Where have all the heroes gone? or Chuck Norris need not apply

With the death of Walter Cronkite and watching recent news, I can’t help but ask this question – Where have all the heroes gone?
I know most wouldn’t necessarily call Uncle Walter a hero. He was the voice of television, familiar even to modern generations, those that never saw his live broadcasts, through historical footage of the moon landing and Kennedy’s assassination. But he was also brave enough to tell the truth and report with integrity throughout his career, something I consider a rare trait. I watch modern “journalists” and see only sensationalism and corporate interests influencing the so-called news. FoxNews has a decidedly conservative slant; MSNBC is extremely liberal. Newspaper media repeatedly issues retractions for published stories either unverified or untrue. It seems you can’t trust anything you read or see in mainstream media to be unbiased or fairly reported. And with media coverage of Cronkite’s death, the difference in styles and ethics between then and now seems painfully obvious.
In this current age of sensationalized media, it is hard to have any respect for people facing this kind of 24-hour coverage. Yes, sometimes it is actually news that this politician or that public figure is having an affair or might secretly be gay. Usually this only applies when the person in question is being hypocritical – ie. publicly denouncing someone for having an affair and then having an affair of their own. But the media seems to beat the poor horse to death with constant coverage. Surely there is more important news out there than whether or not Mark Sanford and his wife are attempting to reconcile and what motive may lie behind it. Do we really need to see 10 different angles of Michael Jackson’s sheet covered body being transported from helicopter to coroner’s van when people are dying for freedom in Iran or being fired for being homosexual? Does anyone REALLY care that Madonna is adopting another African child from a life of poverty when so many others are dying unseen every day?
I also wonder what all this negative media is doing to our children. I think I grew up in the generation when we first started having massive media coverage of mediocre news. I now expect most men to cheat on their wives, politicians to be corrupt, actors to be hedonists, athletes to use enhancing drugs, and every other negative stereotype out there that has been drilled into my head from years of watching the nightly news. I think I’m a cynic now, thanks in part to every hero I’ve ever had being raked through the mud at the slightest revelation of a flaw.
Ok perhaps, that’s being too cynical, even for me. But still, I’m tired of being driven mad with news that isn’t news. Celebrities are not gods, they don’t control our lives. If I cared what they were doing, I’d watch TMZ and read Perez Hilton, not expect them to take up the pages of TIME and half of the mainstream news broadcast.
I guess all that’s bothering me is the realization that we have very few, if any, public figures that can be considered heroes for young people to admire and imitate. I define a hero as someone who, regardless of the situation or consequences, does what they believe to be good and right, someone who inspires others to be the best they can be. They don’t have to be the perfect person, always making right decisions and never making mistakes. Nobody is perfect. Perhaps that is what makes true heroes so great and so rare these days. They can still shine as an example while being picked apart, imperfections and all. If this generation grows up without a hero or a role model, how will they know to do the right thing, consequences be damned? How will they know how to be good people?

Maybe I should put in an ad on Craigslist: Hero Wanted! Please no tights or capes (they cause aerodynamic difficulties). No white horse or shining armor needed. Riding off into the sunset a plus, but not required. Chuck Norris need not apply.