President Barack Obama hailed Walter Cronkite as a champion of hard news and investigative journalism, and said today's media should follow the legendary broadcaster's example rather than sink into an era of instant analysis and gossip.

"If we choose to live up to Walter's example, if we realize that the kind of journalism he embodied will not simply rekindle itself as part of a natural cycle but will come alive only if we stand up and demand it and resolve to value it once again, then I'm convinced that the choice between profit and progress is a false one and that the golden days of journalism still lie ahead," Obama said at a memorial service Wednesday in New York for Cronkite, who died in July.

Obama didn't know Cronkite, who retired as anchor of the CBS Evening News in 1981, but said he benefited from his dogged reporting on events that defined the 20th century.

"He was a voice of certainty in a world that was growing more and more uncertain," Obama said. "And through it all, he never lost the integrity or the plainspoken speaking style that he gained growing up in the heartland. He was a familiar and welcome voice that spoke to each and every one of us personally."

Obama's remarks lasted 12 minutes and came at the end of a star-studded service, offering a critique of a media landscape in which he said companies struggle to make a profit and serve the public interest.

"Naturally, we find ourselves wondering how he would have covered the monumental stories of our time. In an era where the news that city hall is on fire can sweep around the world at the speed of the Internet, would he still have called to double-check?" Obama asked. "Would he have been able to cut through the murky noise of the blogs and the tweets and the sound bites to shine the bright light on substance? Could he still offer the perspective that we value? Would he have been able to remain a singular figure in an age of dwindling attention spans and omnipresent media?

"And somehow we know that the answer is yes."

-By Henry J. Pulizzi, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9256; henry.pulizzi@dowjones.com