CBS Evening News a one-evening test broadcast on August 19, 1965, before permanently switching to the format on January 31, 1966. Cronkite's prime time special report, "Who, What, When, Where, Why", broadcast on February 27, 1968, ended with his declaration that the United States could only hope for a stalemate in Vietnam. It is often credited with influencing Lyndon Johnson's decision to drop out of the race for President. "If I've lost Walter Cronkite ... [I]'ve lost Middle America", he stated. Under Cronkite, the newscast began what would eventually become an 18-year period of dominating the ratings among the network evening news programs.
CBS News controversies and criticism CBS News controversies and criticism Throughout the years, numerous conservative activists have accused CBS News of perpetuating a liberal bias in its news coverage. The Media Research Center, a right-wing media watchdog group led by L. Brent Bozell, has been especially critical about what it has perceived to be unduly favorable coverage of liberal topics by CBS, especially during the tenure of "CBS Evening News" anchor Dan Rather. In his 2001 book "", former CBS correspondent Bernard Goldberg extensively criticized Rather's management of CBS News and what he claimed was Rather's combative efforts to skew the network's coverage. In 1964,