but the wounds still linger and but the wounds still linger and we must never forget. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com thanthanks for thanthanks fo joining us o kanjourney. i'm anderson cooper in cape coast, ghana. >> tonight, remembering walter cronkite, america's newsman brought almost a century of history into homes across the country. from tragedy that changed our world. >> president kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. central standard time. >> to turning points in our universe. >> whew. boy. >> busy for a minute. >> walter cronkite in his own words. next on a very special edition of "larry king live." >> that's the way it is.

>> it's a great pleasure to have as our special guest here in new york tonight the legendsdry anchor of the cbs evening news, author of nux russ books, got another one coming soon, walter cronkite who recently marked the 20th anniversary of your stepping down. >> i can't believe it, but it seems to be true. >> larry: does it feel like 20 years? >> not at all. the world has been passing by as a great panorama of events that i wish i'd been out there covering. i have really regretted i stepped down when i did. >> larry: you do. >> i didn't know i'd be in such good health. >> larry: were you forced to resign? was it a cbs policy? >> oh, no, not at all. had i long since decided i was going to step down from daily journalism at 65. i had been with united press for 11 years, scripps howard for two or three years, fighting deadlines every day and then 20 years on the evening news, and you know, after that, i said i want to take a little easy. i didn't realize how easy i was

going to have to take it. >> larry: how many days are there where you miss being on? >> every day. every day. not on. that's not quite the term for it, larry. i don't miss being on the air. i miss not being at the center of gravity there where you're getting the show together, getting the broadcast together, where you're really setting the agenda that day for people's consideration. that's an important job. and i miss that. >> larry: you always like being the one who says, hey, i know something and i'm going to tell it to you? >> yep. >> larry: that's what you are, right? >> absolutely. that's what a reporter wants to be, whether they write it for a newspaper or do it on a broadcast. >> larry: and do you know why you like that so much? >> no, i'm not so sure of that. there's something about being on the inside first about being the first to know something or one of the early ones to know something. harboring it, working with it, melding it for the public's

advice, and information. >> larry: you got involved, as well, with the space program. you became not just the reporter, you became part of it. you realize that. >> well, yes. that's -- i've been credited with that or debted with it, depending on how you look at what a reporter's job should be. i was enthusiastic about spats flight. i was very critical of many of the decisions that nasa made in the course of getting a man up to the moon eventually and then into the shuttles but at the same time, the enthusiasm of the idea of human beings getting out there into space and finally getting to that distant orb i thought was the most exciting adventure of our time and i think in the 20th century, when people look back at the 20th century with all these incredible inventions, these technological improvements, particularly in medicine for heaven's sake and everywhere else, atomic energy for goodness sakes, all of it, the one thing

that will live 400 years from now will be man's escape from his own environment and landing on the moon, just as columbus's trip to america 400 years ago is the one date the kids remember today. >> larry: what's your view of this whole cnn, fox, msnbc, instant, everything today, get it, get now? >> well, in some ways that's good. it's good to have 24-hour news. i think that's important. people can indeed tune in any hour of the day, any minute of the day and get caught up on what's going on, they don't have to be there at 6:30 or whatever in the evening and get the day's news. that's important. i think it's important that competition drives these people to be at the source of news when it breaks. that's important, too. what is not so important, however, is being first in news. i'd like to see us back up a bit

and spend a little time thinking about a story before we put it on the air. you know, that business of being first, there's an old newspaper bromide and it was a necessary thing indeed. when there was competition on the streets for the afternoon newspapers, particularly morning newspapers as well, every city normally had more than one newspaper. >> larry: they wanted to be excluesive. >> and they had to get the headline out because the first one on the street with the big headline sold the papers. that doesn't exist anymore. it doesn't exist with newspapers, there's only one newspaper in most cities today, certainly not more than one newspaper, afternoon or morning. as far as broadcast goes, it's not important unless one network is so good that it's always first, and that's got to be tough because they're going to have to be first long enough that people realize they're first and that's not going to happen because every other network as soon as it goes on one network picks it up and broadcasts it anyway. >> larry: so you're saying it's

meekless to beat you by one minute. >> it's meaningless, absolutely meaningless. why not take a little time, did i jest the news, be sure it's right. i'm not talking about the election returns. that's another story loifr i'll get to that in a minute. >> on regular news, we could take it a little slower. >> okay, engine stopped. descent. engine command override off. >> man on the moon. >> houston, tranquility base here. the eagle has landed. >> whew, boy. >> we're going to be busy for a minute.

