Television was the beginning of a new era for journalists. The 1950's was the first time all of America could be updated on the news and watch what was happening also. Donald A. Ritchie writes that television changed the format of the news. As more women and minorities became a part of the press, the more difficult issues began to surface. Broadcasters began to report on discrimination, pollution, poverty, and military interventions (243). In 1963 Americans watched the assassination of John F. Kennedy during a parade. There was hours of coverage on the tragedy from every news station. This was the time that the United States really began to trust television news coverage. Throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty- first television news has made its way into nearly every home in America. Walter Cronkite and Lesley Stahl are both television news anchors who really influenced the news and the United States during their careers.
             Walter Cronkite began his career in journalism at the Houston Post in 1936. He slowly moved his way to the top during World War II to become one of America's most trusted news broadcasters. "Americans found Cronkite's assessment of the war more believable than anything the President of the United States might say"(Ritchie 268). On April 16, 1962 Cronkite started hosting the "Evening News" for CBS. After retirement, in 1981, Walter Cronkite received the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Jimmy Carter in 1981. In 1984 Arizona State University named its communications school after him. Cronkite achieved many things throughout his career but he is not the only person in broadcasting with many great accomplishments.
             Lesley Stahl's Career did not start to take off until she was thirty. It was then that she was hired by CBS. Although she did not like to admit it she often had to work harder because she was a woman. "I also promised myself I would ne...