On a NBC News conference call this morning, NBC head Jeff Zucker, NBC News chief Steve Capus, and anchor Brian Williams joined in with a number of others to discuss the future of Meet The Press and the D.C. bureau. A source who was not on the call, but overheard a colleague's speakerphone listening session, says Tom Brokaw's name was bandied about. (It's unclear whether Brokaw was on the call.)
More on the post-Tim Russert future is here.
… based on reports from earlier this month, the Countdown host posted this item on Daily Kos:
Kindness to the grieving - even if it's forced, even if it just augurs a later pouncing - is appreciated.
For what it's worth, he didn't position himself publicly on this for obvious reasons, and we had had a very pleasant, very constructive "what can we do to keep our two styles from hurting each other's broadcast, or the whole organization," conversation. But Tim Russert was as supportive of what I did as anybody else at NBC, and his role on the MSNBC election coverage was voluntary and enthusiastic.
So that matter is all cleared up now. Right? Right?
Because he considered himself too ugly. Then Michael Gartner, then the president of NBC News and the man who hired him, printed up sweatshirts that said "Tim Russert, Not just a pretty face." The rest is ratings history. [USAT]
When Tim Russert died on Friday, the first television media outlet to report the news was NBC, with Tom Brokaw interrupting the broadcast with a "Special Report." Except he didn't break the news. Many credit the New York Post with the story, which got picked up by the Drudge Report at approximately 3:33pm EST; six minutes later, at 3:39pm, Brokaw was on the air. (Rumor has it, sources at Fox News and CNN also had the story, but they held it so NBC could break the news.)
Except none of those guys actually broke the news. In all likelihood, as Jon Fine notes, Wikipedia did. At 3:01pm, Russert's Wikipedia entry was updated … with a date of death: "Timothy John Russert, Jr. (born May 7, 1950 died June 13, 2008) is an American journalist who has hosted NBC's Meet the Press since 1991." A little snooping revealed that whoever updated the entry logged on from a computer at Internet Broadcasting Systems, which runs the websites for NBC's owned-and-operated local stations.
And while the old guard might be surprised that anything less than an authority like Brokaw could be the one to break the news, those living in the now know this is a foolish notion. In its short lifetime, Wikipedia has a history of breaking death news. CONTINUED »
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? CONTINUED »
One might think 30 Rock wouldn't be particularly excited about Peter Boyer's 6,200-word New Yorker profile of Keith Olbermann that's intent on revisiting every charge of polarizing bias aimed his way in recent weeks and months. But, apparently, they weren't, since everyone from MSNBC head Phil Griffin to Olbermann himself participated in the article. Then again, the profile isn't as anti-Olbermann as, say, Fox News' PR department could have hoped.
Olbermann, who says he chose his 4th floor corner office at 30 Rock because it has a view of Fox News' studios across Sixth Avenue, has enjoyed both Jesus and pariah status atop his Countdown post. His fans are legion; his critics are loyal. Some of his biggest naysayers have, rightly so, come from across the avenue: Names like Bill O'Reilly and Steve Doocy come to mind, and those are just the ones with public soapboxes.
But many of the folks who have tired of Olbermann's routine also walk the same halls of 30 Rock he does. CONTINUED »
It's only fitting that Today would get the "get" of Luke Russert, the only child of Meet The Press anchor Tim Russert and Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth, who appeared on the show this morning for a lengthy segment with Matt Lauer. While Russert's colleagues have blanketed NBC, MSNBC, as well as other networks including CNN, with their own tales of what it was like to spend their work and personal hours with Russert, this is the first time somebody from Russert's family has spoken about the tragedy. The well-spoken Luke, of course, is a burgeoning media brand by himself: He's the co-host of XM sports show 60/20 with Tim's friend and colleague James Carville.
NBC News is doing the respectable thing and not commenting, publicly, about their plans in naming a successor to Tim Russert, whose death on Friday at the network's Washington studios has left them without a Meet The Press anchor, or a D.C. bureau chief. As a show of respect for Russert's family and his colleagues, 30 Rock is holding off on telling anyone what they plan to do come this Sunday.
While NBC News chief Steve Capus and NBC head Jeff Zucker wisely selected Tom Brokaw to moderate yesterday's MTP Russert tribute, with a line-up of the guests the late anchor would've booked himself, there's nothing firmed up for the weeks ahead, claims NBC.
None of that means media's chattering classes aren't placing over-unders on who's going to fill Russert's slot, at MTP or leading the network's Washington unit. There's a list of usual suspects, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. So who's the most likely to take the very big reins?
