A Respectful Farewell to Walter Cronkite As Cbs Anchorman

Home , Frank Reynolds, John Chancellor, Roger Mudd, Walter Cronkite

The Harris Survey

For Release: Monday .bJ-l, March 9th, 1981 1981 #20 ISSN 0273-1037 ARESPECTFUL FAREWELL TO WALTER CRONKITE AS CBS ANCHORMAN

By Louis Harris

As Walter Cronkite bows out as the anchor of the CBS Evening News, it is evident that Americans not only will miss his nightly appearances on television, but also will look upon those years in which he has held forth as a special era in TV news reporting.

When asked who has been their favorite nightly network TV news anchorperson, here is how Americans responded in a recent Harris Survey of 1,254 adults nationwide:

--50 percent of the viewing public felt that Cronkite was their favorite, followed by John Chancellor of NBC News at 12 percent, Roger Mudd of NBC at 9 percent, Frank Reynolds of ABC at 7 percent, Peter Jennings of ABC a~ 5 percent, Ted Koppel of ABC at 5 percent and Max Robinson of ABC at 4 percent. Significantly, Cronkite's 50 percent is more than the combined ratings of all the other anchormen tested -- a clear indication of the dominance of Cronkite in the television era that he has come to represent.

The elements that people feel are responsible for Cronkite's dominance cover a wide spectrum:

--By 86-9 percent, a large majority gives Cronkite high marks for "his presenting a balanced treatment of the news." This essential balance and fairness stands out in people's minds as a singular mark of his news reporting.

--By an almost identical 86-8 percent, people remember Cronkite for uhis coverage of elections." With him in the anchor chair, CBS's ratings on election nights have been dominant, and Americans came to view Cronkite as a fixture in the reporting of elections and conventions.

--By 81-8 percent, a majority gives Cronkite high marks on "hjs coverage of flights in space." Throughout the period when America sought to catch up with the Russians in space exploration, particularly in getting to the moon, Cronkite became a symbol of the reporting of space flights in the minds of Americans.

--By 81-12 percent, Americans also give Cronkite a positive rating on "his really caring about the rest of the human race." In addition to his regular reporting each evening and his handling of special events, Cronkite has spoken out on a number of issues, taking firm stands when it was appropriate to do so. The public approved of this.

--Finally, by 81-12 percent, an overwhelming majority feels that Cronkite has been "somebody you could really trust." In a period of history when Americans repeatedly have become disenchanted with familiar public figures, Cronkite proved capable of engendering a sense of trust early on and he kept it to the end of his stint on the evening news. He proved that during a period high skepticism and even cynicism there was one public figure for whom the American people never lost their respect or affection. This tribute from the American people to Walter Cronkite is most unusual in any field, and TV news people themselves are not at all certain that anchorpersons in the future will be able to capture the same kind of trust and loyalty that Cronkite seemed to evoke.

(over) THE HARRIS SURVEY March 9th, 1981

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TAB L E S

Between February 19th and 22nd, the Harris Survey asked a cross section of 1,254 adults nationwide by telephone:

"If you had to choose, who would you say is your favorite nightly network TV news anchorperson -- John Chancellor, Walter Cronkite, Peter Jennings, Ted Koppel, Roger Mudd, Frank Reynolds, or Max Robinson?"

FAVORITE NETWORK TV NEWS ANCHORPERSON % Walter Cronkite 50 John Chancellor 12 Roger Mudd 9 frank Reynolds 7 Peter Jennings 5 Ted Koppel 5 Max Robinson 4 Other (vol.) 1 None (vol.) 4 Not sure 3

"This month, Walter Cronkite ends a long stand as the anchorman on CBS Evening News. How would you rate him on (READ EACH ITEM) -- excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?"

RATINGS OF WALTER CRONKITE

Positive* Negative Not sure % % % - His presenting a balanced treatment of the news 86 9 5

His coverage of elections 86 8 6

His coverage of flights in space 81 8 11

His really caring about the rest of the human race 81 12 7

His being somebody you could really trust 81 12 7

*Positive excellent and pretty good Negative only fair and poor

Louis Harris and Associates, Inc. subscribes to the principles of disclosure of the National Council on Public Polls. The principles are that all reports of survey findings of member organizations, prepared specifically for public release, will include reference to the following: sponsorship of the survey; dates of interviewing; method of obtaining the interviews; population that was sampled; size of the sample; size and description of the sub-sample, if the survey report relies primarily on less than the total sample; complete wording of questions upon which the release is based; and, the percentages upon which conclusions are based.

All of this information is provided in this release.