Keith Olbermann Pays Tribute To Tim Russert

[mzmolly]

Run time: 06:11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n26ekPvQaEY   Posted on YouTube: June 14, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: June 16, 2008 By DU Member: mzmolly Views on DU: 2444

 
While we may have Russert fatique, I enjoyed Keith's O's tribute.

[Radio_Lady]

1. MzMolly, I have been engaged in many other important pursuits this weekend. Thank you so much for...

taking the time to post this wonderful tribute. Mourning the death of someone so young -- born in 1950 -- grieves me beyond belief. My deepest condolences to his father, wife, and son, and to all the members of his audience who cared about him.

Peace, love and happiness,

Radio Lady Ellen Kimball

(I've never been a journalist, but have done the news via teletype copy. I am always a media personality interested in politics and also a former NBC employee in the "Tonight" show program and then the News Division in the 1960s -- during the the days of Chet Huntley-David Brinkley.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntley-Brinkley_Report

[mzmolly]

5. It was my pleasure to share.

I'm glad you found it of value.

:hi:

[sellitman]

2. Keith did a valiant job with this.

I watched it live. With eyes red and a somber voice he expressed the loss he and the world suffered with Tim's passing. It was heartfelt and sad. As usual Keith shined.

[ben_meyers]

3. Keith is now dead to me. n/t

:sarcasm:

[mzmolly]

4. LOL

I'm glad I clicked on your post. ;)

[stray cat]

6. KO - what a tool!

Please note sarcasm - such a bad thing to care when a respected colleague and friend dies.

[bjobotts]

7. Olbermann begins to suck ass. Attributing honors where none are deserved.

As Cheney's unofficial spokesman, continued to "control the message" for the WH. Olbermann ignores reality and spouts the hype and fantasy of a GE employee whose greatness is only shared by other members of the GE family of Journalists turned propagandists coveted "media darling" status. If it's Sunday...time to turn off your TV because there is nothing on but boring news propaganda where so called journalists and politicians jerk each other off for our amusement and call it news. Rachel Maddow is soon to join the fiasco of the old "Buckwheat dead" skit from SNL with endless unwarranted tribute top pumpkin face.

[mzmolly]

10. Well, perhaps he'll clear his opinions with you before daring

to speak going forward? ;)

[happydreams]

20. KO and Maddow are, after all, employees of GE. Something to think about....

General Electric launched Ronald Reagan's career and he brought good things to GE's life via military contracts and a gutting of the FCC so GE could buy up the news media.
KO's stuff is an attempt, a reluctant one, by the media to adopt to a changed political climate.
GE has no use for the Bushies, who were probably involved in the attempt to assasinate Reagan.
It's all jockying by capitalist elites, IMHO.

Agreed, KO bowed to the pressure, or he didn't see anything wrong with Russert anyway. In either case he shows his true colors.

[Phred42]

8. KO, Would Murrow have ignored Russert's complicity in the illegal war?

Is this how it begins, the slide to the Reich?

KO Lost his objectivity on this one.

“Integrity is for paupers!” - Tim Russert ( http://makethemaccountable.com/podvin/media/020109_Russert.htm )

Really Keith?

[mzmolly]

9. Integrity IS for paupers

as some here either don't recognize a joke when they read it, or they attempt to mislead by using a quote out of context.

[Phred42]

11. CHOCOLATES AND NYLONS, SIR?

So show us where/how it was 'out of context'

This was one report:


CHOCOLATES AND NYLONS, SIR?

By David Podvin

In 1992, shortly after being named moderator of Meet The Press, Tim Russert was having lunch with a broadcast executive. The mealtime conversation was about the pros and cons of working for General Electric’s NBC subsidiary. Russert expounded on how being employed by GE had brought him to the realization that things functioned better when Republicans were in charge.

“You know, Tim, you used to be such a rabid Democrat when you worked for Pat Moynihan,” said the executive. “But now that you’ve gotten a glimpse of who’s handing out the money in this business, you’ve become quite the Jaycee. Were you wrong about everything you used to believe so strongly?”

