This non-American is baffled by the adulation of Tim Russert

[glarius]

This whole agony of mourning that has been bestowed on the late Tim Russert has become almost surreal. It seems to me that he is being accorded the same sort of coverage that one would expect to be given to a President or National leader. This may sound jaded, but I can't help but wonder if MSNBC is counting on all this coverage to up their ratings. As I'm writing this, they broke in to show how many are lined up for the wake being held for him at his son's school.
I think it is terrible that someone as young as he was, has died suddenly. I feel for his family, as do most people. But this lionizing him as if he was the be-all and end-all of journalists is ridiculous. To me, he just didn't particularly stand out.
I do understand that his fellow employees are mourning him and I hope this doesn't offend anyone.

[dbt]

1. We worship our televisions here.

Russert was the Son Of God.

[BOSSHOG]

2. I agree My Friend

I limit my wonder to the NBC coverage. Friday, the whole weekend, last night, and then tonight and again tomorrow night as announced. I wish his family a quick peace that will come with time but I think NBC is definitely engaged in "overkill."

[knixphan]

14. seconded.

[tulsakatz]

18. it didn't bother me that they did it all weekend.......

....I mean what else are they going to do? They usually have terrible coverage on the weekend anyway.

But if they had done that during the week, when there are other stories to cover, that would have bothered me......

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

3. Many Americans are baffled too

I think it will have the opposite effect on their ratings as we look elsewhere on the teevee for real news - or on the internets

[LisaM]

4. Actually, I think you hit on the real issues - his fellow employees

and his other colleagues. Once they have the funeral, this will all end. As hackneyed as it sounds, I think that they really need the closure his memorial will bring. Bear in mind, this happened in the midst of a very active election season (one to which, I'm sure, he looked forward to leading his troops through to the end). It's like having a coach suddenly die in the middle of a playoff run or something. There's no real other way to explain it.

It also appears that he wore a lot of hats - more than I realized - so the ramifications are pretty deep.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

27. You nailed it

It's a family mourning, only this family happens to be part of a television community.

Apparently, he was beloved by just about everyone who ever had any dealings with him. A truly nice and good man. Rare in this city, believe me. But, Tim Russert was active in his community, served lots of charitable purposes, had tons of friends beyond the political and TV worlds in which he operated, and did a lot of very wonderful things. He was also damn good at his job, which is something a lot of people still don't understand. He was incredibly talented, and because he made it look seamless, too many folks fail to gauge the depth of his contribution to the American news scene.

If you're honored on The Daily Show and the Colbert Report on one night, and the next morning, the President and First Lady show up for your wake, you can assume that you've led an extraordinary life.

Tim Russert was extraordinary, and that is why the huge outpouring. I regret that so many people don't grasp that, but, perhaps in time, they will. In the meantime, I find it amusing that the commemoration of this man's passing bothers some. It tells me more about them than it does about the man being mourned.

[GCP]

66. Wonderful post - you nailed it

I'm going to miss Tim Russert - he sounds like a really good guy.

[helderheid]

63. what you said.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Trust me it is baffling to me, and I live IN THE ASYLUM

[madaboutharry]

There are many here in America who don't get this at all.

I agree, it is really unseemly at this point.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. It's totally media generated

I never watch Meet the Press (my Sunday mornings are completely filled with being a church choir member), so I wasn't even sure who they were talking about until I saw the photos of him, and then he looked vaguely familiar.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

15. oh, well if you didnt watch it....

What they hell are they going on about...

I remember my Parents watching him every Sunday, I dont watch TV much so I dont have adult memories of him in that role..

[Johonny]

48. I think it's pretty clear

he was very well respected inside the media. His influence on his fellow media members was vastly greater than I(we) realized. So it's not that shocking how the media is treating this.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

65. Okay, guys, but was he more influential than David Brinkley or Peter Jennings?

Both of whom received much less attention when they signed off for the last time.

[sandnsea]

7. It's absurd, Ford didn't get this much attention

I think we are watching the press jump the whale.

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Jump the WHALE

RLOL

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. Johnson and Eisenhower didn't get this much attention

and they actually had a profound effect on the course of American history.

