Amy Goodman, Today’s Walter Cronkite?

As Walter Cronkite is eulogized, we keep hearing the refrain that he was the most trusted man in America.

Clearly Amy Goodman, “anchor” for Democracy Now! doesn’t fit that description.  But she should.

Trained in radio, Cronkite soothed us; his was the voice of reason and rationality but also contained a deep well of emotion that broke through during moments of shared crisis, such as when Kennedy was shot.

Sometime ago I noticed that Goodman has been increasingly sounding like Cronkite, a similar cadence to her voice.  While you can watch her show if you have the right satellite dish or online (see below), she still reaches her audience largely on radio.

An interesting parallel, Cronkite also began on radio, it being more respected than TV thanks to journalists like Edward R. Murrow–whom the LA Times compared with Goodman.

So, when he switched to the media of TV, it was Cronkite who brought credibility to the brave new world of the little black-and-white screen.  With no cable alternatives, much less an Internet, his only competitors were the two lesser networks.  Cronkite soon ruled the airwaves.  A proportion of Americans unimaginable today tuned in nightly to see one single man report the news.  We loved “Uncle Walter’s” calm, reassuring demeanor.

But as today’s mainstream eulogizes Cronkite, it contributes to our collective amnesia, leaving out his main contributions and the man he increasingly became. Or as Glenn Greenwald said in his excellent article, we celebrate him while forgetting what he did .

To understand why, we need to flashback to the 60s and the eruption of social movements  pushing America as a whole leftward, for civil rights, peace, women’s equality, worker’s rights and so on.   For a brief moment there was even a liberal consensus in mainstream America, with Cronkite “at the helm.” When he lost faith in the Vietnam War, so did America.   Nixon may not have resigned without his coverage of Watergate.

As Greenwald put it, “Cronkite’s best moment was when he did exactly that which the modern journalist today insists they must not ever do — directly contradict claims from government and military officials and suggest that such claims should not be believed.  These days, our leading media outlets won’t even use words that are disapproved of by the Government.”

Why the huge change? Again, this was a unique moment.  Soon the liberal consensus shattered, the body politic breaking into pieces.  The left shrank, becoming increasingly marginalized.  The right grew.  Having learned its lessons from the left, well-funded by wealthy individuals and large corporations, it used populist anger to fuel the wing-nut “revolution.”   The result was Reagan and later W, the door being held open by first Carter and later Clinton.

Perhaps no example better illustrated this “culture war” than the contrast between the massive mobilization against the coming Iraq war, larger and faster than during the Vietnam War, and the degree to which  the new peace movement was ignored by the more corporatized, sanitized TV news–too busy playing cheerleader for the coming devastation of shock and awe.

Dan Rather, Cronkite’s replacement, became the example of what happens to anchors who challenge this new “consensus.” A clear signal was sent by the corporate masters of CBS –don’t mess with us.   They did to Rather what they couldn’t do to Cronkite, ousting his staff and driving him to retire prematurely, all based on a ridiculous technicality.

At least Rather has been “radicalized” by the process, and joining Goodman to slam corporate news.  Fox Spews is only slightly to the right of most of this dreck.  I can barely stand to watch, even though sometimes I think I should–just to see the spin being fed to the sheep.

Instead, I make sure to listen every day to at least the initial news portion of Democracy Now!, thanks to iTunes. Truth is, I trust Amy Goodman far more than I ever did Walter Cronkite. The show comes out of grassroots, community radio and has grown stronger over the years, “sponsored” by the social movements that awakened in the ‘60s and live on, contrary to the  “obituaries” broadcast long ago in the mainstream news. While I enjoy the best we can get in the mainstream, such as Rachel Maddow or Keith Olberman,  their tepid liberalism pales in comparison to the independence of Democracy Now!

Amy Goodman, the most trusted voice in our America.

Sitting in the trenches of the culture war, it seems America is finally becoming more progressive. We can only hope Goodman truly becomes the next Cronkite.

To watch: the Internet, DISH network: Free Speech TV ch. 9415 and Link TV ch. 9410; DIRECTV: Link TV ch. 375, on public access, PBS.

To listen:  Pacifica, NPR, community, and college radio stations.