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WASHINGTON,
D.C. - The lack of foreign news coverage and the increase of profit-driven
news deeply concern today's Press, Walter Cronkite told the National Press
Club during its 90th anniversary celebration in Washington, D.C. on Monday.
Cronkite,
who won the club's prestigious Fourth Estate Award in 1973, anchored the "CBS
Evening News" for 19 years and is one of the most highly regarded journalists
in America.
Cronkite
said that, although the Press today does a better job of investigating the
wrongdoings of government and big business, cuts in foreign news coverage
leaves Americans at a disadvantage.
"Every
positive action or negative reaction in the conduct of foreign affairs will
affect history," said Cronkite. "Are we the Press really willing
to leave people so ill-informed?"
Because
of the profit-driven nature of today's Press, Cronkite said that news managers
believe they can cover a foreign event by flying a correspondent to a country
for a day.
"This
is an inadequate situation," said Cronkite. "The failure to maintain
full-time correspondents is unsatisfactory and dangerous to democracy,"
said Cronkite.
Cronkite
added that the lack of full-time foreign correspondents might have deprived
America of early warnings that could have prevented the Iraqi invasion of
Kuwait.
America
is blessed with the best-educated reporters, managers and editors, but the
emphasis on profit by publishers, broadcast executives and shareholders is
not in the best interest of humanity, said Cronkite.
"Journalists
have an obligation to serve the public," said Cronkite. "Shareholders
should be educated to that responsibility and permit the Press to be free."
Cronkite
also said that the American Press has had critics throughout history. There
have been a lot of legitimate complaints about journalists, but some have
been dead wrong, Cronkite said.
"I'm
proud of journalism," said Cronkite. "I insist on calling it a profession
instead of a business. Tether the auditors; free the editors."
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