Media Bias: Did Walter Cronkite Help Protesters?

Imagine a country in which just a few media outlets controlled all the news that we hear, see, or read. If some people with a specific ideological agenda were able to influence, or even control such a system, what might they get away with?  We’ve observed that in state controlled systems, such as the USSR, Nazi Germany, China, Cuba, and now, Venezuela. The state line is repeated, and dissent is ignored, or ridiculed. Lies are repeated, and the truth is hidden.

In a sense, our ability to receive news and information was similarly restricted not so long ago. As recently as the 1980′s our media was very controlled-not by the state, but by ideologically driven editors, reporters, and anchormen. The internet was still a government run entity. Home computers were primitive, expensive, and rare. There was no substantial talk radio due to the fairness doctrine. There were no alternatives to the MSM. There was nothing to counter their message, and there was no accountability. Changing the station would only give you more of the same.

What I read yesterday lends credence to this idea. According to recently released FBI documents, it appears that Walter Cronkite assisted the anti-Vietnam war movement. It is well known that Mr. Cronkite had declared the war “lost” after Tet, giving encouragement to the North to continue the war. In the end, it is estimated that 1-2 million Vietnamese lost their lives when the North eventually won. For details, here is some information from Yahoo News.

Legendary CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite allegedly collaborated with anti-Vietnam War activists in the 1960s, going so far as to offer advice on how to raise the public profile of protests and even pledging CBS News resources to help pull off events, according to FBI documents obtained by Yahoo! News.

The documents, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, say that in November 1969, Cronkite encouraged students at Rollins College in Winter Park, Fla., to invite Maine Sen. Edmund Muskie to address a protest they were planning near Cape Kennedy (now known as Cape Canaveral). Cronkite told the group’s leader that Muskie would be nearby for a fundraiser on the day of the protest, and said that “CBS would rent [a] helicopter to take Muskie to and from site of rally,” according to the documents.

The claims are contained in an FBI memo recounting a confidential informant‘s report on a November 1969 meeting of a Rollins College protest group called Youth for New America. The group was planning rallies near Cape Kennedy on Nov. 13 and 14 — the latter being day of the Apollo 12 launch from Cape Kennedy, which President Nixon would be attending — as part of a nationwide Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam. That protest action culminated in a huge march on Washington on Nov. 15.

“[Redacted] told group he had been to CBS Channel Six in Orlando prior to meeting to speak to newsmen about Vietnam moratorium activities. [Redacted] related that while at TV station, Walter Cronkite, nationally known radio and television commentator, spoke to him by telephone for approximately forty five minutes and that Cronkite reportedly told [redacted] that CBS would have thirty six hours of coverage on Vietnam moratorium with ‘open mike’ to give demonstrators a chance to be heard. Cronkite noted, according to [redacted], that Senator Edmund Muskie would be in Orlando, Fla., November 13 instant for Democratic fund raising dinner. According to [redacted], Cronkite suggested that [redacted] attempt to Muskie to come [sic] to Cape Kennedy to speak at Kelly Park rally to be held November thirteen instant. Cronkite allegedly told [redacted] that CBS would rent helicopter to take Muskie to and from site of rally at Kelly Park.”

Chip Cronkite, Walter Cronkite’s son, told Yahoo! News it’s highly unlikely that his father would ever have made such an offer. “It doesn’t have the ring of a reliable story to me,” he said. “Particularly at a time when FBI informants often told the FBI what they wanted to hear. I think it would be outside of what we know about Walter Cronkite and CBS News’ practices.”

A CBS News spokesman declined to comment.

Here’s a screen grab of the document in question:

This makes me think about how many other times the media has provided assistance to the left.  How many other such files are out there?  How much would they be trying now if they thought they could get away with it?  Then again, what do you think would happen if the left got its wish, and talk radio, bloggers, and other media sources were limited or controlled again?  Think of what we wouldn’t know:

1.  ObamaCares flaws, and then, the fact that our predictions were coming to pass.

2.  ACORN’s love for tax evasion and child prostitution.

3.  Climategate, as well as all of the other “faked” climate “science.”

4.  Planned Parenthood’s willingness to take money to abort African-American babies, and the fact that they seem to still be implementing Sanger’s “Negro Project.”

5.  The real purpose of Cap and Trade.

6.  Porkulus money going to places that do no exist.

7.  Frankly, the truth about almost everything this administration has said or done.

8.  What the “Czars” and other appointees have said or written.

9.  The fact that the files that CBS used to slam Bush were faked.  That could have turned a Presidential election.

Without an alternative media, all of these would have been covered up.  We would have never heard of them.  And, the left would be very happy with that.

Can you see why they might want this control back?