The endless coverage. The remembrances of seemingly anyone who had ever breathed the same air. The special Meet The Press edition. Not seventy-two hours into Tim Russert's last call and already everybody's got an opinion about the blanket coverage of Russert across NBC's properties as well as other news channels. Some might argue criticizing the tributes is in bad taste; after all, a man who you'd be hard pressed to find a negative thing to say about, just died. Then there's the other argument: The news media all too often shoots now, asks questions later, then performs a postmortem on its behavior, only to never learn its lesson. Might these critiques of Russertmania be appropriate?
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. And one reader wrote: "His was the most noteworthy and untimely 'public' death in the past 20 years."
Really? Beware hyperbole.
Is the coverage professional? A lot of the comments about Russert should have been saved for the office. NBC should have approached covering Russert as the network would have any other public figure who had died. Hard to do, yes, but that should have been the goal. Instead, Russert's colleagues used the airwaves to work through their grief. Some people will excuse that style out of sympathy, but that approach just wasn't right. [Hal Boedeker]
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I watched a few hours of the coverage on Friday night, from about 6 p.m. through 9:30 or so. You got the idea that no one else knew what else to do, so they went on air. Perhaps they felt Mr. Russert would have soldiered on in a similar instance. Some of it was very tough to watch. Andrea Mitchell found it difficult to speak several times. When they went to Keith Olbermann at 8:00, he had very clearly been crying.
I think when something like this happens to your friend or well-loved colleague, 24 hour coverage is never enough.
NBC loved Tim and they have the power to give that kind of coverage
Sorry and surprised as I was about Tim Russert's death, I was incredulous as I saw the cable "news broadcasters" do nothing but sit and talk about their relationships with Tim Russert, their work histories, their personal lives, and on and on ad infinitum day and night. I guess it gave the talking egos more of a chance to talk about themselves. Another expample of it being about the messenger and not the message. When a friend or relative dies, we grieve, we bury them and we move on. These endless and repetitive discussions about other broadcasters relationships with Tim Russert and the endless details became more than I could bear and I finally turned away from the cable "news" programs until this morning when lo and behold they were still on the same subject. This is lunacy. There are so many things gonig on in the world that people want to (and should) know about that are being ignored even more than before. Enough already! Rest in peace Tim Russert. Now let us get on with life and the living…..
The reason why Russert's passing is so momentous, and why so many of us willingly tuned in to hours of coverage, was because most of us feel he set a standard for tough, accountable journalism on broadcast TV. Russert's past didn't catch up with him, it helped him know just how to ask the kind of question that broke through spin on both sides of the aisle. As I look through NBCs roster of talent and the names that are bandied about as his potential replacement, I see nobody with that same sense of love for the political process, sense of mission for journalistic depth and integrity, and same presentation of love for something beyond his own fame and fortune. This is why the tributes ran and this is why many of us are still stunned, wondering just who will pick up the mantel for a show that epitomized the quest for political accountability to the masses.
Russert was a good guy and universally beloved it seems. But the coverage is overkill. The media has a tendency toward self-importance, and they contol the outlets so they get to decide what's the #1 story. To them this is, but to the rest of America, probably not.
It wasn't so much that they and we were mourning Russert but that we were acknowledging that there is no one else out there quite like him left. We've got a bunch of talking heads who are self-obsessed and obsessed with each other. Big egos, big mouths, little substance. Was/is the coverage excessive? Sure but it's cable. They had the time and it's all they felt like doing so they did. When will it end? Probably with his memorial service on Thursday. What will the ratings be? If they're good know this: they'll do even more when Brokaw or anyone else around there finally kicks.
I appreciated the coverage of the life and death of Tim Russert. I think the raw emotion of his friends and colleagues, and dignity of his son, provided us with a real opportunity to understand Russert's enormous personal impact on so many lives. It was wonderful to see the unscripted side of the journalists with whom he worked. His sudden death is a wake-up call for our family about the values of hard work, preparation, living life fully and enthusiastically, and to proactively pursue good health. Tim's death offers a good reminder of the fragility of life.
Enough already - he's dead, let's move on people!
If you don't like what is on, change the channel! I happen to enjoy all the coverage about Tim Russert and how his friends and family were dealing with his sudden passing.
Tim Russert was a good and decent man, but enough already. During the weekend 26,000 families in Iowa lost their homes but this was only minor story compared to the death of Tim Russert. Just goes to show you that if you are rich or famous, your life and death is much more important than everyone else's.
They should just talk about the Pulitzer Prizes that he won and move on.
To Stacy, #9: Stacy, Get a life dear. Don't you have any family of your own….or friends to help you "enjoy" a life of your own, instead of the "coverage" of the "passing" of strangers…? Ick!