Walter Cronkite “zapped” into becoming friend of gays recalls PGN news publisher
”He was the kind of man who believed in human rights for everyone. I am amazed and humbled by his willingness to reach out to me. He was a bridge between the gay movement and major media. We remained friends, and it was a privilege knowing him.”
Mark Segal, publisher of Philadelphia Gay News, who is described by the Washington Post as having been “a walking terror” as a young gay activist. He is reported here in a historical recollection of how he once snuck onto the set of the “CBS News With Walter Cronkite” to hold up a sign that protesting CBS’ skewed and lacking coverage of gay rights accomplishments in the early 1970s. At a trial that resulted from that incident, he challenged Cronkite to change the coverage, and after being moved by their discussion, the influential TV newscaster did cover the “new attitude toward homosexuality” and the struggle for rights in NYC. (Washington Post)
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