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Veteran CBS newsman Walter Cronkite reported ill

by: FRAZIER MOORE AP Television Writer
Friday, June 19, 2009
6/19/2009 2:14:28 PM

NEW YORK — CBS isn't commenting on reports that veteran newsman Walter Cronkite is gravely ill.

The 92-year-old former anchor of "The CBS Evening News," who has been ailing for some time, has reportedly taken a turn for the worse, according to TVNewser and other online sites.

CBS News spokesman Kevin Tedesco had no comment on Friday.

Bob Schieffer said, "All of us are praying for the best, and our thoughts are with Walter's family." The host of CBS' "Face the Nation" and a longtime Cronkite colleague, Schieffer noted that he had no current news on Cronkite's condition.

The face of CBS News for more than two decades, Cronkite was named "the most trusted man in America" in a 1972 "trust index" survey, and he ended each broadcast with the reassuring signoff, "And that's the way it is."

He left the "Evening News" anchor desk in 1981, but after that kept a busy schedule both in journalistic and other activities.

For 24 years, he served as onsite host for New Year's Day telecasts by the Vienna Philharmonic until ill health forced him to bow out earlier this year.

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Associate Images:

In this photo taken on Sept. 24, 2007, former news anchor Walter Cronkite arrives at the Metropolitan Opera 2007-08 season opening gala. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini, File)

Walter Chronkite and Sandra Nemser of CBS Radio's "Answer Please" is shown in this 1958 file photo. Hall of fame broadcaster Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. was the first play-by-play radio announcer for Oklahoma football, making his debut Sept. 25, 1937, when the Sooners lost to Tulsa 19-7 at Skelly Stadium. Cronkite described his debut as a disaster, but said the experience taught him a valuable lesson in preparation. (AP Photo/file)

Walter Cronkite is shown at CBS offices in Washington, D.C, July 1,1952. By the 1970s, Cronkite had become one of the most respected television journalists in America. (AP Photo/ho)

Former CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite, center, speaks to members of the news media as he leaves New York Hospital Wednesday, April 9, 1997, in New York, eight days after undergoing heart surgery. Earlier, in a statement issued through his office, he said his doctors had told him that 'my recovery is right on schedule and that I'm in excellent shape.' (AP Photo)

Guest conductor Walter Cronkite is shown on a television monitor, bottom, as he leads the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in the "Hallelujah Chorus" during the choir's dress rehearsal Thursday, Dec. 12, 2002 at the LDS Conference Center in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo)

Newsman Walter Cronkite, center, acknowledges cheers from an audience as Caroline Kennedy, left, looks on at the John F. Kennedy Library, in Boston, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005.

Newsman Walter Cronkite sits under a projected image from an historic news broadcast during a forum at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2005. The projected image was from a CBS television broadcast of mans first landing on the moon. (AP Photo)

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