NEW YORK — U.S. veteran newsman Walter Cronkite, who was the face of CBS television news for more that two decades, is reported to be gravely ill.
The 92-year-old former anchor of "The CBS Evening News," who has been ailing for some time, has apparently taken a turn for the worse, according to TVNewser and other online sites.
CBS News spokesman Kevin Tedesco had no comment on Friday.
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In 1984, Arizona State University named its journalism school after the newsman. In 2008, the university relocated the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication to downtown Phoenix in a new, $71 million building.
Bob Schieffer said, "All of us are praying for the best, and our thoughts are with Walter's family." The host of CBS' "Face the Nation" and a longtime Cronkite colleague, Schieffer noted that he had no current news on Cronkite's condition.
Cronkite was named "the most trusted man in America" in a 1972 "trust index" survey, and he ended each broadcast with the reassuring signoff, "And that's the way it is."
He left the "Evening News" anchor desk in 1981, but after that kept a busy schedule both in journalistic and other activities.
For 24 years, he served as onsite host for New Year's Day telecasts by the Vienna Philharmonic until ill health forced him to bow out earlier this year.
