Editing Walter Cronkite (section)

=== Public credibility and trustworthiness ===
For many years, until a decade after he left his post as anchor,<ref name="usa July 17, 2009">{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2009-07-17-cronkite-appreciation_N.htm|title=Cronkite's passing: A death in everyone's family|last=Bianco|first=Robert|date=July 17, 2009|work=USA Today|access-date=July 18, 2009}}</ref> Cronkite was considered one of the most [[trusted]] figures in the United States. For most of his 19 years as anchor, he was the "predominant news voice in America."<ref name="usa July 17, 2009" /> Affectionately known as "Uncle Walter", he covered many of the important news events of the era so effectively that his image and voice are closely associated with the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]], the [[Assassination of John F. Kennedy|assassination of President John F. Kennedy]], the [[Vietnam War]], the [[Apollo 11]] [[Moon]] landing, and the [[Watergate scandal]].<ref name="Barron" /><ref name="Ryan" /> ''[[USA Today]]'' wrote that "few TV figures have ever had as much power as Cronkite did at his height."<ref name="usa July 17, 2009" /> Enjoying the cult of personality surrounding Cronkite in those years, CBS allowed some good-natured fun-poking at its star anchorman in some episodes of the network's popular situation comedy ''[[All in the Family]]'', during which the lead character [[Archie Bunker]] would sometimes complain about the newsman, calling him "Pinko Cronkite."

Cronkite trained himself to speak at a rate of 124 words per minute in his newscasts so that viewers could clearly understand him.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hinckley |first=David |date=July 18, 2009 |title=Walter Cronkite remains gold standard for journalists |work=New York Daily News |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/2009/07/18/2009-07-18_he_remains_the_gold_standard_among_all.html |url-status=dead |access-date=July 18, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528025746/http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv-movies/walter-cronkite-remains-gold-standard-journalists-article-1.402930 |archive-date=May 28, 2016}}</ref> In contrast, Americans average about 165 [[words per minute]], and fast, difficult-to-understand talkers speak close to 200 words per minute.<ref>Statement from audiologist Ray Hull, PhD, ray.hull@wichita.edu, quoted in "Home Make-Over: How to design an efficient listening environment" by Alyssa Banotai, ADVANCE For Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists (April 16, 2007), p. 8.</ref>