Itâ??s well-known that media myths â?? those tall tales about the purported feats of American journalists â?? can go viral, internationally.
Seldom, though, has there been an outbreak as such yesterdayâ??s, when leading newspapers in Canada, Britain, and Belgium separately indulged in the â??Cronkite Momentâ? media myth.
The â??Cronkite Momentâ? was in 1968, when on-air editorializing by CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite supposedly produced a moment of stunning clarity and insight for President Lyndon B. Johnson and altered the course of the war in Vietnam.
Such effects are wildly overstated, but they make for an irresistible tale of powerful media influence, and thatâ??s like so much catnip to contemporary journalists and columnists.
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