Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (often abbreviated to The Cronkite School by its students and faculties), is one of the 24 independent schools at Arizona State University and named in honor of veteran broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite. The school, which is at the downtown Phoenix campus, offers programs leading to a bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, master of mass communication, and in fall 2011, the school launched its first journalism and mass communication doctoral program. The Cronkite School began as the Division of Journalism under
Walter Cronkite News" on September 2, 1963, when the show was expanded from 15 to 30 minutes, making Cronkite the anchor of American network television's first nightly half-hour news program. Cronkite's tenure as anchor of the "CBS Evening News" made him an icon in television news. During the early part of his tenure anchoring the "CBS Evening News", Cronkite competed against NBC's anchor team of Chet Huntley and David Brinkley, who anchored the "Huntley-Brinkley Report". For much of the 1960s, the "Huntley-Brinkley Report" had more viewers than Cronkite's broadcast. A key moment for Cronkite came during his coverage of John F. Kennedy's