkite was a nightly presence in American homes and always a reassuring one, guiding viewers through national triumphs and tragedies alike, from moonwalks to war, in an era when network news was central to many people’s lives." His son told the Times that the cause of death was complications from dementia, while the AP reports, "Cronkite’s longtime chief of staff, Marlene Adler, said Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. at his Manhattan home surrounded by family. She said the cause of death was cerebral vascular disease."

A look at some noteworthy television this week:

A look at some noteworthy television this week:

Today the NY Times introduces us to the man behind some of the city’s most boring buildings.

A look at some noteworthy programs this week:

WCBS brands police shooting “50 Shots” then sanity prevails

In a move that was inevitable, NBC has now started to call the civil war in Iraq a civil war. On NBC News’ ”The Daily Nightly” Brian Williams writes, “We will also reference our decision today (after much consultation over the weekend with our colleagues, fellow journalists, historians, analysts and members of the military, both present and former) to describe the fighting in Iraq as a Civil War. We believe it is a more accurate reflection of what is happening there, and there was a fair amount of reaction to the decision today... even though a number of news organizations have already made a similar call.”

Last night Gothamist waited an hour in the rain at Tribeca Film Festival, as only a few volunteers handled the long lines for ticket pick up. Although we were drenched and missed our movie, we did get to see Kermit the Frog dressed in a suit (hugging Robert Deniro) as well as Stella's Michael Showalter (we held back from screaming Wet Hot American Summer lines) before presenting his romantic comedy The Baxter, which you can preview here.

Just what the world was waiting for! The NY Times reports that Arianna Huffington is starting a celebrity group blog with people like "Walter Cronkite, David Mamet, Nora Ephron, Warren Beatty, James Fallows, Vernon E. Jordan Jr., Maggie Gyllenhaal, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Diane Keaton, Norman Mailer and Mortimer B. Zuckerman." Huh. Did Huffington read the Businessweek article about blogs changing business and decide, "It's on"? It'll be called Huffington Post, the NY Times article positions it as a competitor to The Drudge Report, but it seems less that than a celebrity vanity project like, oh, we don't know...maybe like an episode of The Love Boat with more street cred and an ability for readers to comments. Huffington says it's "an affirmation of [blogs'/the blogosphere's] success and will only enrich and strengthen its impact on the national conversation," but Sure, it'll be cool to read what Walter Cronkite thinks, but we fear he'll get bogged down with despamming the system. And don't get us started on wondering if certain celebrities are actually posting or making a minion post for them.

While Gothamist hasn't been watching much Dan Rather lately (we do love David Letterman's montages of various Ratherisms), we are a bit sad. When we were little, we'd watching the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather with our parents, and afterwards, we'd play "pretend anchor" with pages and pages of scribbles. Dan, we'll miss you.