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>> senator, what single quality do you think will be the most important that you take to the white house? >> well, i think i've had a historical view of the united states and of its relations to the world. >> larry: did you like election night as a journalist? >> well, as well as i've liked everything probably since i left -- >> larry: i mean, was that a night as an anchor you looked forward to or was it needious. >> i looked forward to, and then found it a little tedious as it goes on. i realized how tedious it must have been when i did it. but you know, before we had that exit polling, it was a lot more fun.

we were counting the actual returns and we -- >> larry: actual returns. >> oh, boy, we really had a horse race here. we went to 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning you know, without any indication who was going to win and that was a lot of fun. >> larry: are you disturbed by the seeming tabloidization of the news. >> absolutely, very much so, very much so. the -- we've always had sensationalism in the press. a lot of people think this is something new. it's not new. look, you've looked at the files of 1850, 1830 from the time of the revolution. they were terrible. the newspapers are far more responsible today than they were in those days right up practically through warld wore i. they're far more responsible. broadcasting is reasonably responsible, but the trouble with broadcasting as i see it is we get hold of these stories that are really not important to the future of the democracy. princess di, o.j. simpson for

heaven's sake, john john's accident at martha's vineyard and we cling to these stories so long. we wear them out. we wear them to death. and they're not that important. there's so little time on the air to report the important news that makes a difference whether we're going to live or die in this democracy of ours, whether we're going to succeed or fail in education and health care. that's what we should it be taking our time and we spend all that time going over the same facts over and everagain. and we rush to these stories with john kennedy's accident, my gosh, within a half hour, one of the networks, i won't name here on cnn, immediately found a pilot who piloted a plane similar to the one that kennedy was in and we saw that guy on the air for 24 hours telling us how that accident could have happened. he had no more idea of how that accident happened than i did. >> they called it the march on

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i think i'll go with the basic package. good choice. only meineke lets you choose the brake service that's right for you. and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke. from dallas, texas, the flash apparently official. president kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. central standard time. 2:00 eastern standard time. some 38 minutes ago.

vice president johnson has left the hospital in dallas, but we do not know to where he has proceeded. presumably he will be taking the oath of office shortly and become the 36th president of the united states. >> larry: rather than assume, was the kennedy death the toughest day? >> probably so. yeah, i would think so. >> larry: you went, did you not. >> emotionally it was the toughest day. >> larry: you broke? >> very definitely i broke and i'm not ashamed of that. some people seem to point a finger as if it's unmanly or something of the kind. that doesn't strike me as being a serious matter at all. >> larry: those were the days of five bells, right? >> right. >> larry: were you in the newsroom. >> i was standing right at the machine. i just -- i never went to lunch in those days, and i had a little cottage cheese on the edge of the desk. well, a plate on the edge of the

desk. but i i was at the united press machine, and standing there when mir man smith's first bulletin came over. the bells rang, five bells and the bulletin was shots rang out today as president kennedy's motorcade passed through downtown dallas. and then bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. right after that, the motorcade has broken off and it appears to be going toward -- is said to be going toward a hospital. by that time, i'm already running back into the room calling out get me on the air, get me on the air. well, we, our studio at that time was not equipped with cameras until it was the newsroom itself and the cameras were brought in just before air time. so we had to go to a flash studio we called it, which we'd set up in advance for. >> larry: now they do it right from the newsroom. >> well, and from there for about 12 minutes or something like that, we were just voiceover our first flash on the air interrupted days of our lives" or some such thing, and

as the world turns" or one of those things and then eventually we were back in the studio doing it on camera. i went through the whole afternoon that day not realizing that i was in shirt sleeves. frank stanton passed an edict practically that we should never be in shirt sleeves on the air. my secretary had put the coat, brought it out and put it over the back of the chair and told me it was there apparently. i was too busy to even think about it, but around 6:30 when they let me up tort first time, i was younger there, i put in five or six hours there, i got up and i suddenly saw the coat there and i looked down and realized i had rolled up sleeves. >> larry: after the grief and the -- you were a reporter first, right? >> oh, yeah, sure. i hope so, hope so. >> larry: that's tough on an emotional day. >> well, it is indeed, but i think it's just like anybody else who has a job to do. it's like the ambulance driver who sees so much blood and has to put up with it. you know, we see an awful lot of