[aquart]

9. So is this American.

[slackmaster]

11. Mr. Russert was IMO more deserving of respect and attention than our national leader

:argh:

[Indenturedebtor]

16. Yes but far less worth than any single one of the dead who meets their end through his negligence

This whole spectacle disgusts me. Give the guy a 1 hour memorial on tv, and get back to all that's going on that really matters.

People DIE when the media is negligent. People are DYING as I write this because of the negligence of the media.

[rebel with a cause]

32. 51 people died in Baghdad today

lets have a memorial for them, because they died for our freedom.

I have not said anything bad about Mr. Russet and will not today, but this type of coverage is definately overkill. This causes people who are already depressed in their own lives to become even more depressed if they watch it. So they either watch it and go bonkers, or they change channels and watch something else, or they can turn the tv off and go outside. If they are healthy enough they should go for a walk or a bike ride, and if they're lucky enough to be able to afford the gas can go some place else.

[sandnsea]

21. Remember Ed Bradley?

Now he was a journalist. Did he get this much attention? He died of leukemia at 65. That was just as much a tragedy as Russert. This is idiotic.

[malaise]

56. GEM$NBC's decision to announce that they

will have live coverage of a private funeral service is quite a statement.

This is the incestuous beltway crowd on steroids. Watch us! Watch is! :puke:

[theoldman]

12. Behind every story there is a story.

Russert was not that great. I remember when Nixon died. You would have thought that he was the greatest President that ever lived. Maybe we need to follow the money.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

13. I find the obsession with calling out people remembering Russert

baffling..

[gratuitous]

17. Not so baffling

The people who are mourning control the major networks and cable outlets. They decide what goes on the air (and what doesn't), and right now they're all in a paroxysm of grief at the sudden death of one of the lions of their little circle. Already, however, you can bet that there are those angling for their next slot up the ladder, knowing that a vacancy so near the top means that a lot of people are going to be moving up.

It's sort of like watching the Kremlin from the bad old days of the Soviet Union. Who's standing next to Brezhnev this May Day? Who's on the reviewing stand this time around? Were they there last time? Who's closer to the front? Who's been pushed to the back or off the podium entirely? Watch who gets the plum eulogy segments on NBC. Brian Williams for sure, but is David Gregory getting significant air time, even if he's not saying anything important? How about other field reporters? And who is stuck in Iowa, reporting on some boring old floods, and can't get back to New York for significant studio time to make his or her (okay, his) case for moving up? Is someone being kept in Iowa for those boring old floods, when they'd much rather be back in New York?

The rest of the country, horrified by Iowa and maybe a little sad over Russert (if they even know who the hell he was), is shut out of the process, and determines nothing about what's going on the air.

[Joanne98]

19. Media whores.. "It's all about ME"

[SoCalDem]

20. Media people are grief-aholics..They revel in the ghoulishness of it all

24-7 media has a lot of time to fill, and since they have the cameras & the microphones, when one of "them" dies, they just go into frenzy mode, trying to out-mourn each other..It's a marathon of maudlin..

The really sad thing for me, was that they missed a real opportunity for a teaching-moment.

Russert was a workaholic, who gave too much of his own "energy" to apparently EVERYONE.. He had money, prestige, and probably one of the best health care plans in the world, and yet he lived on
1) no sleep
2) take out food
3) constant travel & appearances on just about every show on the air
4) "downtime" was spent writing books & traveling to promote the books


He flamed out at 58...because he worked himself to death...unnecessarily

[Raster]

22. Hmmm, let me count the reasons:

(1) nothing like taking advantage of a premature death to spike the ratings. This is the MSM version of bread and circus and it does translate to higher advertising dollars;

(2) an opportunity to engage in revisionist historical whitewashing on the pretext of eulogizing; and

(3) pre-prepared meme to thwart closer intellectual scrutiny "grave dancing." If anyone questions the context or the delivery, you can always question their humanity. Rather akin to cheney*/bush* questioning the patriotism of those that dared to question their information and motives.

[rebel with a cause]

33. 4) to do a little PR for the MSM/MSNBC

The little tributes (like The Daily Show and the Colbert Report) are nice, but the overkill is a bit too obvious.

[On the Road]

23. No Matter What Kind of Organization You Work In,

if the boss dies suddenly, you can expect that the organization will make a big deal of it. Only in this case the employees are reporters and producers with the ear of the whole country. That explains about 3/4 of it.

[alarimer]

50. And those prodicers and reporters stand to move up in the organization

So they are sucking up as much as possible to be the one to move up.

[tabasco]

24. Our friends on the telescreen are truly great people who give us the truth!

[LeftinOH]

25. I don't get any of it, either.... (literally- I don't watch TV)...n/t

[niyad]

26. doesn't offend me. the coverage and adulation have pissed me off. (the three solid hours

complete with crawl, of his death last friday annoyed me. it was as if nothing else were going on in the world, not the floods, not the tornadoes, not the wars, nothing.

[BeHereNow]

28. The coverage was actually a marketing survey you see.

The corporate conglomerates that own our "public" air waves
received consultation from a much respected firm here in
Hollywood,CA. The firm conducts test audience screening surveys
of films in production to help guide the entertainment industry towards
completion of a film that should never been made in the first place,
but is so far into production, that an attempt to convince
the public to go see it is necessary to recover investor financing.
Audience survey results have been found helpful in
cobbling together a film trailer to bilk the public into buying tickets.

In this case the firm advised the MSM that Mr. Russert's unfortunate death,
although tragic and untimely, would also provide an opportunity
to test the effectiveness of previous programming marketing objectives which
included the "dumbing down" of target audience members to an acceptable and profitable
level of consumer buying patterns.

Obviously, the results were successful and the returns better
than anticipated. Americans remained glued to their television
sets through out the test period without observable objection
to the idiocy of the content of the programming.

Future testing is currently in development.

BHN
On edit, forgot-
:sarcasm: (Sort of)

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

29. Public displays of grief and other forms of bathos are an American pastime.

And, they sell lots of commercial time.

[Eurobabe]

30. I turned off the TV earlier this afternoon, kicking back with a beer

and watching the end of the France-Italy eurocup game. :D

No US tv tomorrow either. You'd have thought the POPE died. :eyes:

[rebel with a cause]

34. Frankly, I don't understand the coverage when the pope dies.

I don't want to watch three or more days of funeral preparation. I'm not going to have a funeral, why would I want to watch someone elses.

[leftofthedial]

31. fine. dance on his grave. piss on his grave.

you disgust me.





:sarcasm:

I don't get it either. But be really careful asking that question . . .

[Swamp Rat]

35. Why do you hate America?

Obey.

[Solly Mack]

36. I got home from Ireland..saw the headline and immediately blocked all American

news channels on my TV

came to DU and wondered why I bothered blocking the channels...


LMAO

[Cerridwen]

38. LOL

:rofl:

You too, huh? I don't have to turn on the TV; it all comes through DU at some point.

I've been exposed to more "pop culture" through DUers decrying "pop culture" than if I just watched and read corporate media.

[Solly Mack]

41. Seriously! It really does...all come through

I unblocked my TV today...then went for a walk.

[moediggity]

37. damn

[sendero]

39. It's just media whores..

... patting themselves on the back by proxy.

[Sundoggy]

40. Is it really so complicated?

In the name of restraint and common humanity, decent people (I know better now than to say "most of US") separate the tragedy of the loss of a human life from the mistakes that person made. Tim Russert wasn't Hitler, he wasn't even Nixon.

All of you so happy to make such an embarrassing display are not my fellow travelers. I'd rather party with Freepers.

[Stevepol]

42. It's an indication of the state of mainstream journalism in the US today.

The daily newspaper here in Wichita, Kansas and in most medium and even large sized cities has as the main story on the front page (THE FRONT PAGE) in headlines an article about bats in the southern part of the state or about a crack in the sidewalk in the SE part of the city that could cause an older person to stumble and fall or about the life cycle of Canada geese and ducks in general.

