Lyndon Johnson in 1968: “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost Middle America.”

Middle America's relationship with its anchormen today? “Video-sharing sites like YouTube are ensuring that every TV anchor mishap is preserved and distributed. No, the onset of online video has not been kind to television personalities”, AP notes, with more than a little flopsweat visible themselves.

I'd call it the “Internet Immortality Thesis” myself--and actually did, late last year.

See also this exceptional comment by Steven Den Beste, recently picked up by another legacy institution that's been humbled quite a bit itself by the online community, no longer merely the silent void beyond the Hudson River.