Walter Cronkite: Reported to be ill

Walter Cronkite: Reported to be ill

Ninety two year old Walter Cronkite, the  former anchor of "The CBS Evening News," who has been ailing for some time, has been reported to be seriously ill. Quite a number of online sites have brought out this news.

Television channel CBS has declined to comment on reports that veteran newsman Walter Cronkite is gravely ill.

CBS News spokesman Kevin Tedesco also did not comment on Friday.

Bob Schieffer remarked, "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 too said that he had no current news on Cronkite's condition.

Being the face of CBS News for over 2 decades, Cronkite was named "the most trusted man in America" in a 1972 "trust index" survey. He also ended each broadcast with the reassuring signoff, "And that's the way it is."

In the year 1981 he has left the "Evening News" anchor desk. Even after that he kept a busy schedule both in journalistic and other activities.

For twenty four years, he served as on-site host for New Year's Day telecasts by the Vienna Philharmonic until ill health forced him to bow out earlier this year.