Newsday reports that 92-year-old Walter Cronkite is seriously ill. But don’t count out a recovery by the retired CBS News anchor, whose parents both lived well beyond his current age. Meanwhile, his assistant tells the Boston Globe the illness reports are exaggerated.
“Cronkite’s been ill for a while, but he has definitely taken a turn for the worse,” wrote Newsday’s Verne Gay. But the story also noted that the veteran newsman’s mother lived well past 100 and his father nearly made the century mark. So Gay added a caution: “Walter could be with us for years, but the latest reports are not good. He’s in very, very bad shape.”
Newsday later softened its story, with Gay noting that Cronkite’s executive assistant had told him that the retired newsman is feeling the effects of his age, but is not gravely ill.
“His condition is being grossly exaggerated,” Cronkite’s executive assistant Cynthia Dicrocco was quoted as saying by the Boston Globe. She said he is recuperating at home and that the family does not want to make public any details of his illness.
While other news outlets have been reporting Cronkite’s illness, CBS News itself has been silent.