“I still believe,” Russert said, leaning across the table. “I believe in everything I ever did. But I also know that I never would have become moderator on Meet The Press if my employers were uncomfortable with me. And, given the amount of money at stake, millions of dollars, I don’t blame them. This is business.”

The executive agreed. “But are you concerned about losing yourself? You know, selling out?”

Russert pounded the table. “Integrity is for paupers!”

When Tim Russert joined NBC News in 1984, he began a personal transformation from Democratic congressional aide to broadcaster-in-charge of General Electric’s political interests. His early efforts for the network drew some criticism from the GE corporate suites as being “too knee jerk”, a euphemism for “insufficiently pro-GE/ Republican”. The executives at General Electric viewed with hostility the Democratic Party that wanted to burden them with obeying laws that the company preferred to break and complying with regulations that it preferred to ignore. While Republicans turned a blind eye to the serial environmental crimes and bribery committed by GE, the Democrats were less submissive. The company was especially upset that the Democratic Party had taken a position against transferring public ownership of the broadcast airwaves to the media conglomerates.

The ambitious Russert soon learned that, in order to climb the ladder at NBC News, he had to please two sets of managers: the news executives who were ostensibly his bosses, and the employers of the news executives. In the years that followed, he refined the strategy to ingratiating himself to General Electric Chairman Jack Welch.

[mzmolly]

12. It's a joke.

That's the context.

[Jakes Progress]

14. He may have said it as a joke

but he lived it just they say he said it. He was a GE employee, not the world's greatest journalist. He made his choice and he seemed able to live with it. It's okay to say he was a nice guy if you knew him. It's okay to say he was fun to watch, if you liked watching. But this 24/7 hero of the American people stuff is just too much. It denigrates the true journalists of this world. People here are buying the GE and Washington press line. He was famous and that appears to be all that is needed for some to laud.

[mzmolly]

15. I disagree.

Keith Olbermann is a GE employee, Rachel Maddow is a GE employee, etc. so I fail to see your point on this issue?

My opinion on Russert is not based upon the 24 hour news coverage of him. I've barely watched it. I enjoyed his show, thought he was masterful at questioning his guests. I did not expect any more from him than that. I did not expect him to single handedly prevent the war, for example.

Here are some of my "it's okay's"

It's ok to say you did not like his show
It's ok to say you did not feel he was a "real journalist"
It's ok to say that his show wasn't "fun"

But, it's not ok to hold him responsible for the war in Iraq. It's not ok to essentially say "if you don't agree with my on Russert you're an idiot".

Most of those condemning him didn't watch his show, and if they did I would have to ask why?

[Jakes Progress]

16. Who are you writing to?

I didn't say he was responsible for the war. I didn't say you were an idiot. I said we disagree.

And yes KO and Rachel are GE employees. Watch how this is going to pan out over the next five months.

I did watch him and I didn't think he was masterful at questioning. He was selective in who he questioned deeply and lenient in follow up when he should have known he was giving the neocon and pentagon mouthpieces free rein. It's sort of like Colin Powell. He had the position and the intelligence to have done something. He chose not to. Not exactly a Murrow. He chose not to put his job on the line. His background indicates that he had progressive inclinations which he stifled for professional purposes. Were he a $14 K reporter from Midland or Fresno or Portsmouth, that kind of thing could be more overlooked. But he went after a high profile position and got it. With that position came responsibility, which he shirked.

Again, he seemed like a likable fellow, but if you want the position then you must take the responsibility.

[mzmolly]

17. I'm speaking in general as you were

when you responded to my post. I don't think that Murrow hosted a talk show as Russert did, he hosted a weekly new magazine. They did not have the same position. So, I would not compare the two.

I also don't believe he had any "inside" information that he chose to ignore before the war. Nor am I convinced he, alone could have done much to stop it.

He expressed regret for being part of a larger group of the MSM that did not do it's job prior to the war in Iraq. That's more than we got from most in his position.

