Multiplication Table 1000x1000

And that's how it was: Walter Kronkite

In my career as a journalist, there were two world figures that one siempre trataba de admirar, tratando de modelar la carrera tras ellos. Uno era Rysard Kapucinsky , un reconocido reportero y escritor que prácticamente escribió el libro sobre periodismo integral y era un ejemplo a seguir en cuanto a su ética de trabajo, amén de haber educado a miles de jóvenes periodistas por la Fundación Nuevo Periodismo, creada por Gabriel García Márquez. Cuando el tío Kapu, como era cariñosamente llamado, murió en 2007, creo que sólo había un periodista con la misma clase de integridad, respeto y nobleza que él, aunque sin el reconocimiento mundial. Ayer, día de mi cumpleaños, a las 7:48 pm, hora de Nueva York, ese otro periodista murió at 92: Walter Cronkite . Perhaps

Venezuelans did not know so well, but Cronkite was often called "the most trusted man in America." Such was his image of journalistic integrity that was responsible for the term "anchor" to describe the narrator's main news or television news (imagine less politicized version of Leopoldo Castillo in Venezuela), a position he held in front of the news of CBS for 19 years. In these nearly two decades, Cronkite was witness-and sometimes poster-from some of the hardest moments in history: the assassination of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King , the arrival of man on the moon , the Vietnam War . Such was his influence and credibility, to convey scenes of daily combat in Vietnam during the newscast, and address the growing rejection of the population, President Lyndon Johnson said: "If I've lost Walter Cronkite, I've lost the American middle class. "

Now that Cronkite had been dismissed for good, I think it's a good time for us to ask how communicators really has lost the ethics of our profession, or how the situation has forced us to be more abrasive to the political situations the country. Cronkite, despite his stance against the war in Vietnam and drugs, never lost the respect he had even the politicians who criticized him. True, we are not the only ones who have to do our part, but, when really start to try to help turn the tables of intolerance in the country?

And that's the way it is.

I leave a few moments in the career of this extraordinary man. Rest in peace.