I saw a remarkable story on the March 19 CBS Evening News about photo-journalist Steve Liss, who has chronicled poverty in the United States. Liss certainly is not the first to do it; photographers Harvey Bristol and Dorothea Lange documented the plight of migrant farm workers during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Opening our eyes to poverty was important in the early 1960s, when Michael Harrington’s book, The Other America, further awakened John F. Kennedy to the plight of the poor in the U.S.

As I viewed the story on Liss’ photos , I couldn’t help but wonder how it is that so many Republicans apparently are not moved by issues facing the poor in America.

I was thinking about what a conversation about the story between leading Republicans such as Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney, John Boehner, and Eric Cantor might have been like. I can only wonde,r because frankly I’ve never been in a room with conservatives discussing their views on poverty in America.

Would the conversation go something like this?

Person A: Here we go again, the damn liberal media believing the crap about how bad things are for the poor.

Person B: It wouldn’t be so bad if they’d get off their fat asses and get a job.

Person C: People are poor because businesses can’t hire because of high taxes and all the so-called safety and environmental regulations they are forced to live by.

Person D: These damn people take their welfare money and go to the liquor store and then sit around drunk all day.

Person A: I mean it’s true that a lot of these people are poor. But how did they become that way? It’s because they’re so lazy and the government always bails them out.

Person B: Did you see how dirty they looked in the film? They do have soap and running water. What’s wrong with these people; why can’t they get up, take a shower, and put on clean clothes?

Person C: Have you ever talked to one of these people? They show you no respect. And the way they talk; most of the time I don’t even know what language they’re speaking.

Person D: Obama’s going to be speaking about all this stuff we need to do for the unwashed who support him. He’s just trying to foment class warfare. We’ can’t let him and his type fool the American people.

I don’t know how far off base such a conversation would be. Rick Santorum was speaking in Moline, Ill.,  the day before the Illinois primary and said, “I don’t care what the unemployment rate’s’going to be. It doesn’t matter. My campaign doesn’t hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates. There’s something more foundational going on here.” He goes on to explain that the “something foundational” is freedom. So I guess that he finds it acceptable for someone to “enjoy” the freedoms of America even if they don’t have a job or the money with which to purchase the essentials of the family.

I feel most fortunate to (a) not live in poverty, and (b) to have a circle of friends and acquaintances who would be disappointed in America upon seeing Steve Liss’ photos. They feel that America should be committed to eliminating poverty in our society.

Is there something that we’re seeing that conservatives don’t? Or is it the other way around and they have insight that we don’t? I tend to believe that most conservatives merely want to protect their own assets and somehow enhance their egos by looking with disdain upon the poor. If that’s the case, then what a shame it is that some of Steve Liss’ audience is blind to the photos that are a gift from him to our society.

The post Imagining a conservative conversation about poverty appeared first on Occasional Planet.

I grew up to be a liberal; my views, which were largely based on empathy, were formed well before I graduated from high school. I didn’t need Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Brien, or Ed Schultz telling me what to believe or mocking conservatives. I just needed a solid delivery system to receive news – news that included stories on the plight of those inside the U.S. and overseas who were suffering.

As a teenager, almost every evening upon getting home from a day of generally irrelevant learning at school, I got my primary education in 30 minutes (minus commercials) in the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite. Cronkite, who was his own managing editor, delivered it as it was, blemishes and all. We saw Birmingham’s fire hoses trained on African-Americans who were exercising their right to free speech and assembly. We saw the poverty of Appalachia. We saw the escalation of America’s involvement in Vietnam. And with the senseless slaying of President Kennedy, we learned that whatever questionable reason there might have been for most gun ownership, it paled in comparison “all necessary steps” to minimize the likelihood of anyone who owning a gun unless they had a compelling reason.

CBS Evening News was my first electronic teacher because of the credibility and authenticity of Walter Cronkite. There are those who think that news anchors are just glorified news readers. That may be true of many, perhaps most, but there are some who seem to relay the day’s events with a combination of gravitas and humanity. When it came to space exploration, Cronkite added enthusiasm to the mixture.

Walter Cronkite delivers news on April 4, 1968, shortly before Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated.

Without offering any disparaging remarks about other anchors, since Walter Cronkite retired in 1981, I think that you can count on one or two hands the number of anchors who presented an objective, sensitive and authentic manner. In its early days, CNN had a few, most particularly Bernard Shaw. CBS currently has three journalists in particular who carry credibility somewhat reminiscent of Cronkite.

First is Bob Schieffer, a veteran who tells a remarkable story of how he covered the John Kennedy assassination and who in recent years has on and off been allowed to sit in the anchor’s chair, always with good ratings. Second is Russ Mitchell, who is a weekend anchor and whose demeanor is a refreshing contrast to the sports hype that general precedes his broadcasts. Third is the current occupant of the Evening News, Scott Pelley, who assumed his position in June, 2011. If someone is a news junkie, he or she can get non-hyped and meaningful news seven nights a week on CBS. On weekdays it’s with Scott Pelley, and on weekends with Russ Mitchell.

Scott Pelley has jettisoned the bad puns of his predecessor as well as most of the fluff stories. As I was watching the broadcast on Monday, Dec. 5, 2011, I was struck with the continuity between the news that we received from Walter Cronkite forty years ago and what Scott Pelley was delivering that evening. In each case, important and engaging information was presented in a calm and thoughtful manner. Here is the “storyboard” for the broadcast:

1. The revolution aimed at Syria’s Bashar al-Assad including risky secret interviews by reporter Clarissa Ward.

2. Downed drone in Iran

3. European Debt Crisis – banks downgraded

4. U.S. spending on “Cyber Monday” up 15% from 2010

5. Cutbacks in the Postal Office – report from Burr Hill, VA

6. Director of Federal Aviation Administration placed on leave for DUI arrest

7. Des Moines Register poll puts Newt Gingrich in lead for Iowa Caucus

8. Woman in Afghanistan has been jailed for two years for not marrying her rapist

9. Results from parliamentary elections in Russia

10. NASA reports possible “sister planet” to Earth 600 light years away

11. Fourteen car wreck of exotic cars in Japan [could be considered frivolous]

12. Bringing together amputees from Haiti’s earthquake with others from recent U.S. military engagement in a unique soccer game.

Reporters: Clarissa Ward, Bob Orr, Nancy Cordes, Mandy Clark, Byron Pitts

(twenty-one minutes with condensed commercials)

Even though I like Rachel Maddow and most of the rest of the MSNBC crew, I didn’t need any of them telling me how to feel. The violence in Syria was only matched by the bravery of Clarissa Ward in covering it. The downed drone in Iran illustrated how risky international relations are. Cutbacks in the Postal Service illustrated what’s happening to our domestic work force, particularly those in the public sector. The plight of the woman in Afghanistan reminded us of how easily human rights can be abrogated and what a challenge it is to protect them. And Byron Pitts’ story on the amputees from Haiti and the ranks of wounded American soldiers showed the power of hope and inspiration when combined with creative planning and design.

More and more of us seek our news on the internet. With the wide variety of choices and the presence of excellent journalists in various news outlets including blogs, we can generally find whatever we need.

However, at 5:30 PM [Central], the image of millions of Americans sitting at a computer and literally going in millions of directions is quite different from the era of Walter Cronkite when we had only three choices for electronic news. There was something unifying by the shared experiences we had when many of us ritualistically watched the news each evening. Walter Cronkite didn’t have to tell us; we knew he was ashamed to live in a country in which fire hoses flattened people exercising First Amendment rights. We shared the fear of the Cuban missile crisis and wept with joy when John Glenn finally reached orbit speed.

We can’t fully turn back the clock. Television news has its high points and its low points. Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Newton Minnow once called American TV “a great wasteland.” It would be hard to argue with him. But even with imperfections, it’s hard to find a better way to get an overview of what is happening in our nation and the world than watching Scott Pelley. He’s only 54; if CBS doesn’t mess up we have many more years to learn from him. We won’t go back to the unity of the moment that we formerly had. However, high quality has been preserved, or perhaps more accurately restored. Scott Pelley’s ratings are rising; I hope they continue to do so because we’ll have a better informed and likely more compassionate country if they do.

The post I could do it again; grow up to be a liberal by watching CBS Evening News appeared first on Occasional Planet.

On February 27, 1968, Walter Cronkite, while anchoring the CBS Evening News, diplomatically and emphatically said “We are mired in a stalemate.” He was talking about Vietnam.

The Vietcong and North Vietnamese had launched a full-fledged attack, known as the Tet offensive, on American and South Vietnamese forces. While the inaccurate casualty numbers may have favored the U.S., Tet was a morale breaker and demonstrated that the U.S. had little or no chance of accomplishing its stated goals in Vietnam.

Cronkite reported from Vietnam on the aftermath of the Tet offensive. On February 27 he wrapped up his broadcast by first stating:

Tonight, back in more familiar surroundings in New York, we’d like to sum up our findings in Vietnam, an analysis that must be speculative, personal, subjective.

He ended by saying:

But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.

This is Walter Cronkite. Good night.

President Lyndon Johnson accurately said, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”

Presently Barack Obama seems to be losing much of Middle America because of his unsteady piloting of the economy and his own stalemate in Afghanistan. Is there a Walter Cronkite-type figure to provide the credibility that we need to hear that President Obama is not succeeding and that conservative Republicans will do anything to ensure his failure?

We have a president who, however well-intentioned, seems to be negotiation impaired. We have a so-called Tea Party that has so much disdain for government that its members are willing to do serious damage to their own personal finances in order to try to prove a false point about how government is the problem.

The word most associated with Cronkite was venerable. The one current journalist who is currently seen as venerable is Cronkite’s old colleague, Bob Schieffer. He occasionally anchors the “CBS Evening News,” and each Sunday morning he hosts “Face the Nation.”

Schieffer has come close to being straight about both Obama and the Tea Party. However, in an effort to be bi-partisan, he does not point out that while Obama’ tactics may be naïve, the Tea Party’s positions are almost delusional.

If not Schieffer, then perhaps a Jim Lehrer or Judy Woodruff. Whoever might step forward now would have a much greater challenge than Cronkite. Cable TV did not exist when Cronkite spoke and he sat in the anchor chair for one of only three networks. His audience was much larger than that of any current anchor.

All the same, we need a voice of sanity. Last October Jon Stewart was on to something when he sponsored a march on Washington for sanity. Unfortunately his immaturity, which is often the source of his charm and humor, kept him from giving the march the focus it needed. The point had to be clearly made that right wing politics are at the center of what keeps us from pursuing sane policies. Nice try, Jon, but we need someone else with more gravitas.

All of this is easy for me to say and difficult for the few Americans with legitimate credibility to do. I’m just hoping.

The post Who will be our Walter Cronkite this time? appeared first on Occasional Planet.