"
"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.
With that said, there appears to be two things happening here. First, they (the people of NBC, MSNBC and the thousands of other journalists whose lives were "touched" by Mr. Russert) all want to put their signature on the "historic" moment. They want people to see them as a part of the victim's family so the public will mourn for them too.
Also, they are communicating to their peers what they want said about them when their time inevitably comes up.
Professionally, regarding Russert, I wish I could have watched him a little more than the few times I did see his show. But he came off just as politically disingenuous and motivated as the rest of them. I could never see an entire program though.
About the only thing missing in all the coverage was Sharon Stone talking about karma.
“Overdid it”?
Nah, the MSM and Hollywood never “overdo it” in their self-important, self-congratulatory and egotistical narcissistic tributes to their egos and self importance.
Remember Paul Wellstones funeral? “For Paul” over and over again.
The left is such cancer on our country and freedom. I think they’re all evil and conspiratorial. Right now, I think they’re a bigger danger than the Islalmofascists. I think they’re (to use that overused and self indulgent cliche’) “enablers” of Islamofascism and the destruction of America and liberty the world over.
Scuse my paranoia.
In fairness, when Brokaw said this, the rest of the panel laughed. I don't believe this specific comment was one of a serious nature.
I think you’ve given a great analysis of exactly what the media is about with the weirdness. You’re right, they’re saying what they want said about them at their untimely passing (which would be, for their wisdom, death at ANY age).
I’m embarrassed for them so naked is their ploy.
If anyone caught the 3rd quarter of the NBA Finals Game 5, one of the commentators (it wasn’t Van Gundy or Mark Jackson) who went on this 10 minute sermon about Russert.
I understand he passed away but this is NO place to talk about death! Watching sports is an escape for the rest of us AND not the medium to express your mindless worship of TR.
People will read this and maybe nod their heads, but they won't internalize it. Fact is, television is making people crazy - and therefore our society crazy.
Spot-on. Every time I turned on the television, his pudgy face was staring at me. I agree with most of the comments here, this is an example of how the media considers itself more important than it ought. They are talking heads on a screen who harass the people who actually get things done. They spend more time in makeup each day than most women do in a week. Their fame is artificial, and poorly-earned.
I’ve nothing against Tim, I’m sure a lot of people liked him. But I’d like to see someone like Brit Hume get this kind of attention, if heaven forbid he should die an untimely death. It was too much. Members of the media, please take note, we don’t all care for the same things you do.
I was sure thinking that all weekend. He was a great guy etc but they all said the same thing over and over for days-it was painful and now his kid was on Today show I read-seems soon for having lost his dad just 3 days prior! Little soon to hit the cameras! Everything is cameras thesedays-catastrophic events-murders-deaths-nothing is a private matter any more. Sad really. I hear the funeral will be HUGE at the Kennedy Center? So now another week of of it!
I watched Tim's son on Today this morning. Please tell me how a young man can grow up with TWO writers in the house and, even after earning a college degree, not know better grammar. He used "for I" several times. Shocking!
.
Who gives a crap.......he’s dead.
Bury him and move on to the next “celebrity” death.
Friday evening’s “Nightly News” with Brian Williams did the entire show with reporters talking about their favorite reporter. I thought they were going to get the hook to get Sally Quinn off the air...
Nevermind, even that analogy doesn't work: In writing the essay, the kids would learn something about format, etc.
Ok...equate this to having the passing of the garbage man turn into a study of him and his garbage. ;-) (The garbage man TAKES garbage away, and the "news"man DELIVERS the garbage.)
I guess that an appropriate analogy on this will be tough to come up with. No one thinks like the deliverers of "news."
When one of their own dies during a slow news week the media tends to get a little creepy. Re3member when Roone Arledge died ABC couldn’t start a show for a week without mentioning him... of course half their shows got started by him so it kind of made sense.
hahaha. Now that's funny. I don't care who you are.
Let them go overboard on the coverage.
I only noticed MSNBC devoting their schedule around Russert’s death, which I have no problem with since he worked for NBC. I enjoyed watching some of the old episodes of “Meet the Press” - especially last week’s show. Lauer’s interview with Luke this morning broke my heart - what a great kid.
Yes, it certainly was. And he is a college graduate as well. .
I was impressed how Russert tore Dean apart in 2004 only to be disgusted how kissy face he was with Kerry like the week later.
Honestly, if he was such a “great” person and there have been many great people in this world, what was he doing being a media whore? I think Dick Winters was a great guy, but Russert was just a clean log in a sea of poop so it made him look great.
Is this jouralist serious? It was all about ratings. They were getting tracking numbers that were good, so they went for it.
It’s ok, I idolized Bobby Orr as a kid in Stoughton Mass..
But with Mr Russert's demise it was also something else, something that is integral part of television in this country - cheap sentimentality, kitsch, what Vladimir Nabokov called 'poshlost', no different from the poshlost of the Americans Idle show that is the inspiration for the longest thread here. And this man's death was a grand opportunity to exploit the audience's hunger for this type of entertainment.
As a woman said above, TV is not mandatory. Kill it!
Collective naval gazing.
I was hoping they would afford Russert the honor he deserves of lying in State in the Rotunda of the Capitol Building.
Another leftist comes face to face with ultimate reality. Next.
I felt touched by Tim Russert’s passing on Friday. I was home early to help prepare for a party on Saturday and the US Open was on TV (it wouldn’t have been on NBC otherwise). Tom Brokaw came on and made the announcement. I am also Irish Catholic and I have been taught by Jesuits. I felt a bit of a connection. At a “silent” retreat last year, at lunch they played a bit of Russert reciting his book (as in books on tape) about his relationship with his Dad and growing up learning from Jesuit priests. Interesting but not enough to make me want to buy his book.
I stopped watching Meet the Press several years ago with the more recent liberal slant. I watch Fox News Sunday. Tim Russert was a good reporter and NBC will have big shoes to fill to replace him. There probably isn’t somebody within the current organization who could get up to speed before the election. No big deal for me as I won’t watch NBC for election coverage anyways.
All that being said, I felt as much sorrow for the loss of Jim McKay at age 86 within the last couple weeks as for Tim Russert. Russert died too young and that is probably why it seemed like a shock to many. McKay was the consummate sports reporter for ABC Sports, especially Wide World of Sports and the Olympics when ABC had broadcast rights.
May they both rest in peace and let us have peace and move on from their losses.
I actually enjoyed the tributes to Tim. He seemed like a nice guy, and what a relief from all the daily “tributes” we get of Obama.
I’d much rather see clips of Tim talking about how great his dad is than see hours of Obama the politician.
I think NBC basically aired the grieving process, the shock, the understanding that Tim is gone, the geez what a loss, etc.
Maybe they overdid it, but they weren't prepared for his passing either.
I know personally, when my grandfather passed away unexpectedly, the shock made the grieving more intense. When a grandparent passed after a lengthy illness, there was a degree of thankfulness that their suffering was over.
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