horror and stuff in our business, and but you have to report it. you have to get hold of yourself and do it. >> larry: let's take a call for walter cronkite. toronto, hello. >> caller: how are you? >> larry: hi. >> caller: not to put the devastation and comparison magnitude with john f. kennedy, but is there a story that you would like to have covered since your retirement that would put you kind of like in parallel with how you felt the day that kennedy died. >> larry: any story since, walter? >> yeah, well it happened within a month i've stepped down when they shot ronald reagan and right away, i was in moscow already. i had taken a trip doing some documentaries, and i was in moscow and here i was halfway around the world and here was the story, an attempted assassination of the president of the united states, and of course, the serious wounding of brady. yes, every important story since

then. >> larry: there was an important story, you'd have liked to have covered the california story? >> oh, absolutely. and, of course, there have been many really important stories in those years that have affected the course of mankind. that i would like 0 to have covered. >> larry: do you like all these magazine shows? >> i would like them better if they -- if they took the feature stories out of the daily news, the evening news and put them on the magazine shows. your bank account and mine, your health and mine, all that stuff. that doesn't belong on the evening news. we've got 23, 24 minutes in the evening news to cover the most complicated country in the world, the most complicated world that you're going to find that we are supposed to be leaders of. there's so many important stories that don't get on the news at all. and instead, those feature stories are on there. i cringe every time there's one of those. we ought to be hitting the news solidly for that half hour of

the 23 minutes after commercials and other stuff and put all that other stuff is important to people, your health, your bank account. but put it on those magazine shows instead of those hollywood creatures that they're always showing. good evening, dr. martin luther king, the apostle of nonviolence in the civil rights movement, has been shot to death in memphis, tennessee. the police have issued an all points bulletin for a white man seen running from the scene. officers reportedly chased and fired on a radio-equipped car containing two white men. m. it's easy to get started. i can help you with the paperwork. um... this green line just appeared on my floor. that's guidance from fidelity. it's the route to your financial goals. could you hold on a second? whatever your destination, fidelity has the people, guidance and investments to help you find your way. this is going to be helpful. contact us today.

>> tet offensive has still had its hot spots but one of them

was that once beautiful little city of wei. if the communist intention was to take and seize the cities, they came closer here at wei than anywhere else. it was a tough fight. it was house to house, door to door, room to room. journalism has been his entire life starting in print, then in radio. then in television. he's done it at all, voted the must trusted man in america in 1927, once considered a presidential possibility. retired from cbs, now hosts the cronkite report. next year we'll look for cronkite remembers. were you ever seriously saying to yourself, might run for national office? >> no, no, i never did. never seriously gave it one moment's thought. >> larry: a little heady though. >> oh, sure. heady, and obviously, there's a lot to be gained in personal power by simply being available, you know, as soon as people think you might run for the presidency, you become exceedingly powerful.

>> larry: did you feel -- >> but i didn't have any use for that power so i didn't. >> larry: as you look back and looking at yourself, this may be hard to do, do you feel that you were a major cog in changing the course of the vietnam war when you changed? >> well, i've been told so since. i didn't think at the time when i actually did that particular broadcast that it would have that effect. >> larry: were you worried about the show that night. >> you obviously think and hope that -- >> larry: were you worried that i'm stepping a little out of my league. >> yes. >> larry: not out of my league. i'm not a reporter anymore. >> yes, making an editorial statement, which that was definitely worried me. and it's the only -- it's one of the two times that i did that, well, it was one of the rare timesdy it. i did it on only two or only two reasons. one was the vietnam war and the other was several times, i stepped out of my role as a reporter to take an editorial

