Will There Be Another Walter Cronkite? Or Wolf Blitzer?

It’s hard for today’s generation to understand how powerful Walter Cronkite was as the mild-mannered but authoritative anchor of CBS News.

When John F. Kennedy was assassinated, Americans turned to him for comfort. As the Vietnam War dragged on, with no clear end in sight, they watched his broadcasts to understand what exactly was happening in those mysterious jungles thousands and thousands of miles away. When the Apollo landed on the moon, they looked to him to confirm what they were all feeling — that America had achieved something truly remarkable and otherworldly.

Cronkite was consistently voted the most trusted person in America throughout the 1970s and 1980s — he was the source of news.

There are some who followed him who rivaled, if not matched, the command that he had over news watchers — Tom Brokaw and Dan Rather come to mind. In today’s hyper-digital age, however, influence is shifting away from television titans to faceless bloggers. A June 2009 poll found that 56 percent of Americans would get their news from the Internet if they could only have one news source; TV came in a distant second place (21 percent). Thirty-eight percent of respondents said that the Internet was the most reliable news source; only 17 percent said the same of TV.

This shift has profound implications. It means that anyone — literally anyone — who has a keyboard and an Internet connection can become a news source and command authority. Look at what’s happening in Iran. Intelligence analysts concede that we have little to no idea what’s happening in that country. The world has gotten a unique glimpse into Iran’s opposition and political dynamics because of courageous Iranian users of Twitter — their torrents of “Tweets” offered perspective to everyone, whether a casual observer or seasoned diplomat.

The Internet operates so fast that it now often reports the news before the traditional media do. Celebrity gossip website TMZ.com was the first to report that Michael Jackson had passed away — CNN and others were still reporting that he was in a state of cardiac arrest when the site broke the news.

Will there be another Walter Cronkite in 20 years? Another Arthur Sulzberger? Another Rush Limbaugh? It’s hard to say. One would be hard-pressed to name a head honcho of Internet news, precisely because the Internet is all about entrusting as many people as possible with the ability to make their voice heard at the lowest cost possible.

It’s wonderful that more people can participate in the process of creating, reporting and disseminating news — the spread of the Internet is the greatest experiment in and advance of democracy since the advent of the printing press. Like any major change, though, it has its costs — big ones.

News that comes on established channels has to be vetted. Sure, every channel messes up a fact here or misquotes someone there, but there are organizations that monitor the accuracy of what’s reported in traditional media. It’s daunting enough to keep up with all of the news channels and newspapers and radio shows, but how do you keep track of the millions if not billions of people who’re posting content at such an explosive pace?

The plain truth is that you can’t even come close. The upshot is that it’s very hard to know whom to trust on the Web. If more and more people are getting their information from the Internet, there’s a huge risk that more and more people are going to become misinformed or gravitate toward sources that simply confirm their existing views.

While we should embrace the Internet and all that it has to offer, then we should realize that it comes with its costs.

Kathy Kemper is founder and CEO of the Institute for Education, a nonprofit foundation that recognizes and promotes leadership and civility locally, nationally and in the world community.