Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite, the great broadcaster and journalist, passed away two days ago as of this writing. By all indications, his life was a good one. It was certainly inspirational to millions of people, including me. As it was and is for many iconic figures, Cronkite had a number of nicknames bestowed on him by the public. One was "Uncle Walter," which demonstrated the feelings of reassurance and comfort people took from Cronkite's presence, manner and voice on his nightly broadcasts and many specials. Another was "Mister Believability." For a broadcaster whose success depended upon his ability to connect with people week after week, this was probably the best nickname he could have been tagged with.

Since his retirement over twenty years ago, we have had many broadcasters step onto the national stage. Yet it is curious that none, at least so far, has achieved the national embrace that Cronkite did when it came to reporting the news - good and bad - of the day. I have no doubt that many of these men and women are just as professional and decent as Cronkite. Without question, many are highly committed to presenting the information they do in the most professional way possible. And, as we know, many of their array of avid followers. Still, not one has reached the level of Cronkite when it comes to credibility. Why not?

My theory is that when it came to news, Cronkite stuck to the hard, serious stuff and stayed away from the fluff. He earned his credibility by the seriousness of his material and the fact he presented it a serious, straight-forward and objective manner. No joking around with others on the news team. No one-liners. He treated his audiences like grown ups in an honest, straight forward way. They responded to his professionalism in-kind. "Mister Credibility" indeed. For communicators, that's as good as it gets. And that's the way it was.