position when a question of freedom of speech and press was involved. and my principles on which i stood on that were that nobody else is going to fight that battle except us. so we've got to get out there. and in every case, in every case i hope in every case where i rendered an opinion, i said i'm taking off my news reporter's hat and putting on my editor's hat at this moment. columnist's hat, if you please, commentator's hat and i did that very clearly on the vietnam broadcast, but it was worrisome to me and worrisome to cbs, dick salant was very much concerned about it, he was our highly principled president of cbs news. we agreed before i went out there, however, that i was going to come back and give my conclusions and neither of us knew at that time, he certainly didn't because i didn't what my conclusion would be. i had been up to almost up to that time, over the last two

years perhaps before that, i had slid back to some very sharp questioning of my own opinions, but in the early stages, i thought it was probably right for us to put military advisors into vietnam, try to preserve the ground for a address to develop. there wasn't one there, but that we had to hold a little corner of southeast asia, i believed that. it was only when we began to take over the war and clearly were running the war and it ceased to be the vietnamese people's war that i began to change. >> larry: norfolk, virginia, hello. >> caller: hello. hello, mr. cronkite. >> larry: hi. >> caller: you've been quoted as saying that you felt that most journalists were liberal in fact that a good journalist was by nature a liberal. i wondered what did you mean by that, and if you still felt the same way, and you know, what was

meant by that really? >> well, what was meant by that, that was preceded whenever i made that statement, i hoped to precede it with the fact that i define liberal as a person who is not doctrinaire. that is a dictionary definition of liberal. that's opposed to liberal as a political part of the political spectrum. liberal is a person who is not doctrinaire, one who makes up his mind on the basis of the facts on the individual issue, whatever that issue may be. >> larry: open to change? >> hmm. >> larry: open to change? >> open to change constantly not committed to any particular cede or doctrine or what not. the and in that respect, i think that news people should be liberal. they should not try to cover stories, write the stories, present the stories, in print or in broadcast on the basis of some preconceived notion of what that story should be. or what angle that should be

played up or not played up on the basis of some political doctrine. economic doctrine. religious doctrine, any other doctrine. that's what i mean by being a liberal. and that's what i think news people should be. it has no connection with a liberal party in politics or liberal positions on political issues. >> good evening from paris. tonight this broadcast originates from outside the united states for the first time. this wall was begun 2300 years ago. in the first ten years, the labor of 300,000 men went into it. his mission to moscow, a week-long meeting in the kremlin with the leaders of the only nation whose power rivals that of the united states. >> this is walter cronkite reporting from laos. if you're taking 8 extra-strength tylenol...

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>> hello, everyone. here we are again in studio a. our cbs television control point for the westinghouse coverage, this time of the democratic national convention. >> more than 200,000 of them came to washington this morning in a kind of climax to a historic spring and summer in the struggle for equal rights. >> this is walter cronkite on the green land ice cap. beyond the horizon lies the north pole. >> walter cronkite reporting from london, queen elizabeth ii to be crowned britain's sixth reigning queen. >> this is walter cronkite back at our cbs news booth

overlooking the platform on the east port coof the u.s. capitol where now in a very few moments, john fitzgerald kennedy, age 43 from the state of massachusetts, becomes the president of the united states. >>. >> larry: during the break, walter was telling me the thrill of covering the 1952 conventions, the last convention that had a second ballot. now you're saying you wouldn't cover them. >> except for the acceptance speeches of the president and vice president. >> larry: because there's no suspense. >> i used to fight to cover them when people were already saying we shouldn't because i thought it was still a good civics lesson. there's nothing open about the convention. it's prestaged. deliberately for promotional purposes and it doesn't mean anything. >> larry: so when ted koppel went home a few years ago, you understood that? >> absolutely. >> larry: law to know, oklahoma for the dean, walter cronkite. hello. >> caller: good evening. >> larry: hi. >> caller: i'd like to ask mr. cronkite, what would you consider to be the low point and

the high point of your journalistic career? >> well, the low point, i'm taking the television years, the -- i was 11 years with united press, many of them overseas including moscow for a couple of years, nuremberg trials and all of that and several years with scripps howard newspapers. but taking the television years which most people are talking about, i think the lowest point was a broadcast we did in which we named hamilton jurisdictionen, who was on the staff of president carter and we revealed that he had been present at a party at which narcotics were used. and i think we did him an injustice in reporting that. not reporting it so much as

