The world's greatest Trout

I don’t get Jeff Glor. Not yet anyway. He’s the new CBS Evening News anchor – sitting in the Walter Cronkite chair. That used to be the single most prestigious and respected position in broadcast news. Earlier this month Glor was in Los Angeles because of the brush fires. He went out to a fire location and the local CBS-TV affiliate news anchors interviewed him out in the field.

I was shocked. He couldn’t articulate two sentences without stumbling, repeating himself, saying “you know,” rambling, changing subjects, and conveying nothing. It was the first time I had ever seen him when he wasn’t reading off a teleprompter, and to say he was unimpressive was an understatement.

Compare that with Robert Trout.

Who’s Robert Trout you’re probably saying? He was a CBS newsman, first on the radio in the 30’s and 40’s and television for several decades after. When Franklin Roosevelt was president he would have periodic “fireside chats” (one-on-one radio interviews) with Robert Trout.

One day Trout was sent out to New York harbor to report live on the return of President Roosevelt who was arriving via cruise ship from Europe. The ship was scheduled to dock at noon.

So at 11:55 they threw it to Robert Trout who went live coast-to-coast just holding a microphone poised to describe the president’s return. The ship was in sight; it was only a few moments before the president would be back on native soil.

Trout did his brief introduction and noticed that about 100 yards offshore the ship stopped. Trout didn’t know why but just kept talking. He described the reason for the trip, what the president hoped to achieve. He described the ship and the dock and the other well-wishers who were in attendance. He talked about cruise lines, talked about politics, recapped Roosevelt’s agenda, put it in world-wide perspective.

Finally, after about 45 minutes the ship was on the move and docked several minutes later. A relieved Robert Trout made his way to the gangplank to get a quick interview with the president. Roosevelt emerged, Trout caught up to him and asked what the delay was?

Roosevelt said, “Oh that was my doing. I told the ship to stop. I had a radio and was listening to you and wanted to see how long you could just ad lib. Very impressive.”

In those days a reporter had to be able to put two sentences together – or thirty. I sincerely doubt that Jeff Glor could do something like that. But Cronkite could. And Dan Rather. And Peter Jennings. And John Chancellor. And Chet Huntley. And David Brinkley. And certainly Edward R. Murrow. Al Michaels, a sportscaster, switched immediately and effortlessly into the role of news anchor when the San Francisco earthquake hit just before a World Series game.

Looking good, being young, and being able to read smoothly off a teleprompter is a poor substitute for real journalism. And now more than ever, we need all the true journalists we can find.