In an interview at a Speech Communication Association conference in 1975, Walter Cronkite of CBS news was asked a number of questions on the role and characteristics of television news. Among the items discussed with Mr. Cronkite were the following: the degree to which events are shaped by their being reported on national news programs; the news media as a free-enterprise open market; television coverage of the International Women's Year conference; the process of deciding what will be included in an evening's broadcast; the perception of Mr. Cronkite in national polls as an optimally credible individual; interviews (including Cronkite's impressions of people he has interviewed) the Lyndon Johnson interviews, and Cronkite's position on the practice of paying individuals for interviews ("checkbook interviewing"); the use of women as anchor-persons; ratings; network pressure on news production; the first amendment in broadcasting, especially with reference to the fairness doctrine and other FCC regulations; personal preparation for interviews; Watergate and the media; the 1976 election; the burden of responsibility placed on television news by its being most people's primary source of news information; personal bias and subjectivity in reporting; provision of free time to political candidates; and television coverage of the Vietnam war. (DF)