leading this broadcast with it as if it had great importance and it had none really. nothing important about it. the high point i think, well, the thrilling moment to take the easy way out was the man lanning on the moon. the one event that will live in history as perhaps the most important of all those great technical achievements and inventions and developments of the 20th century. that's the one that will live in history. man escaping from his environment because people will be living out there 400, 500 years from now and still remember that first voyage. >> larry: you wanted to go, didn't you. >> i'd love to go. i'd go today if they'd let me. when john glenn went, i caused him up when they announced that he was going and i said if they're sending you just to send an old man out, i'm older than you, john, i'll go. >> larry: river falls, wisconsin for walter cronkite. hello circumstance thank you very much for taking my call and for having such a wonderful

guest on your show. >> larry: thank you. >> caller: my question relates to your years on cbs and i'm sure that it was very difficult to get the stories that made headlines every day on the evening news. in as limited time that you had. what were some of the criteria that were used to choose one story over another. and thank you again. >> well, the same criteria that all news people use whether they're in broadcasting or newspapers. it's the story that affects the greatest number of people. and that can be a story of great importance, it can affect them because their taxes are going to be lowered or raises, whatever. or it affects them because there's an emotional story. the death of a hero, the death of a much beloved figure would be a leading story because it aches the greater number of people. that's the major criterion. that is the criterion that really that counts. >> larry: when does a sidebar story -- now, today a lot of people are leading with the

sentencing of a 16-year-old boy to life in prison in florida for a crime committed when he was much younger. >> well, >> larry: 14-year-old boy to a crime committed when he was 12. >> yeah. >> larry: is that a lead story. >> it can being on what else you have to lead with that day. you've got to take that in balance. there are days we have so many stories to get into that 24 minutes of a half hour broadcast, the -- that some of the important stories get dropped entirely. and that's one of the problems with television is too brief a period. >> larry: have you complained that what goes by the wayside now international stories. >> yeah. it's a very serious deficiency in broadcasting today. the networks, additional networks are not covering foreign news as they should. this is part of a budget cut situation. they do not have the bureaus overseas they used to have. they've pooled their coverage

overseas so that we only get one basic coverage. it's a disaster. we are the leading country in the world today, perhaps the leading country as we believe we are of what we decide to do in foreign affairs is going to make a difference whether there is war or peace. that little smoke rising from small town in a country we've never heard of before could turn into a mushroom-shaped cloud if we're not very careful and if we don't cover the story from the beginning, it can suddenly explode on us. that happened in iraq. we weren't covering iraq and the kuwait situation. if we had, we might never have had to go to war in that part of the world. we weren't covering it. and that's a serious matter. >> armstrong is on the moon neil armstrong. 38-year-old american. standing on the surface of the moon. on this july 20th, 1969.

>> it's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

hello. i'm don lemon. "larry king live" continues in a moment. first, i want to give you headlines. police are investigating a multiple murder on the tennessee/alabama border and have a suspect in custody. five bodies were found in lincoln county, tennessee. some of the victims are related. the sixth victim was found across the border in huntszville, alabama. police identified the suspects as jacob lee schaefer and say murder charges are pending. no victim ids, no cause of death yet. two light rail trains

collide in san francisco. there are multiple injuries. but none of those injuries appears to be life-threatening. official reports say a one-car train traveling at a low speed collided with a stationary one-car train. the crash is under investigation. an american fighter jet crashed in afghanistan early this morning, killing the two-man crew. the air force says the f-15 eagle was apparently not hit by enemy fire. investigators are now looking at the crash site in one province there to determine if mechanical problems doom the flight. 50 coalition troops have been killed in afghanistan so far in july. already the deadliest month of the war for nate toe forces. i'm don lemon in the cnn center in atlanta. i'll be right back here in just a to you minutes. "larry king live's" tribute to walter cronkite continues right now. >> do you, ambassador sore rin, deny that the ussr has placed

and is placing medium and intermediate range missiles at sites in cuba? yes or no, . >> despite that angry rhetoric at the united nations, the world seems to have veered off, at least for the moment. the collision course toward global annihilation. >> larry: that was something, covering the cuban -- i'll wait till hell freezes over stevenson said. before we take another call, timothy mcveigh has asked to be executed in the oklahoma city bombing, and asked it to be telecast. should it be? >> i don't know. i have a mixed opinion about that. the fact that he asked it be telecast is the one factor that would litigate against it happening to me. and i'm not inclined to want to yield to anything tim think mcveigh wants. >> larry: how about the telecasting of executions. >> the telecasting of any

