Walter Cronkite
Chris Brogan
Walter Cronkite and I had dinner together almost every night while I was growing up. I remember my family watching him on the evening news on our black and white TV. As I ate dinner, I believed what Walter told me. It was that simple. He was there when Kennedy was shot. He was there again when Martin Luther King was murdered. He was there when we landed on the moon. As we always said, “He was the most trusted man in America”.
I believe that we trusted Walter because there were so few sources of news back then. There were really only 3 TV channels and what they told us, we believed. Walter also had that voice and the calm way about him- we wanted to believe him especially during those trying times.
But the nature of trust has changed since that time. We now trust what our peers are saying online more than we trust any other one source. We have come to trust each other more than any one person. Many of us seek to build trust today via social media networks to support our reputation and spread our influence. Chris Brogan calls these people “Trust Agents“.
While I believe there will probably never be another single Walter Cronkite where we will so thoroughly trust what another person says, I believe among us there are “mini- Cronkites“.
Chris Brogan is one such person although he would never compare himself to Cronkite. When I read Chris’ daily blog posts, it just makes sense. While I don’t always agree with Chris, I believe what he writes to be honest and true for him. I believe that he is always trying to be helpful. I especially love on his site that he lists openly who is works with and who gave him stuff.
I will never have the transparency of Chris Brogan but I appreciate knowing that there are people out there we still can trust and I can still look to them for complete honesty and integrity.
Who do you think is a “mini-Cronkite”?
I can thank of a few, yes even on CNN. But in terms of Chris Brogan, he is (or will be soon) carried in the along the same vein as Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, and Chris Anderson. Their approach, point of view, and perspective may vary, and you may even disagree from time to time, but their message is well respected. While, all of them have built strong personal brands, what distinguished Brogan is his voracious appetite for interaction, and community participation, the likes of which I’ve only seen paralleled by Robert Scoble. True engagement on a granular, though very public level.
Respectively, “he lists openly who is works with, for and who gave him stuff.” is a bit hard to get through.
Cheers.
thanks for the comments, Ben- I made the changes in the words…
For the record, I don’t compare myself to Walter.
That said, the sentiment of trust and how people obtain information online is at the heart of what I think is most interesting on the web right now. It powers my every waking hour. Attention and trust are currencies that are more important in a world of FREE (Chris Anderson free, that is).
@Chris- you would never do the comparison. That is what I love about you!