Priorities, or lack thereof

OK, here's the deal.

Viacom is at fault over this dispute with DirecTV. I think it will be fixed. Matter of time.

But, here's the point:

Why do we care?

Don't get me wrong. When GSN (it used to be called the Game Show Network until every channel decided to go Orwellian on us) abruptly stopped showing re-runs of "What's My Line?" a few years ago, I threatened to say goodbye to pay TV forever.

Then the sun came up and I went to work.

Last night on the CBS Evening News, I saw a story about civil war in Syria. I saw a story about a guy WHO HAS NO LEGS and yet climbed Kilimanjaro.

This is an election year. (Granted, a boring one.) The next four years are as uncertain as anything we have faced in 40 years.

I know a fellow, great guy, talented musician, who takes chemo for cancer and has to deal with its aftermath every day.

What?! Your child can't watch Nick Jr.? Here's an idea: hand the kiddo a book. Last time I looked, library cards are free.

Or, how about this: switch the station to PBS...

Please excuse me if I don't get too worked up about losing a few television channels, most of which I never watch anyway.

Seems like this "uproar" says something about our priorities, or lack thereof...

And that's the way it was...

On this date 50 years ago, Walter Cronkite succeeded Doug Edwards as the anchor (a term coined for Cronkite) of the "CBS Evening News."

The newscast was only 15 minutes, which Uncle Walter found ridiculous. Even when it was expanded to 30 minutes in the fall of 1963, Cronkite still didn't think it was long enough. He later praised the hour-long length of what is now called the "PBS NewsHour."

His first producer was future "60 Minutes" creator Don Hewitt. Cronkite took the title of managing editor. He may have been the "anchor" of the program, but he was a feet-on-the-pavement reporter. Many of his newscasts would be hosted on the road -- in China, in Vietnam, in Paris, wherever news happened. After a few years, "The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite" had knocked NBC's long-established "The Huntley-Brinkley Report" out of the No. 1 spot in the ratings.

He earned the distinction of being "The Most Trusted Man in America."

One of my earliest memories is watching his sign-off in March 1981. It was, in more ways than one, the end of an era. TV news became vapid, network news bureaus slashed both budgets and reporters, and anchors by and large lost their sophistication and urbanity. (Although Scott Pelley is doing a great job on CBS now, much better than the previous "anchor.")

Cronkite remains a hero and my favorite anchor, although I vehemently disagreed with some of his ideas, particularly about one-world government. He championed the space program, told us what we needed to know, occasionally (and it was occasionally) gave us his opinion, and did it all with an avuncular, engaging presence.

I remember him now, will remember him always, as the heart and soul of the "CBS Evening News."

And that's the way it is for Monday, April 16, 2012. This is Jake Mabe, Shopper-News, goodnight.