ex-cution i think is sensationalism beyond necessity. i don't see where the value of it is. if execution were committed in such a manner as to be heinous and bloody and horrible, such that it might deter others from committing such horrible crimes, then it might be advisable. but it's a simple process today. a shot in the arm of a narcotic. >> larry: but if it were shown a shot in the arm tomorrow night, the world would watch? >> oh, the world would watch but isn't that sensationalism? >> larry: mur freesboro, tennessee, how are you? >> caller: hi, larry, how are you? >> larry: fine. >> caller: mr. cronkite, i would like to know if you ever considered getting back into broadcasting. >> well, if you're suggesting somebody's about to make an offer, i might listen to it. >> larry: have you had offers over the years, the last 20

years? oh, yeah, sure. >> larry: you're still an employee of cbs. >> i've remained under contract to cbs for now 51 years. >> larry: you're on the payroll. >> i'm loyal. >> larry: on the board. >> for a while. i haven't been for a long time and i also have a contract with discovery channel for cable work. which has prevented me from doing some cnn things that your boss suggested. i'd like to have done them, to. >> larry: tempe it, arizona, hello. >> caller: i'm a student at the arizona state university walter cronkite school of journalism, and my question for you, mr. cronkite, is what do you think we as students can do now to change the perception of the media in the future? >> stay loyal to the general principles of journalism which you're learning there i hope at asu. that's all it takes. actually to elevate journalism is really requires elevating the

education of the american people. if the american people want a better newspaper, better broadcasts, more complete journalism, they will get it. it's a market-driven situation. and what you can do is stay loyal to the good principles of journali journalism, accuracy, fairness, impartiality, that sort of thing. learn to write so, because that's the important part both in print and in broadcasting, the communication requires using the right words. learn how to do that. you'll get along fine. the first thing, of course, is to get a job. >> larry: you once told me that you wouldn't mind it if the anchor were never seen. just voiced over all the film and edit we had for them. >> be perfectly satisfied. >> larry: you didn't like celebrity dom, did you. >> no, and i don't like that part of journalism today. i see too many young journalists

who are forgetting the principles of the craft in order to be on air, to be a star. stars don't belong in journalism. >> larry: it's a product, it's a, can't do anything about it. >> no, no, can't be helped. it's nobody's fault. >> larry: did you ever think of just retiring retiring? no discovery channel, no writing? go out and watch the dancers as mr. stevens once referred to them. >> or sail the boat. >> larry: just sail the boat. >> well, i thought of that. i thought that might happen when i stepped down from the evening news, but i found that i couldn't do that, and i don't feel that i want to do it today. i think that gets pretty boring. the news, the current news the breaking news, i've got to get that newspaper the first thing in the morning. the only trouble with boating is that you can't get that newspaper, but now you can get it on the internet. >> larry: and what about the internet? where is that going to take us? >> well, it's going to be a major factor in communication.

no question about it. newspapers will be delivered dilute internet in the future. and i'm hoping that the one thing that the internet needs is responsibility. the -- we don't want to interfere with freedom of speech and press, but we've got to have responsibility. if people on the internet should be just as liable for liable as print broadcasting. >> larry: judged by the same rules. >> absolutely. they should be playing by the same rules as everybody else. >> direct from our newsroom in new york, this is the cbs evening news with walter cronkite. >> good evening from our cbs newsroom in new york on this, the first broadcast of network television's first daily half hour news program.

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this is my last broadcast as the anchorman for "cbs evening news." for me it's a moment for which i love have planned but which several times comes with some sadness. for almost two decade, after all, we've been meeting like this in the evenings. i'll miss that. but those who have made anything of this departure i'm afraid have made too much. this is but a transition, a passing of the baton. a great broadcaster and gentleman, doug edwards, preceded me in this job, and another, dan rather, will follow. anyway, the person who sits here is but the most conspicuous member of a superb team of a journalists, writers, reporters, editors, producers. none of that will change. furthermore, i'm not even going away. i'll be back from time to time with special news reports and documentaries and beginning in june, every week with our

science federalprogram "univers" even correspondmen don't fade away, they just keep coming back for more. that's the way it is. i'll be away on assignment and dan rather will be sitting in here the next few years. good night. >>. >> larry: why do media mergers worry sglou. >> i think i worry about any conglomerate, any vertical conglomerate that handles all facets of the production of almost anything from raw material through to final consumer use, i like the idea of along the way of there being some competition in there. and if you -- particularly in an area where news dissemination becomes a part of that operation. the news is a very delicate thing. a very, very delicate thing. and it takes brain surgeons to do it.

