NBC News has tracked down whoever updated Tim Russert's Wikipedia entry with news of his death, before any major outlet, including NBC, had reported it — and fired the culprit. That's because 30 Rock wanted to privately notify Russert's family of his death, at their D.C. newsroom, and not have them learn about it on a television broadcast. Or Wikipedia. "We were not prepared to say anything until all the family had heard,” says NBC News spokeswoman Allison Gollust, who says the network asked other networks to hold the news. It was a "junior level" staffer at Internet Broadcasting Services, which operates NBC's local news websites, who made the changes. Naturally, this brings the Times to conclude that while Matt Drudge has his own breaking news platform, Wikipedia is the only Internet soapbox for the little people.
Editorial Director
Does it really matter who did it??? He's still dead……let's move on people, we're not talking about Jesus Christ here……
It's about respect and courtesy, not the level of fame. The same respect should be shown to ANYONE's family, regardless of the person's 'status'.
I think less people would care if it were Jesus Christ we were talking about.
"Tim Russert Death Leaker…" How much sense does that make? Goes to show you how ridiculous and foolish people and the media have become. The man died for crissake,… Leaked???? Give me a f—in' break!
As Mel stated, it's about respect, not fame.
NBC wanted to alert the family in person. They even had the other news outlets refrain from reporting until they could do so. It's no different than when the news reports an accident with a death toll, but won't release the names of the dead until the family is notified.
Seriously, if you'd ever lost a loved one, you'd realize that you wouldn't want to find out about that loss while obliviously surfing the internet or TV channels.