By Skeeter Ellison

For more than 60 years Walter Cronkite has been a journalist for the world, reporting landmark events.

The Museum of Television and Radio held a satellite seminar Monday with Cronkite as part of the William S. Paley Annual Lecture series. Colleges from around the nation listened in as Cronkite discussed his experiences with technology advancements and covering war. He compared his war stories to the ones journalist report today.

"I considered it my job to tell the people what it looked like. Cable coverage today seems to be indulging in entertainment instead of information," Cronkite said.

The major events and landmarks Cronkite covered ranged from a hyrdogen bomb test in 1953 to man walking on the moon in 1969. He reported from Europe during World War II and from South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He began as a newspaper reporter in Kansas City, then reported for the United Press wire service. His final decades were with CBS radio and television.

Cronkite has been everywhere.

"The biggest difference between when I reported and today’s war coverage is the live footage. When we did it back in World War II everything was censored before it was released," Cronkite said.

There is also a big difference in the amount of people covering the war of today compared with WWII, Cronkite said. Only a handful of broadcasters reported then compared with 662 today. When asked what he would like to change about the war today Cronkite responded by saying, "I wish they wouldn’t use the word embedded. It sounds like they are up to something they shouldn’t be."

War stories are a way of reporting fast news and getting right into the action, Cronkite said. Even during times of trouble and despair, Cronkite said, "We Americans do have a way of rising up. It does seem the darkest before the dawn. War is an experience."

Cronkite gave some advice for the reporters of today in saying that one problem with covering the front lines is the destruction of morale taking place among the folks back home. He said that reports need to keep the morale high and to stick to the facts. The best way to analyze a war, Cronkite said, is to record the briefings and keep good records. Then when the war is over, he said, the analysts can sift through the information and see where things went wrong and also see what things went right.

Cronkite said despite all of his experiences of war, the memory that stuck out to him the most and had the biggest impact on his life was when astronauts landed on the moon for the first time, on July 20, 1969.

"This will live in people's memories forever. Man had finally escaped his environment of earth," Cronkite said.

"People soon forget about the wars of the past and they will soon forget the war that is taking place right now," he said, "but the experience of man landing on the moon will not be forgotten."

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