the respect of his viewers and the icons he covered and in the process became an icon himself, as john donvan now reports. >> good evening from our cbs newsroom in new york on this, the first broadcast of network television's first daily half hour news program. >> if we assess the career in strictly commercial terms we'd be saying tonight that walter cronkite once starred in a hit tv show. ratings dominance comparable to "american idol," a following as fierce as oprah. but the show which was a man in a chair -- >> good evening, everyone. here is the news. >> it was the news, and that mattered. and when every night cronkite closed his broadcast by saying this -- >> and that's the way it is. >> for 19 years, when he said -- >> that's the way it is. and that's the way it is. >> people believed it. at a time when america more fully trusted journalists, it trusted cronkite more than anyone else. >> this is walter cronkite, goo night. ha tis about the times and some about the man. walter leyland cronkite was born the son of a dentist and born well before television. raised in kansas city and in tex

john donvan has this report for us. >> finally this afternoon, sonia sotomayor got to tell her side of the story. >> i grew up in modest circumstances in a bronx housing project. my father, a factor -- factory worker passed away when i was 9 years old. >> the room was attentive and respectful as she spoke for less than eight minutes but in the end she had to be exhausted. go back to this morning and note this, from the time see seated herself, her injured aim -- ankle still elevated so as not to swell, 30,000 words were spoken from here, of which she the nominee contributed just 124. >> sitting behind me is my brother, juan sotomayor. next to him is my mom, selena sotomayor. >> and these mere pleasanties, because today's session was pure endurance test, sitting still first for other people's speeches about her. >> your nomination is reflection of who we are as a country. and it represents an american success story that we all can be proud of. >> i reviewed your record and have concerns about your judicial philosophy. for example, in one speech you doubted that a judge could ever be the

john donvan was in the midst of the crowd. john?outside. the question being -- will i get into the arena or not? it was a drama that played out here on the streets right behind me. the fans at the gate this morning, and indeed it was a gate. the lapd crowd control had turned the streets into the many acres no-man's-land. so the century point was blocks away, ticket holders -- >> come on over here. >> alternating with city traffic, alternating with ticket holders. >> have your wrist bands visible. >> then you walked and these were the lucky. in fact, these two guys on the right were the very lucky. because when this day began they didn't have tickets. >> i'm going, baby. i'm going. >> so what, you came without a ticket? >> i came -- i came from north carolina. >> wow. with no ticket? >> no ticket. >> how did you get a ticket? >> you see -- they gave it to us. >> we had two extra ones. >> also lucky, nicole gitman. we had seen her and she won tickets overseas. how did you win tickets from a radio station? >> a friend in germany happen

i'm john donvan for "good morning america." >> that's interesting.usic side from the medical people, hid medical side from the music people. >> thinking neither world would understand the other. >> what's amazing, it was so complementary. most people with two rival passions don't necessarily -- >> go together. i love the doctor said go ahead, six months there and come back. >> she's lucky. >> very lucky. >> we'll be right back. capturing the beauty of nature. that's my vision. every day, transitions lenses are there to help care for my sight. announcer: transitions lenses adjust to changing light to reduce glare and help protect your eyes from uv damage so you can see better today... and tomorrow. live your vision. transitions. healthy sight in every light. to learn how transitions lenses can help protect your family's eyesight, go to our website or stop by a wal-mart vision center near you. discover a smoothie like no ther! new activia smoothies. creamy, delicious, and above all, and istains clinically proven new activia smoothies.te your digestive

john donvan is down right below me at the staples center tonight with his report. john?ning, cynthia. about town.want to say something a lot has been said about a media circus around this thing, and yes, there's a lot of media, but around here, i don't see circus. there has been a very respectable, i would say hush around the staples center throughout the day. we know that this evening as family members are collecting even now at the cemetery to make final arrangements, here the police are turning this into a no-go zone here tomorrow morning. and right now there's a lull. most of this day outside the staples center felt the calm before. the calm before tomorrow when the world divides between those who got tickets to be at the service -- >> okay. we're the lucky once. >> and everyone else, with police barriers, who won't be able to come become blocks of the staples center. if you lined up on this sidewalk, the police would let you through a few folks at a time to dwell just briefly near the arena's front entrance as though that were some kind of perk, and it was to those