I am sleep deprived, so I hope I made some sense? If not, I'll try again tomorrow. ;)

[Jakes Progress]

18. See, we're not that far apart.

We just disagree. Russert's position is the modern day version of Murrow's show. He did seek out and achieve a position where he was listened to. With that came the responsibility to do the kind of thing Murrow did with the McCarthy hearings. Did you see Good Night and Good Luck?

And I believe he did know when he was being used. He wasn't dumb. He knew about Cheney's crap. He indicated as much, but held back because GE wanted the war. He knew about the Plame affair. He was embarrassed that the didn't come forward or speak up earlier. But he was busy making more money per year than real journalists like Bill Moyers makes in his life.

I don't begrudge him the love of his family or credit for playing the Washington journalism game well. But I balk at elevating him simply because he was famous. I think we agree that there has been too much made over this on both sides. My belief is that those most idolizing him now on DU do so because of his hatred of Hillary. They want to forgive every sin of his because he supported them in this one thing that was so important to them. Let the war mongers use you as a tool. Hide the truth about outing an American secret agent. We don't care as long as you dump on Hillary. Yes he was genial. Yes he sat in our living rooms most every day. But a great journalist? Nope.

[Phred42]

19. Russert was NOT a modern Day Murrow - he wasn't a journalist

Unless you have some Orwellian definition of Journalism

He was a Reich wing ENABLER
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Washington Journalism on Trial -http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/02/08/BL2007020801013_pf.html

...snip...

For Russert, yesterday's testimony was the second source of trial-related embarrassment in less than two weeks. The first came when Cathie Martin, Cheney's former communications director, testified that the vice president's office saw going on Russert's "Meet the Press" as a way to go public but "control message."

In other words: Sure, there might be a tough question or two, but Russert could be counted on not to knock the veep off his talking points -- and, in that way, give him just the sort of platform he was looking for.

and.....


Tim Russert, at the Lewis Libby Trial, February, 2007 (recounted by The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin)
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/04/24/halberstam_press/

If you're a journalist, and a very senior White House official calls you up on the phone, what do you do? Do you try to get the official to address issues of urgent concern so that you can then relate that information to the public?

Not if you're NBC Washington bureau chief Tim Russert. . .

When then-vice presidential chief of staff Scooter Libby called Russert on July 10, 2003, to complain that his name was being unfairly bandied about by MSNBC host Chris Matthews, Russert apparently asked him nothing.

And get this: According to Russert's testimony yesterday at Libby's trial, when any senior government official calls him, they are presumptively off the record.

That's not reporting, that's enabling.

That's how you treat your friends when you're having an innocent chat, not the people you're supposed to be holding accountable. . .

For Russert, yesterday's testimony was the second source of trial-related embarrassment in less than two weeks. The first came when Cathie Martin, Cheney's former communications director, testified that the vice president's office saw going on Russert's "Meet the Press" as a way to go public but "control message."

In other words: Sure, there might be a tough question or two, but Russert could be counted on not to knock the veep off his talking points -- and, in that way, give him just the sort of platform he was looking for.

Russert's description of how he does business with government officials came when prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald asked him whether there were "any explicit ground rules" for his conversation with Libby.

According to someone taking meticulous notes at the courthouse yesterday, Russert replied: "Specifically, no. But when I talk to senior government officials on the phone, it's my own policy our conversations are confidential. If I want to use anything from that conversation, then I will ask permission."

[Jakes Progress]

21. Dude,

before you pop in at the end of a nine reply thread, read all the posts. Unless you are replying to me in error, you are making the point I just spent four posts making. I don't disagree with your arguments, but they would be more useful arguing with someone that isn't trying to make the point you are trying to make. Again, I didn't say Russert was a modern day Murrow. In reply to a discussion that had been ongoing over three days, i said that he did not behave like Murrow. Edward R. put his job on the line to tell the truth. Russer, in a similarly high profile position, had the opportunity to do so and choked. He chose making enough money to send his kid to private prep school rather than do anything meaningful.

[mzmolly]

13. I just realized I said "fatiQue" not fatiGue.

Sorry gang. :crazy: