Mere weeks ago, The Washington Post ran a story headlined “‘Lie after lie after lie’: Fox News’s Shepard Smith has a Cronkite moment on Russia,” which caught our attention because the Lear Center reveres the TV journalistic legacy of Walter Cronkite and presents biennial awards named for him. Watch the clip:
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And what, exactly, is a “Cronkite moment,” you might ask?
A #CronkMo is when a profoundly experienced, deeply-informed and professionally respected journalist discovers an uncomfortable truth which they must present and speak out about, despite the discomfort it might cause their audience and the American people as a whole.
For the ORIGINAL “Cronkite Moment,” scroll down.
And this week, one of our 2017 Cronkite Award winners, Katy Tur, delivered another bracing “Cronkite moment,” to Senator Ted Cruz regarding his hypocrisy over his pleas for Hurricane Harvey aid versus his veto of aid for victims of Hurricane Sandy.
Click here to view the video on YouTube.
Check out these many other “Cronkite moments” we honored at the 2017 Cronkite Awards.
Here’s the original “Cronkite moment,” when CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite addressed his vast audience after an on-the-ground tour of Vietnam in 1968. Reportedly, then President Lyndon Johnson said, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”
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