i'm not talking about the guy or gal doing the announcing, the news, that sort of thing. but to understand that the -- that niceties, the fineness of truth and accuracy and fairness in presentation. to understand that the narrow balance of fair presentation, of each side getting its licks in. to understand values of news. that's -- that's a profession of a very high nature. and it's not something that amateurs can operate and do successfully. and the more layers of management you put on top of the news managers who have learned their jobs and know how to do that thing, the more dangerous it becomes to the populace. the danger that the news will not be handled with the accuracy

it needs to be. >> larry: what do you make of the merger mania? >> well, i think that's natural when you -- i think if i were sitting in the board rooms, i'd think of merger as well. certainly, it is now this communications business and entertainment business is being formed, sure, you'd like to lock up a great segment -- a great source of programming. tie it in. take some profit out of it. right now you're having to pay others to do it. why not bring it into the house and you don't have to pay them? no need to distribute, distribution of film. why let somebody else distribute your film? if you're going to make it, why not distribute it yourself and make that dough? it narrows the playing field considerably for those who would like to be in it. >> larry: you're on the board of cbs, aren't you? >> no, no longer, not for some years, yeah. >> larry: are you glad westinghouse is coming in or

would you a rather have seen turner come in? >> tell you the truth, turner would have been my choice because of his acknowledgement of the new complexities of the news business and his willingness to turn those over to the experts and let them run the news part of the thing. his innovative, imaginative mind, exploitive mind. all of that would have been very useful. i'd like to have seen it happen. >> larry: do you get tired of all the awards you win this got to go to dublin next month. >> no, you don't get tired of them, no. particularly when you get to travel to dublin to receive them. >> larry: so the recognitions are still thrilling to you? >> sure, of course, of course. you can't deny that. i don't know how you could -- any man could deny it. >> larry: how would you do breaking in today? >> what? >> larry: who would you do breaking in today? >> very poorly in broadcasting. >> larry: really? >> well, i think so.

these younger people today are -- who wish to be journalists are aiming for the broadcast area all along. and i think are probably very good performers in that regard. i had the good fortune of having many years in print journalism, united press, scripps newspapers, before i ever got into television. as a consequence, i brought a firm journalistic background to broadcasting. but i didn't have any particular talent for it, except what naturally just fell into place. so, i think that i would have to be auditioned. with a whole bunch of young guys. if i were that young, maybe i could make it. >> larry: there was nothing like that murrow team at cbs, though, right? >> never. >> larry: was that the greatest

assembleance of broadcasters ever? >> i don't think any question about it. and i wasn't a murrow boy. >> larry: you came right after? >> i was -- i knew murrow very well, knew him in world war ii in london, we were friends. but i didn't join cbs until of a the nuremberg tries, two years in moscow, moscow bureau chief. i was the bureau chief because i was the only representative in moscow. but the -- so i came in after the wartime formation of the murrow team. and i had nothing but admiration for every one of those guys. they were great. >> larry: are you the last one left? the aftermath of all that? doug edwards is gone. >> oh, yes. he was great too. he was the one i succeeded in "evening news." it was too bad that they had moved me in instead of him, in a

sense. i was pleased but i felt that he was an excellent broadcaster. a good man. >> larry: no one said a concept as did walter cronkite. one of the proudest achievements of my life was getting the walter cronkite award from the interfaith alliance. that you presented it i will never forget. thank you. tonight, proof of life. new video surfaces of a captured u.s. soldier in afghanistan. in just moments you'll see and hear from him. the story behind the story. a lead investigative reporter in the florida panhandle tells us what police aren't saying about the death of a beloved couple. mad as hell. two teens shot outside a church. tonight, a priest demands answers from city hall all the way to the white house. he's live moments away. outspoken voice. stephen a.th