Walter Cronkite, who was once known as "the most trusted man in America" while he was reporting for the CBS Evening News in the '60s and '70s, may be getting his face on a postage stamp next year.
ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is campaigning to bring Walter Cronkite’s face to a postage stamp to commemorate his 100th birthday.
ASU will invite students, faculty and staff to write a letter supporting the initiative to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, the group that selects the subjects for postage stamps to the U.S. Postal Service.
“Walter Cronkite is our school’s guiding light,” Cronkite School Dean Christopher Callahan said in a press release. “He established an expectation of journalistic excellence and ethics that permeates throughout our school."
Callahan said the school has gathered a network of students, alumni, faculty and friends to back the proposal, started Society of Professional Journalists and the Radio Television Digital News Association.
If selected, the stamp will be released in November 2016 for Cronkite’s 100th birthday.
The Cronkite School is working with the Society of Professional Journalists and the Radio Television Digital News Association on this request.
Arizona State University’s Cronkite School is joining the efforts of the Society of Professional Journalists and the Radio Television Digital News Association to honor Walter Cronkite with a postage stamp.
Posted by Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication on Monday, October 26, 2015
Christina Tetreault, a Cronkite School alumna, said she was excited to see the announcement.
"To know that the state really wanted to represent such an incredible namesake was so wonderful because so many journalists look to Walter Cronkite for a set precedence that he really put in stone in the past,” she said.
Tetreault said her mother and grandfather were stamp collectors.
“A lot of people take (stamp collecting) as a serious collection and sport,” she said. "If people don’t know a lot about Cronkite, if they don’t know any types of journalists, they’re going to look him up.”
Tetreault said the possible release time is also newsworthy and is set at a relevant time.
“What better way is there to celebrate his 100th birthday than to have his face in the U.S. Postal Service’s collection?," she said.
Tetreault said people don’t tend to look at journalists as historical figures though reporters write out the “first drafts” of history.
“As a leading force of me going into the journalism field, I would most definitely write a letter to support (this campaign),” she said.
Journalism and film sophomore Bryce Bozadjian said the postage stamp is a great way to commemorate Walter Cronkite.
"I think it's fantastic that those who knew or admired Uncle Walter are rallying for this commemorative stamp," she said. "It would be really exciting for the school's namesake to be featured, especially because it would be released on the 100th anniversary of his birth."
Journalism senior Emmy Nicholson said she believes this would bring more publicity to the Cronkite School and help people recognize its prestige.
"I think that this postage stamp would make the Cronkite School more visible to the public and make people more aware of how high-quality the education we are receiving is," she said. "I wouldn't say Cronkite is an icon for our generation, but I'd say he is a household name for every generation before us."
Related Links:
Walter Cronkite's legacy continues at journalism school five years after death
'Uncle Walter' deserves a postage stamp, and that's the way it should be
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