Could Anyone Fill Murrow’s Shoes Today?

Bill Goodykoontz wonders: “Could anyone today assume Murrow’s mantle?”

“Nope,” he answers.

“Murrow embodied gravity. Serious, thoughtful, aggressive, he quickly adapted to the form, a cigarette as important a prop to him as a weather map is to a meteorologist. It’s a template everyone from Walter Cronkite to Dan Rather to Brian Williams to Katie Couric, in greater or lesser degrees, has followed.”

Goodykoontz says anchors like Jon Stewart and Katie Couric “have the talent to become contemporary Murrows. But it’s a media world different from the one Murrow operated in, with a different audience watching and journalists held in as little regard as the subjects of their stories…”