Let's take a look. CONTINUED »
As tasteless as it may seem, the rush to find out what to do with Sunday's Meet The Press, following Tim Russert's sudden death at NBC's D.C. studio this afternoon, is on. We're told Steve Capus & Co. are already plotting out what to do, and it's likely Andrea Mitchell will be asked to chair the show, though David Gregory is also a candidate. It's very possible Sunday's show will be used, at least in part, to air a video memorial of Russert, with Tom Brokaw being asked to join the panel, along with Chuck Todd, and others. It's unclear what the role of Brian Williams, who is anchoring NBC Nightly News from Afghanistan, will be, says, a source.
As the media industry immediately begins to mourn the loss of one of journalism's pros, and with Father's Day right around the corner, our minds immediately jumped to Tim Russert's Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons, the NBC D.C. bureau chief's 2005 book composed of letters written by readers about their own fathers, which came flooding in after his 2004 book Big Russ and Me, about growing up with his father. Russert has a son of his own (with Maureen Orth), Luke, who just graduated from Boston College and hosts the XM Radio sports show 60/20 with James Carville.
Below, Brian Williams reports the news. CONTINUED »
Meet The Press' longtime host Tim Russert is dead today, after suffering an apparent heart attack at NBC's Washington D.C. bureau. He was 58. [NY Post]
Steve Capus, Phil Griffin, and the rest of the NBC good old boys are on a vigorous hunt for the leak behind today's scathing Tim Russert v. Keith Olbermann item, which the network has flat-out denied.
But there's one place in particular, Jossip hears, that their attention is aimed: CONTINUED »
We've spent much space chronicling the unrest inside the walls of 30 Rock, from the arrival of NBC News correspondent at David Gregory at MSNBC to tension between Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann. Now comes word that Tim Russert, the well-respected and well-liked poobah of NBC, has officially joined the ranks of the perturbed. Well, he already did that when he had to scold Gregory about mouthing off to a waitress, but now his ire is aimed at "activist" Keith Olbermann. CONTINUED »
Thanks to the lovely Google Cache, a blog's since-pulled offline report about Chris Matthews' revelation and Tucker Carlson's confirmation, during a Portfolio photo shoot at MSNBC's D.C. studio, that Arianna Huffington had hired a private investigator to tail a NBC colleague (since identified as Tim Russert) can still be read. [Google Cache]
As it the censored item now reads: "The original author of this post and the editor of this blog would like to sincerely apologize to Conde Nast, Portfolio, Chris Matthews, Tucker Carlson and the photographer on set for any problems or inconvenience we might have caused. We had no intention to bring harm to anybody involved."
Except, well, too late? The blogger, Douglas Thompson, has officially screwed over his friend, the photographer, who he tagged along with. No more Conde Nast work for you, buddy.
While New York's trusty tabloids have differing opinions, so do last night's other election chroniclers.
Tim Russert on MSNBC: "We now know who the Democratic nominee is going to be, and no one is going to dispute it."
Well, some might. But just barely. CONTINUED »
Despite our lengthy reports on MSNBC's inner workings, Jossip continues to get asked back to appear on the network. (Okay, yesterday's David Gregory item might have officially killed our welcome.) But Arianna Huffington, here with some familiar faces, thinks she's been banned from 30 Rock thanks to her dubbing Meet the Press host and D.C. bureau chief Tim Russert as "EZ Pass," thanks to his letting Washington's elite get a free pass on his Sunday chat show.
Keith Kelly's "sources" (Huffington herself?) claim the blog diva got the news of her blackball on Tuesday night while she was dining at Barbara Walters home, though NBC News SVP Phil Griffin claims, "I haven't seen the book. I don't know anything about it."
Then again, Huffington does have a new book, Right is Wrong, to promote, and what better way to get the word out than fluff up a story like this? Sure, if true, potential bookings on Countdown and Hardball are out, but perhaps she'll get a nice rant-laden plug on The O'Reilly Factor.
Isn't funny that cable news' talking heads – the Chris Matthews, the Tim Russerts, the Bill O'Reillys – all play up their blue collar roots, identifying as one of the people, when they earn millions of dollars a year and have more homes than you have limbs? CONTINUED »
Did David Gregory almost lose his shot at getting his show on MSNBC?
About a month ago, he joined NBC colleague Tim Russert at a Washington D.C. restaurant for dinner, where he showed his lack of appreciation for the help. David Gregory: Not a consummate dining companion? CONTINUED »
Chris Matthews to Andrea Mitchell: You're awesome! Tim Russert is awesomer! [HuffPo]