They do this to avoid dealing with Iraq, the gas crisis, mortgages, corruption at all levels, etc. etc. etc. If there's a tornado close by, the newspapers will gleefully bump the next bit of fluff scheduled to grace the front page to accommodate this new bit of news. And if somebody well-known dies (Tim Russert e.g.) or has an affair, they will gratefully leave off the fluff and put the new scandal of the day on the front page. And they will milk it for all it's worth, for as long as they possibly can.

And that's what is considered news nowadays.

And then they fret and wring their hands and wonder why they are losing subscribers and advertisers.

Same thing goes w/ the TV channels and networks. They have time slots to fill and they are far too lazy and maybe underfunded to deal with the real news stories requiring investigation (tho God knows it would take almost nothing to do research on the internet and by phone and come up with some dandy, well-researched stories, something I would be willing to wager almost anybody at DU could do blindfolded with one hand tied behind him or her).

[eppur_se_muova]

43. I was baffled he got the job. Turned out he was Jach Welch's pet.

Handpicked infiltrator/apologist for the Repugs.

[DearAbby]

44. Frankly so is this American....n/t

[ellie]

45. This American

doesn't understand it either.

[tbyg52]

46. I am baffled as well

and I thought it was bad enough when they devoted the whole half hour of the nightly news to it - there were also people being flooded out, y'know.....?

[tavalon]

47. When MSM doesn't want to cover a real story, like the flooding of the midwest

or articles of impeachment, they will use all sorts of ways to avoid it and having a fellow "journalist" so to speak, die at work, makes for good "look here!, Don't look over there!" fodder. I expect them to string it out for at least another week. By then, hopefully the midwest will have dried up along with any chance for Kucinich's impeachment articles to go anywhere. See how it works?

[alarimer]

49. Because the mainstream media is complete shit.

They especially love talking about themselves and in this case, it really is all about THEM.

[bean fidhleir]

51. I honestly think the people here who've been indulging themselves are unhinged

It seemed very unhealthy to me, and I wonder what it was a placeholder for.

[texanwitch]

52. I don't get the hero worship of Tim.

We have major flooding going on in the midwest and all we can have is 24 hours of Tim.

I don't watch network news, I want real news.

This is why I have a computer and the internet.

I don't need a talking head telling me what someone said, I can think for myself.

Please when will this end.

I was wondering what people outside of the USA were thinking about this.

[Canuckistanian]

53. This non-American is baffled also

Maybe it's the journalistic traditions in our country that spawned such traditional shows such as "The Fifth Estate" or "As It Happens", shows which made it their business to "comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable" that makes this seem ludicrous.

You know, I've spent 6 years on DU, listening to an almost constant stream of criticism of the 'Beltway media' and particularly of Tim Russert as it's nominal leader. His nickname, "Timmeh", has been almost his regular second name ever since the crucifixion of Bill Clinton.

He's been an OBVIOUS shill, cheerleader and apologist for the most corrupt and politically divisive administration in history. His record speaks for itself. Look it up in Media Matters or TPM or Daily Howler. He FAILED to ask the REALLY tough questions and FOLLOW THEM UP.

And only NOW the admirers of Russert come out in full force, defending his "journalistic integrity"?

Please. Pull the other one.

[eilen]

55. Just bury the guy already, sheesh

This non-stop coverage of memorials, wakes, funerals etc. This is all really boring and non-news. He died Friday, it is now Wednesday. Put it to bed. He dropped dead of a heart attack sitting in his chair editing film, not out in a war zone, trying to feed orphans and rescue villagers or in a terrorist attack while trying to negotiate with a suicide bomber, or in a helicopter pulling people to safety from flooded rooftops and serving up meals in field kitchens at shelter sites.

I'm sorry he died, but he died lucky, he did not suffer months of chronic cancer pain -- one minute here, next minute gone. I hope I go that way, quick.

[Skittles]

54. this American agrees with you n/t

[Echo In Light]

57. Agree ... although the phenomenon you describe is expected given how indoctrination works here

[KG]

58. i'm not baffled at all. america thrives on lies and fairey tales.

it's not surprising to me at all to see the reactions of a subset of DUers who are dismayed when one of their precious myths is busted.

