RIP Tim Russert

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

Sure. It's up to the reporter and the people who pay him or her as to what kind of reporter they choose to be. Reporting is a very subjective pursuit, akin to therapy sometimes. It can take a long time and many pounded drinks to develop sources to the point where they trust the reporter is not a bad person looking to do a hack job. A lot of times, being a reporter is kind of like being a spy or an undercover cop - your true agenda has to be hidden, but in your own mind, you have to keep a clear division. Not all succeed at that, and the penalty is losing credibility. Being irked at Russert because he is not Amy Goodman seems a bit unfair to me, though.

Another point I would like to make to no one in particular is how the media explosion/fragmentation affects journalism and the public mind. As there may never be another rock band with the broad appeal of the Beatles or the Stones, there may never be another journalist with the broad credibility or moral authority of Cronkite or Murrow. As the music scene has developed into a million little niches to cater to everyone's taste, the news can be found now from so many sources (so many of them bad) that whatever your point of view, some news purveyor will be around to cater to you and your peculiar Weltanschaaung. Or maybe that's a good thing. I don't know.

 

That's a pretty unrealistic, melodramatic idea of reporters. Your best sources are those who deal straight up with you, because they know you're dealing straight up with them; clandestine reporting is the exception.

 

As far as Cronkite or Murrow, if they were alive/active in the media today, they would still have the integrity; it's the perceptions that have changed. People are only looking for those who support their angle, or a fight. There's scant few people like Cronkite and Murrow because there are too many ways to cut corners, too many excuses not to dig deeper, too little reason to do the legwork and fact checking. Yes, there's the foolishness that's a handful of people control the major media channels, but the truth is the truth, morality is morality. It's what each person does about it -- whether they seek it out and act upon it -- that is missing.

 

.... woooooh ... the air's thin her up on this soapbox.

[jenbobblehead]

I just watched the Meet The Press special event. Very moving. He truly will be missed, not just by the politicos, but by friends and interns and producers and all the people he worked and interacted with every day.

 

Who will fill the void, politically, I wonder?

[MattZ]

Who ever said that is not making sense. And if that was Russert's explanation, it is not a very good one.

 

I strongly disagree with you. Russert's audience was smart enough to know when the point had been made. Your position strikes me as naive. Russert never needed to body slam an opponent and stand on top of him to prove a point. If that's what you are looking for, you weren't going to get it from Russert. But that doesn't mean that people who feel otherwise aren't making sense.

 

Today's Meet the Press was very powerful. Forget about the politics and what this country has lost. What always struck me most about Russert was that he seemed to be a warm and caring person that loved his work and his family and his country. The guy always had a smile on his face. It was nice to see that celebrated today. We could all do well in our own lives to emulate the standards that he set. I know I will try.

 

I miss him and I didn't know him. RIP Tim.

[Good Old Neon]

I strongly disagree with you. Russert's audience was smart enough to know when the point had been made. Your position strikes me as naive. Russert never needed to body slam an opponent and stand on top of him to prove a point. If that's what you are looking for, you weren't going to get it from Russert. But that doesn't mean that people who feel otherwise aren't making sense.

 

Memo to Tim Russert: Dick Cheney thinks he controls you.

 

This delicious morsel about the "Meet the Press" host and the vice president was part of the extensive dish Cathie Martin served up yesterday when the former Cheney communications director took the stand in the perjury trial of former Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

 

Flashed on the courtroom computer screens were her notes from 2004 about how Cheney could respond to allegations that the Bush administration had played fast and loose with evidence of Iraq's nuclear ambitions. Option 1: "MTP-VP," she wrote, then listed the pros and cons of a vice presidential appearance on the Sunday show. Under "pro," she wrote: "control message."

 

"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used," Martin testified. "It's our best format."

 

Source - http://www.americablog.com/2007/01/white-h...we-control.html

 

So, given that much of what Cheney was disseminating was misinformation, I find it extremely telling that the administration

[bjorn_skurj]

Jesus. I hope when I pull the croak chain, there won't be a thread debating my journalistic failings.

[owl]

I hope that when I'm dead, everyone will lament the loss of someone who was unparalleled in his ability to annoy, create awkwardness, make jokes that fall completely flat, and thoroughly depress anyone interested in talking politics, but I'll be damned if they question my integrity.

[kidsmoke]

Yes, we'll all be damned.

 

[bjorn_skurj]

"Bjorn never should have ran the Marlborough Republicans' meeting notices, because they were bad people and no one should have even been going to their meetings. And he depressingly never missed an opportunity to use a classic rock reference in a headline. Furthermore, his printing of the names of people charged with DWI and unlawful possession of marijuana can only be called pandering and, considering what has come to light since his passing, rank hypocrisy."

