John F. Kennedy became the primary source by which people were kept informed of events surrounding John F. Kennedy's assassination. In fact, television started to come of age before the assassination. On September 2, 1963, Kennedy helped inaugurate network television's first half-hour nightly evening newscast according to an interview with "CBS Evening News" anchor Walter Cronkite. Newspapers were kept as souvenirs rather than sources of updated information. In this sense his assassination was the first major TV news event of its kind. TV coverage united the nation, interpreting what went on, and creating memories of this space in time. All three major U.S.
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