"
"I resent that. You're just a horrible person...
Bernie, have we got the women's basketball scores up yet?"
:o)
Posted on 06/16/2008 8:23:39 AM PDT by RDTF
Here's one thing you can say about journalists: Surely no one loves us as much as we love ourselves.
That's one lesson of the Tim Russert coverage.
A friend told me Sunday: "I now know more about Tim Russert than I do many members of my family."
After Russert's shocking death Friday at age 58, television kept serving up witnesses to his expertise, intelligence, diligence, kindness, faith, love of family, Buffalo and the Buffalo Bills. The self-indulgence was breathtaking.
On Monday's "Today," Matt Lauer interviewed Russert's son, Luke. The show basically gave over the first half-hour to the Russert story. Presidential candidates aren't questioned at such length on morning programs.
And the children of America's fallen heroes don't receive such a platform, either.
Here are a few points to consider:
Does the coverage move the story along? "ABC World News" examined heart disease, which killed Russert. Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren took up the same issue. But so much of the coverage was of the "I remember Tim" variety. Sad to say, a lot of it was repetitive.
Is there a sense of proportion? Peter Jennings didn't receive such heavy coverage when he died -- ABC doesn't own a cable channel. And he was in our homes, night after night, for 20 years. MSNBC kept Russert front and center through the weekend. How will NBC cover the passing of Tom Brokaw? Hasn't he been the most influential figure at NBC for the past two decades?
Do the hours of coverage inflate the story? Tim Russert was excellent at his job, make no mistake. He worked hard, he treated his guests fairly, and he asked tough questions. But by weekend's end, some commentators had elevated him to preeminent journalist of his time. -snip-
Really? Beware hyperbole.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.orlandosentinel.com ...
The funny thing is the whole MSNBC/NBC crowd is just the same handful of hacks. It’s basically the Imus crowd. Whether it’s Meet the Press, or Russert’s cable show, or Matthews’ show. It’s just the same losers talking to themselves.
I think they overdid it as well..maybe it was the suddenness of his death.
I’ve been thinking the same thing over the weekend. Every time I channel surfed and stopped on MSNBC, there was continual Russert coverage (24/7 I believe).
I’m sure Russert was an OK guy, and good at his profession, but in no way did his passing merit the coverage given to him. It was over the top, to say the very least.
I may not want it as a product but I have no problem with it.
Kill your television.
Television is NOT mandatory!
I agree. I didn’t watch the news all weekend because of it
I think a lot of it was the shock of it all......completely unexpected, and at WORK so no doubt people saw him etc.
I think the shock of it all is what led to it being so massive; even with Peter Jennings, there were several specials about him and lots of coverage, but not near as much.
I watched a lot this weekend since I liked him and wanted to know more about him. But, at points it was too much.
1. I liked Russert OK. He was a liberal, but he tried to be honest and overcome his natural bias.
2. Seeing his son on TV (I looked up at the gym and saw him) make me vaguely sick.
3. This over-exposure is a testament to how important the media thinks it is. Their ego is amazing. They think THEY are the news. No, they read the news and look pretty.
I agree. Of course it was news that he died, and of course Meet the Depressed did a tribute show. Everything else was overboard. So Time Russert died? Frankly, I don’t care.
Mmm... I have not seen a tv ( by choice ) since about Wednesday, first I have heard about Russert. Prayers to his family.
I had to shut off the radio on Friday. It was just a supreme a$$ kissing all afternoon.
It was getting way over the top.
Its sad he died but its not like it was Bobby Orr or Larry Bird.
(BY the way, I am just kidding about Boby Orr and Larry Bird. So anti-Celtic and Bruin people can just calm down!)
Tim Russert was my kid of guy....I came from the same roots that he did (blue collar, Irish, Catholic...He was educated by the Jesuists (I was too stupid for that)..
I’m an ex San Francisan, and remeber growing up in an all irish, Caholic neighborhood, way back in the day....That’s all gone now.
When i relocated to the East coast some 15 years ago, I ran into him on the streets of DC and had a great talk with him. He gave me the time of day...
My heart and soul will be always with the guy, as far as I’m concerned the coverage was wonderful!!!
Guys like Tim Russert don’t come along very often!!
God bless him and may his soul be granted eternal rest!!
The very intelligent Maria Shriver, political pundit and wise leader of us all, said, and I’m NOT making this up:
“It’s interesting that Tim died so close to Father’s Day as he was like a father to all of us.”
I paraphrase but it’s out there.
Tom Brokaw, I think, said if Tim had went into the priesthood he would now be the pope.
Dear Lord, and we wonder why the MSM is so melo-dramatic. Look at how vapid they get when they lose one of their own.
I liked Tim Russert for the most part. Some called him too liberal but I felt like he kept both feet on the ground and managed to at least LOOK like he was trying to bridge the area between us common people and the political elites. Which was oncit upon a time the province of journalists but they all went and joined the other side so now we have NO main stream impartial journalists to tell us what the political elites are up to. Russert was one of the few who I felt at least gave some appearance of fairness and impartiality.
But hey, I’m part of the common people, us folks who carry this country on our backs whilst raising the citizens and soldiers of tomorrow. I don’t go calling those who passed, no matter how beloved...my father or the pope.
Common sense. Guess it’s not all that common.
Tim Russert was a relatively nice political operative, but he was a democrat party hack masquarading as a reporter nonetheless.
I think it was also the fact that it happened at the NBC offices on Friday, while his family was still in Europe.
That would expose the democrat party as a masked socialist AND communist parties.. All three partys are shape shifted and morphed into the democrat party.. Russert knew that the democrat party had a socialist character and a communist demeanor.. BUT he HIDE IT, masked it.. protected it.. propagandized for it.. shilled for it.. even spiked the truth for it..
Tim Russert was no dupe but an active part of the degeneration of Americas media.. a worker in the socialist hive.. and worked himself to death for the Queen..
Paul Wellstone-narcissistic-media elite-beatification. What we saw was how the media elite talking heads see themselves. A total reality vacuum.
He apparently did all he can to see his interns succeed in their careers as well....he genuinely cared about people, which is rare in such a competitive area.
But, some coverage was over the top to me a bit.
I loved the Meet the Press show though.
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