Anderson Cooper is today's Edward R. Murrow

Posted Oct 25th 2008 8:33AM by Allison Waldman

Don't tell Keith Olbermann -- he of the Countdown special commentaries -- but CNN's Anderson Cooper is the Edward R. Murrow of our era. That's according to Lisa DePaulo of Elle, but the popularity and proliferation of Cooper, from CNN to CBS's 60 Minutes to anchoring Times' Square on New Year's Eve and filling in for Regis Philbin on Live with Regis and Kelly, backs up her assertion.

"He is our generation's Edward R. Murrow; that is, if Murrow were this good-looking and had lived in a world with Gawker and TMZ," DePaulo writes. "This is not just because of Cooper's exacting standards of journalism-hard work, legwork, no-divaness. He's a purist, really-like Murrow."

Olbermann does follow Murrow's tradition of advocacy journalism. That's what his commentaries are all about. If you saw Good Luck and Good Night, or if you've seen clips of Murrow, you know that he inserted his opinions into his reporting. That's Olbermann.

Anderson Cooper is like Murrow in that he does news, especially going to cover stories around the globe, as well as popular news entertainment. Murrow's interview show, Person to Person, was all about interviewing celebrities in their homes. It was something very different from his news reporting. On Thursday, November 27 -- Thanksgiving -- Cooper wlll host a celebration of everyday heroes, for instance, CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute.

I interviewed Anderson Cooper last year and he really impressed me with his dedication to the craft. He told me his vacation time from CNN was spent doing stories for 60 Minutes. But he wasn't complaining. He loves it all. "I'm fortunate now to be at 60 Minutes that is also a place where they are obviously incredibly talented. I'm learning different ways of interviewing people and different styles of shooting there, so it's like exercising different muscles, including those in your brain. I do think it's important to keep growing and to keep getting better."

It may be true, then, that he is our generation's Edward R. Murrow.