Július 17-én, New Yorkban, családtagjai körében, 92 éves korában, hosszan tartó betegség után meghalt Walter Cronkite. Az egyik legnagyobb amerikai tévécsatorna, a CBS egykori riportere 1962 és 1981 között volt a tévétársaság hírműsorának arca. Az amerikai televíziós újságírás egyik legtekintélyesebb alakjaként tartották és tartják számon.

Walter Cronkite, a II. világháború idején a UPI hírügynökség haditudósítója, a háború után moszkvai tudósítója volt. 1946-ban ő vezette a náci háborús bűnösök perének nürnbergi tárgyalásáról tudósító stábot. A CBS televíziós társaság hírműsorainak vezetőjeként olyan történelemi eseményekhez kötődik neve, mint az 1962-es kubai rakétaválság, az első amerikai űrhajós repülésének híre, Kennedy elnök meggyilkolásának és a Watergate-ügy bejelentése, az átlagamerikaiak vietnami háborúval kapcsolatos álláspontjának megváltozásának érzékeltetése a tömegmédiában.

Újságíróként a tárgyilagos híradás mintájául szolgált. Erre utalva írja róla David Halberstam: Mert övék a hatalom című, az amerikai médiával foglalkozó, enciklopedikus jellegű könyvében:

"Bár értett a show-biznisz nyelvén, s kellőképpen érces hangja volt hozzá, hogy fölkeltse hallgatói érdeklődését, és biztonságba ringassa őket, így van ez ebben a szakmában, tudta, hol a határ.(…) Cronkite gon dosan ügyelt rá, hogvy elkerülje a meredek dolgokat, szigorúan fegyelmezte magát, nehogy kibökje személyes véleményét vagy elárulja előítéleteit, s ez a hatvanas években csak hasznára vált a CBS-nek."

A világhírű műsorvezető életének magyarországi vonatkozása, hogy a CBS tévétársaság műsorában, Walter Cronkite narrációjával 1961-ben láttak napvilágot Hungary in flames ("Magyarország lángokban") címmel azok a felvételek, amelyeket a Kovács László és Zsigmond Vilmos operatőrök készítettek 1956-ban a forradalom eseményeiről.

A rendszerváltás előtt az USA-ban tanulmányúton járt több magyar hírtelevíziós is találkozott vele. Élménybeszámolóik nyomán, a Kádár-rendszer utolsó évtizedében a híradó-felfogás változására közvetve Cronkite-nak is volt hatása. A 80-as évek végén aztán maga is ellátogatott Magyarországra. Sándor István készített vele televíziós interjút.

ÉLETRAJZA (His Life And Career) angolul

Nov. 4, 1916 Is born Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. in St. Joseph, Mo., to Walter Leland Cronkite and Helena Fritsch.

1932 Wins journalism competition in high school and writes for and delivers The Houston Post during summer break.

1933 Attends University of Texas at Austin while juggling jobs with Houston Press and Scripps-Howard News service.

1935 Drops out of college to pursue journalism full time.

1935-37 Works at KCMO radio Kansas City - news and sports; WKY Radio in Oklahoma City - football announcer; United Press in Austin, Kansas City and El Paso bureaus. He works briefly as public relations executive for Braniff Airways.

1937-45 Becomes a war correspondent for United Press when WWII breaks out, reporting from Europe and Africa.

1940 Marries Mary Elizabeth (Betsy) Maxwell. The couple later have three children.

1944 Edward R. Murrow offers him a job as a CBS correspondent, but Cronkite turns it down.

1946-49 UPI chief correspondent from Nuremberg Trials; UPI chief correspondent Moscow; Washington-based correspondent for Midwest radio stations.

1950 Accepts a correspondent job from Murrow working at CBS News' Washington bureau; he catches the eye of top executives as temporary news anchor on CBS local TV station WTOP.

July 7, 1952 Becomes one of the first nationally recognized television reporters and the model for the electronic term "anchorman" while covering Republican Convention in Chicago. The conventions also mark the first nationally televised convention coverage, and CBS News provides 139 hours of it.

1954 Briefly hosts CBS' The Morning Show and is soon replaced by Jack Paar.

1950s-60s Narrates and hosts many CBS television news shows such as "You Are There," "Eyewitness to History" and "The Twentieth Century." Anchors and reports for "CBS Reports."

1960 CBS is the first network to broadcast the Olympics - 13 hours of the Winter Games from Squaw Valley, Calif. Walter Cronkite is anchor.

April 16, 1962 Named anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News, taking over the position from Douglas Edwards. The program expands from 15 to 30 minutes on Sept. 2, 1963, making Cronkite the anchor of American network television's first nightly half-hour news program.

Nov. 20, 1963 Is the first to report President Kennedy's death and remains on the air for much of the network's four days of coverage.

Aug. 19, 1965 The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite becomes the first regularly scheduled evening half-hour network news program broadcast in color.

April 9-17, 1967 The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite becomes the first network news program to be seen via satellite. The broadcast originates from Paris, where the Vietnam peace talks are taking place.

1968 Anchors coverage of the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Sen. Robert Kennedy; Tours Vietnam during Tet and returns to deliver his candid assessment that America is losing the war.

1969 Reports on the Apollo moon landing. As the rocket lands on the lunar surface at 4:19 p.m., EDT, Cronkite, known for his eloquence, famously exclaims, "Man on the moon!" "Oh, boy!" and then, "Whew, boy!" Remains on the air for 24 of the network's 27 hours of Apollo XI lunar walk special in 1969.

1970 CBS Evening News overtakes NBC in evening news ratings, beginning a decade-long dominance with Cronkite in the chair.

1971 Publishes his first book, "Eye on the World," an edited compendium of CBS News' reporting on the major trends and stories of 1970, for which he provided analysis and commentary.

1973 Named the "most trusted" public figure in the country by Americans in a public opinion poll.

1977 His interview with Egyptian President Sadat leads to a Sadat visit to Israel and a peace treaty between the countries 10 months later.

March 6, 1981 Steps down to allow Dan Rather to take his place. Becomes a special correspondent and hosts several acclaimed CBS documentary programs during the 1980s.

1981 Is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter

1985 Inducted into the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.

1986 Begins hosting PBS New Year's Eve Vienna Philharmonic show. Arizona State University names its journalism school after him.

1992 "Walter Cronkite's 20th Century," a 90-second radio segment for CBS Radio, ends after five years - Cronkite's last CBS News role.

1993 Co-founds The Cronkite Ward Company, which goes on to produce award-winning documentaries for The Discovery Channel, PBS and other networks.

1996 His memoirs, "Cronkite Remembers," are broadcast as a two-hour CBS special in May and then as an eight-hour series on The Discovery Channel. Cronkite's autobiography, "A Reporter's Life," is also published.

July 15, 2000 Celebrates the 50th anniversary of his first broadcast from the CBS News anchor chair.

2005 Betsy, his wife of almost 65 years, dies.

2006 Becomes the first non-astronaut to receive NASA's Ambassador of Exploration Award. Voices the introduction to the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. Celebrates his 90th birthday.

July 17, 2009 Cronkite dies at his home in New York after a long illness with his family by his side. He was 92.