In the Washington Post live Q&A section, Marlene Adler, chief of staff to the late Walter Cronkite, was available to online readers July 20 for a chat about Cronkite's "career and what he was like to work with." Turns out he had specific concerns about the lack of reliable sourcing in Internet reportage and its impact on accuracy.
The Wash Post writes in the Q&A introduction: "Walter Cronkite, known as ' the most trusted man in America,' died Friday at his home in New York. He was 92. From 1962 to 1981 Cronkite was a nightly presence in the homes of millions of Americans, guiding viewers through wars, deaths, scandals and moon landings. His signature television sign-off was 'And that's the way it is.' "
Alder writes to one reader during the half hour chat: "He loved the new technology, (the Internet) but also saw the problems with reliability of news delivery. He was concerned that news sources on the Internet were not attributable and worried that it would further diminish trust in the news media."
A Washington DC reader asks "What did he think of ... The Internet?
Adler responds: "...The problem he saw with Internet news was the matter of attributing a story to a reliable source. He was very concerned about the ease with which anyone could print anything and possibly be believed." Read more here.