[Good Old Neon]

"Bjorn never should have ran the Marlborough Republicans' meeting notices, because they were bad people and no one should have even been going to their meetings. And he depressingly never missed an opportunity to use a classic rock reference in a headline. Furthermore, his printing of the names of people charged with DWI and unlawful possession of marijuana can only be called pandering and, considering what has come to light since his passing, rank hypocrisy."

 

I

[MattZ]

I cannot help but come to the conclusion that they chose Russert precisely because they felt as though they could, to put it simply, get away with it without having to answer too many tough questions from MTP

[JUDE]

With all due respect to Tim, and though I was genuinely fond of him as a person, Russert was the consummate Washington journalist insider, and I do not mean that flatteringly. I cannot count the number of times he allowed a complete fabrication from an interviewee to die on the vine, without asking the most obvious of follow up questions.

 

Dude, you have some extremely lofty expectations for pretty much any person who becomes subject for discussion on this board. I hope you lead your own life and day-to-day dealings up holding the same standards you use on everybody else. Knowing full well that you strive for perfection in your own life, I would gladly nominate you for sainthood; of course we know your stance on religion so I will refrain.

 

There, I said it.

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

I'm sure everyone's seen the clip by now, but when Russert asked Bush if we are fighting a war of choice or necessity, and Bush fumbled over himself and didn't know how to answer the question, Russert had made his point. The question didnt need to be asked again to drive any point home.

 

And I think the administration regretted putting Bush on Russert's show. The administration got away with nothing that day, and frankly, it's the best evidence we have of an administration that had no idea what it was doing.

 

That had nothing to do with Russert though. As we've painfully learned time and time again, Dubya's biggest enemies are his brain and his mouth and the fact that there's no direct link.

[MattZ]

That had nothing to do with Russert though. As we've painfully learned time and time again, Dubya's biggest enemies are his brain and his mouth and the fact that there's no direct link.

 

I'm not sure about that. Russert asked that question at a time when it was clear what the answer should have been. Bush's disconnect between brain and mouth certainly made the exchange even more unbelievable, but Russert asked the right question at the right time. And it should not go unmentioned that Bush has not given many interviews like that, but he gave one to Russert. So that had plenty to do with Russert, and the reach of his program.

 

And, I was responding in part, to claims above that Russert let people off too easily. I'd argue that Russert didn't need to push the matter further -- the point had been made. There was no need to follow up.

[Good Old Neon]

That had nothing to do with Russert though. As we've painfully learned time and time again, Dubya's biggest enemies are his brain and his mouth and the fact that there's no direct link.

 

Exactly

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

I'm not sure about that. Russert asked that question at a time when it was clear what the answer should have been. Bush's disconnect between brain and mouth certainly made the exchange even more unbelievable, but Russert asked the right question at the right time. And it should not go unmentioned that Bush has not given many interviews like that, but he gave one to Russert. So that had plenty to do with Russert, and the reach of his program.

 

And, I was responding in part, to claims above that Russert let people off too easily. I'd argue that Russert didn't need to push the matter further -- the point had been made. There was no need to follow up.

 

True, you make a point. But Bush's reasoning for making the appearance would speak as much for him feeling safe in that forum.

 

Another Dubya interview buffoonerly happened on the Today show with Matt Lauer, prior to 2004, when conducted on an airplane. Bush fumbled and tripped over his tongue, and it had nothing to do with Lauer's "adept" interviewing. To categorize Dubya with an equally intelligent movie character, "stupid is as stupid does."

[Guest Cousin Tupelo]

Exactly

[bjorn_skurj]

I

[Good Old Neon]

Thanks, man! Be sure to throw in the word "avid" a lot!

 

 

[myboyblue]

Dude, you have some extremely lofty expectations for pretty much any person who becomes subject for discussion on this board. I hope you lead your own life and day-to-day dealings up holding the same standards you use on everybody else. Knowing full well that you strive for perfection in your own life, I would gladly nominate you for sainthood; of course we know your stance on religion so I will refrain.

 

There, I said it.

 

agreed... a guy can't even have a RIP thread without being critized. This, despite the fact that he was widely accepted by both political parties to be incredibly credible as a journalist. If ever to have a thread with "nothing nice to say, say nothing at all" this would be one.

[Good Old Neon]

agreed... a guy can't even have a RIP thread without being critized. This, despite the fact that he was widely accepted by both political parties to be incredibly credible as a journalist. If ever to have a thread with "nothing nice to say, say nothing at all" this would be one.

 

Oh, don

[bjorn_skurj]

[Good Old Neon]

"An avid bongulist and perennial masturbator, Bjorn did not fornicate nearly as much as he would have liked."

 

 

That is pure journalistic obit gold

[bjorn_skurj]

Hopefully, my untimely death will highlight the importance of fornicating while one can.

[mountain bed]

Hopefully, my untimely death will highlight the importance of fornicating while one can.

And bongulating as well - who was it that said "you can have my bong when you pry it from my cold, dead hands".

[plasticeyeball]

i think that was me.

 

or you. i forget.