All the News That's Fit to Share (and Then Some)

I grew up in a Huntley-Brinkley household (that's how old I am) but married a Cronkite man and easily converted. As a late teen, each evening my mother and I would eat an early dinner and then go in to learn about what was going on from Chet and Dave's perspective. I can't speak for my mother, but I believed that whatever they said had to be the truth. (Give me a break -- I was a teenager.)

When I married Joe, he preferred Walter Cronkite and always called him "Walter." It was so easy to make the change: the man simply reeked of credibility. We stayed with Walter until he retired and by then we'd become less regular with the evening news -- kids had come along and life had become complicated. We never did form a new firm affiliation for evening news. Peter, Dan, Connie all were okay but not okay enough for a permanent attachment. Besides, there was the time problem.

Then I discovered Aaron Brown and quickly fell into like, if not love. His calm demeanor impressed me. He was articulate, never talking down to anyone, and at the same time never putting what he had to say beyond my reach. I came to see Aaron as Walter's successor. At least in our household.

It didn't last long.

CNN, which had begun its decline into muck and mire, didn't see it that way, and Aaron was booted off and replaced by the insufferable Anderson Cooper who always brings to mind the Muppets episode where Kermit the Frog, dressed in reporter garb, provides a hysterical news broadcast. I can't abide Anderson Cooper. Wolf Blitzer (tell me, please, just what was his mother thinking when she named him? Does he have siblings named Beaver, Badger and Coyote?) is no better and, I think, the less said about the pompous Lou Dobbs, the better.

Christiane Amanpour, however, now there's another story. A class act and someone I can trust.

What I'd love to see, friends, is for some brave network to bring back Aaron Brown as an anchor.

I wonder if I'll live to see it.

The foregoing rant was brought on by a truly worthwhile piece I read this morning in Salon. I couldn't agree more with what Saturn (talk about unfortunate names) Smith has to say. I urge you to read it here.