Walter Cronkite very ill

[rollhead]

Report: CBS Newsman Walter Cronkite Very Ill
Verne Gay
Newsday

8:02 PM PDT, June 18, 2009

NEW YORK -- Yes, I've heard this, but when I called his office for confirmation earlier this week, I was told in no uncertain terms - Don't worry! He's OK.

But now, I'm not so sure. I see that TVNewser has finally caught up with the news too.

How bad is it? Very bad.

Cronkite's been ill for a while, but he has definitely taken a turn for the worse.

Now, he is 92 years old, and it's worth nothing that his father lived nearly to 100 and his mother, famously, well past 100.

Here's the genesis of the recent reports: About three weeks ago, CBS News heard that he was declining, and actually began to call top TV news people, like Tom Brokaw and Morley Safer, to get quotes and reactions.

Suddenly, CBS did an about face - hold the quotes! Walter's OK! Apparently there had been some mis-communication: Walter wasn't declining, but his MEMORY was.

In any event, the news died down.

Now it's out again.

Again, I caution: Walter could be with us for years, but the latest reports are not good. He is in very very bad shape.

[claude]

That's got to be the most honest news report I have ever seen. I thought the journalism schools were teaching reporters to report everything as fact regardless of whether they knew it to be fact or not. Also, I thought all news was supposed to be reported with as dramatic a tone as possible regardless of the actual drama.