[raccoon]

59. You won't get any argument from me. Rec'd. nt

[aikoaiko]

60. It really simple: he was one of them, well known, well liked, died youngish, and on the job.

they are mourning.

[glarius]

61. Mourning is an understatement IMO.

He is being accorded the coverage of a head of state. I'm sorry, but it really does seem a bit overboard to me.

[Wizard777]

62. Maybe this will help you to understand. Here in America we have a strong belief in God and Country.

Just as we trust a priest to come into our home and talk intimately with us about religion and God. We trusted Tim Russert to come into our home and talk intimately with us about politics and the Country. As the host of the long running show Meet The Press. He was far more a political priest. He wasa da Pope. It won't be easy to replace him. It might take a little while to find that replacement. Just remember, when you see white smoke coming from the stove pipe. That means they have a new host.

[SpookyCat]

64. I agree with you to a point...

I think the need to laud celebrities is overdone, however I was in England when George Best died and that was also covered for days and days and every newscast, so I'm not willing to swallow that this phenomenon is uniquely American. *

<cough..Princess Di...cough>

I think to a degree it's just human. Irrational to "mourn" someone who didn't know you existed, but human. John Lennon and George Harrisons' deaths put me through the ringer, ditto Gene Roddenberry, Carl Sagan (etc) because the "meant" a lot to me/my life. Eves St. Lauren (sp)? Not so much.





* though the coverage of his death did introduce me to one of his quotes which is now high among my favorites...

"I spent 90% of my money on women, drink and fast cars. The rest I wasted."

[tom_paine]

67. Every year our nation and people are driven a bit more insane.

We are now currently at a level of disconnectness from reality that is equivalent to that of the Germans in 1937.

Our celebrity worshipping culture grows mroe insane by the year, and nearly every other facet of our National Media Hologram, that False Reality Bubble of Laundered Lies and Half-Truths, is following suit.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., in one of his MANY prophetic moments, likened our society to a fish out of water, flopping madly on the river bank.

As the fish runs out of oxygen, Vonnegut mused, do it's flopping and gyrations get stronger and wilder up until teh point of expiration, when they stop.

That fish is Amerikan Society, and Russert is just another wild flop, metaphorically-speaking.

But you know and I know, in a few years, the Russert-a-thon will look tame in comparison to what is likely coming.

[RamboLiberal]

68. I agree its overkill - but I was baffled by the Princess Di

death coverage in the U.S. - you'd have thought we were still a U.K. colony. At least she was against landmines.

Yeah Russert was a good man. And apparently his wife and Luke are very good people. And I know his network collegues are mourning but you know they are also maneuvering to wheel their chair onto the MTP studio. And I bet there were a few who was jealous of his power and even a critical of his shows. For a brief moment Chris Matthews let us see this Friday night.

I watched MTP just about every Sunday when it rebroadcast on MSNBC. Russert was a good journalist but not great IMHO. Many times he failed to correct obvious lies and misstatements by his guests and too often he relentlessly sought to nail a guest with a "silly season" gotcha. He also fostered the perception that for a pol to change his position years later or to nuance a position was a weakness.

I always thought it a shame that MTP was lately built around the strengths and weaknesses of one host. I wanted it to go back to the day when you had the guest facing a panel of intelligent knowledgeable reporters.

Well RIP Tim Russert - you were buried well.

Be interesting to see how you are replaced. To me no one is ever irreplaceable.

[Dogtown]

69. glarius, perhaps the media coverage

is playing to a perceived audience.

What baffles me is the amount of bandwidth being consumed on DU over this.

And the "Hush, now; he's *dead*" censoring. Like death changes how we should perceive someone.

Despite how well he was liked by his coworkers, he was clearly a supporter of the coup. For that alone I have no respect for him, and don't give a rat's ass if he's dead.

[marions ghost]

70. it's downright weird....

I don't get it. Maudlin, surreal, creepy.

Apparently he had all this "working class" appeal, according to Chris Matthews...is that the answer?

Or is this kind of coverage indicative of some kind of narcissistic identification among journalists?

I guess we have all too few heroes in this country....:shrug: