This may sound crass, BUT..should ALL the "news" channels

[SoCalDem]

be wall-to-wall eulogies for Russert?

I can understand a certain amount, but there are some pretty significant news events going on that are NOT being covered at all..Like the hundreds of Taliban who "escaped" in Kandahar...anything new on that one?

the millions of people in harm's way in the midwest, due to the flooding..

It must suck, for them to not be able to tune in from time to time & see what's up in their neck of the woods..

I know they loved him, and they miss him, but why not just tape all the tributes, and run them all weekend..and give the "Hard-Core Prisoners We Have Come to Love" shows a rest this weekend..

and CNN too? That one's baffling.. Maybe they feel they would be criticized if they too did not turn into eulogy-central.

[GodlessBiker]

1. He was one of their own. They all want this kind of treatment when they go.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. I said that before and I was received with the ... but... but he just died

let me find it and will link to it

To me he is probably shaking his head on the way to the elysean fields as he has become a distraction (yep to put it even more crassly, another missing white blond)

here's the link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3445495

[ecstatic]

3. Don't worry. FOX has not left their 24-7 Bash Obama post nt

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. The death of one of their own

It's a shocking and newsworthy event. The news will be back, but, right now, these people are having their own irish wake for their vanished friend, and I, for one, think it's appropriate. It won't go on forever.

The news business is very intertwined, a very small community, and they're all in shock.

[arcadian]

5. The news should not cover themselves.

But this is infotainment so it's OK.

[azmouse]

6. It's a bit overboard but for one day what does it matter?

[SoCalDem]

9. For the families with soldiers in Afghanistan & the people awaiting the flood

a day may make a lot of difference..

and they are repeating themselves now..

[azmouse]

16. People in areas that are flooding are watching local news, not national.

And they never show stories on Afghanistan anyway.

They certainly are repeating themselves. That's why I turned it off about 1/2 hr ago.

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. BUT NATIONAL NEWS helps to INFORM the rest of the nation

this is, quite possibly Katrina II

[PeaceNikki]

24. It's really nowhere close to Katrina II

Roads, agriculture, homes and stuff are being destroyed, but the number of lives impacted is incomperable.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. Really? Okie dokie

seen the GEOGRAPHIC area affected?

Oh never mind, after all during Katrina people mostly paid attention to the CITY and not the rest of the Gulf Coast

By the way YOU will personally affected... when prices of commodities go up

[PeaceNikki]

33. I am in the area of SE WI affected, so... yeah.

Friends, family and co-workers have lost homes and belongings. Roads are closed and the impact on my state's agriculture, tourism and livelihood are devestating. But nobody, nobody I know is coming CLOSE to comparing it to what the Gulf coast went through in 2005. It's awful and horrible but you're comparing apples to Jeeps.

[nadinbrzezinski]

34. No I am not.... that is the sad part

you are just seeing the beginning of it

Floods have a very PARTICULAR way of behaving and evolving. The worst part is yet to come...

I know it is not as bad from the WIND damage... but the damage to water systems is the same, the failure of levies is the same, and I could go on

[SoCalDem]

36. and once this water moves into the Mississippi

the towns that have "good" levee systems will inflict MORE damage on the poorer towns downriver:(

[nadinbrzezinski]

41. It happens every time, doesn't it?

[PeaceNikki]

37. Yes, I am familiar.

I am in the middle of what is called "Lake country". It's called that because there are several dozen lakes, many connected to each other and various other waterways.

Dams are breaking, private wells are contaminated and water levels continue to rise. However, nobody is stranded on their roof for days. Bodies are not floating down the street. Thousands of people are not being separated from their loved ones and crammed into community centers. It's VERY devestating, but again... apples vs. Jeeps.

[nadinbrzezinski]

40. Well if you think this is not that devastating, who am I to say

after all we are talking of trillions of dollars in damage, and an internally displaced population.. even if temporary... oh well

You are right, who am I to say?

And the cost of this will be felt in months to come nationwide in other ways

[PeaceNikki]

44. You miss the part where I said "It's VERY devestating"?

:shrug:

I repeat, this is affecting MY community, MY family, MY friends, MY co-workers and MY life directly and indirectly. I called it devestating and it is.

But it's still thankfully a WORLD of difference from Katrina.

[azmouse]

27. Yes, you have a point.

But for those of us not in any danger from the flooding we CAN find out what is happening on the internet. We can also find out what we can do to help on the internet and probably find out more than the national news will ever tell us.

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. The coverage has not been as good as Katrina and on purpose

and you know what is shameful? I found out MORE of what is going on in the Mexican Press than in the national US press.

Spent all afternoon yesterday looking for what was up

Though CNN did a fairly descent job

That said, MOST FOLKS STILL don't get their news from the intertubes

[azmouse]

39. A lot of people don't have cable either.

[nadinbrzezinski]

22. I'm sure the for the people living in the midwest it matters

sorry, but we are going more than just overboard. Or rather, they are

[azmouse]

31. If they aren't currently flooded out they are watching local news not MSNBC.

[DJ13]

7. The MSM love being sheep

If one channel starts showing a calamity, within a half an hour they are all covering it.

Its the same reason we went through months of the missing girl on Aruba.

[BlueManDude]

8. Watch out - you'll be accused of being a heartless ogre.

[MrCoffee]

10. It's Friday...there couldn't possibly be any other stories on a Friday.

[SoCalDem]

14. D'oh.. you are right.. news ceases to exist on Friday

and does not start to happen again until Monday :) How could I have forgotten..?:rofl:

the only things that happen on weekends are prisoners and perverts on parade & sports :P

[MrCoffee]

18. It's gonna be ok...

Up next, we have a dog that can ride a surfboard! Wheeeee, look at him go!

[nadinbrzezinski]

35. Hey maybe I should train the cockatiel to climb up a rope

Hey NEWS-BREAK cockatiel climbs up a rope!

Cue cute footage!

[SoCalDem]

38. and in the meantime..enjoy this energy footage

[nadinbrzezinski]

42. WHOA... that is great

[Mabus]

11. No

And it is disconcerting to say the least. This is even worse than when Jennings died.

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. When Peter died they did it more or less in the old school

mostly a retrospective and that's it... with some breaking news

This is just down right ridiculous

I can only compare it to a white blond gone missing

[Mabus]

45. To tell you the truth, I'm doing the same thing I did then

I've turned off the "news" channels and I am watching stuff I've saved on the DVR. Later, I'll be catching up on my reading. I saw that Jennings died and figured they were going to go nuts eulogizing him. I preempted that by turning the channel to something non-news immediately.

And, besides, if something important like a white blond had gone missing, Fox would be on it too. (I haven't really checked what Fox is up to but someone earlier posted that they were staying with the "Bash Obama" programming.)

[nadinbrzezinski]

47. They also have done quite a bit of Tim as well

[Mabus]

49. I'm taking the dogs for a walk

and will wait until the semblance of sanity returns next week.

Jeez, it just occurred to me. This Sunday's talk shows are going to be unbearable.

[Mabus]

48. self-delete

posted in the wrong place.

[dems_rightnow]

12. Nobody uses national news

To see what's happening with weather and flooding in their area. If they need that info, locals carry it in much more depth.

[bigwillq]

13. The NBC stations have every right

to have it be 24/7 on Russert..that was the station he did work for, and Russert was big in the news business, maybe one of the biggest from the current crop, regardless of whether we like him or not.

I feel it's justified that the other stations are doing non-stop coverage as well. It's called respect.

[undeterred]

15. People in the news media tend to overestimate their own importance.

The death of Tim Russert is a big deal to them. To the average viewer, its not. I have no feeling about the man at all.

[ccountz]

17. I think this shows

how respected he was among his peers....

the troubles of this administration will continue on and we all have to put up with the BS of a wrong headed president for another 7 months.

The other news channels will get back to the other stuff very soon. We are watching those on MSNBC grieving on air...which frankly...for a least one day...i find humanizing and touching. Let them grieve...if only for a news cycle.

[Indenturedebtor]

20. I think that people would respect it more if these folks shed a tear for the millions of Iraqis

we've killed with their help.

Where's the 24 special on that?

[monmouth]

19. Wait till Cronkite passes. This is huge in their world....n/t

[JHB]

46. My bet is that when Walter leaves us...

...it'll look more like "Was that old fossil still around? Well, how (theoretically) sad that he's passed away." Not the current circus.

Cronkite hasn't been a "daily face" for nearly three decades, they just don't feel the connection anymore. And we're all the poorer for it.

[kath]

51. and Cronkite wasn't a shill for the MIC, Bushco and the corporate kleptocracy...

very different kettle of fish. Not only that but he was UNPATRIOTIC enough to question the Vietnam war.
Nothing at all like Russert, and therefore will likely not be much mourned by the RW powers-that-be.
And we are *definitely* all the poorer for it. Russert and his ilk have done so much damage to our country. :cry:

[malaise]

21. I can't believe it

What about the rest of news? What about the suffering people in Iowa.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. and indiana and kansas... it is five states, not only Iowa

[malaise]

30. Correct

Isn't it amazing that they never contacted any of these people to discuss Kucinich's articles of impeachment .

add

[EFerrari]

26. There's really no news on television anyway. n/t

[woolldog]

28. It's not crass. You're right.

The wall to wall coverage on every news station is excessive. There are other stories happening that aren't getting covered. The American media sucks.

[leftofthedial]

50. they are using Russert's corpse to try and gather their own credibility in light of the

damning realities exposed in McClellan's book about media complicity with the neocon cabal's crimes.

Only if a blonde girl goes missing or a shark starts attacking flood victims will they break away for "news."

[kath]

52. The title of your OP says it all --

putting "news" in quotation marks is, sadly, the appropriate way to mention them these days.

Goodbye to the concepts of "the press", "news" and "journalism", welcome Corporate Propaganda Ministry, aka McPravda, and infotainment. (perhaps the blogosphere can help save us - they are a bright spot. We can only hope.)

[napi21]

53. Tim was THE BIG DOG in the political news business! He was

also Washington Bureau Chief, and a VP for NBC! Rachel Maddow said when she began her show tonight "Tim was #1 of political journalists, and what's intresting is that there IS no #2!" Think about that. Millions of people have watched Tim every Sunday since 1991! Who else has a Sunday Talk Show? George Stephanopolis, Bob Shieffer & Wolf Blitzer. Even if you hated Tim, I think you'd have to admit, he was much better at his job, and much more influential than any of those 3! I also found it really funny that every time I've heard the Sunday Shows mentioned, NOBODY includes Fox News Sunday!!!! HA HA

I can understand how upset the people in the news room of all TV stations are. I think many of them, especially the ones over 45. Don't you think they are thinking "that could be ME tomorrow!"

If the coverage really bothers you, go watch the food network!

[SoCalDem]

57. Gee, thanks for that enlightened suggestion

:rofl:

[Trillo]

54. Before I opened your post,

I thought that you were going to suggest that all TV news channels be required to have a disclaimer, and were going to suggest a possibility.

"The news items reported on this channel reflects the consensus opinion of our owners regarding their relative importance versus newsworthy items not covered. There may be other stories of more educational or citizen value that due to time constraints were not covered."

Or perhaps:

"Celebrity and distraction news."

It's sad someone else died, and sympathies to Russert's family.

But look at the bright side: Corporate Media can, in fact, get their ducks all in the same row marching lockstep with each other. It's more apparent with reports of what they do cover, such as yours, than with items they choose not to show.

Have any channels covered Kucinich's Impeachment bill? (I don't know, they lost me as a viewer some time ago)

[nadinbrzezinski]

58. KO did for about ten minutes

that is the total of the coverage

[Cleita]

55. I guess he's as good a distraction as a missing white girl.

The only two TV news programs that I watch, Democracy Now and BBC America news spent about five minutes on a tribute and eulogy and then moved on to other news because they aren't afraid to report what is really going on and don't need to grasp at the next distraction news coming on and beating it to death in the process. I don't think Tim would have been happy with this either.

[BlooInBloo]

56. It's an excellent opportunity for the MSM to circle the wagons on media-criticism.

[Lilith Velkor]

59. !

My :tinfoilhat: is tingling....

[SoCalDem]

60. They are a self-congratulatory bunch..to be sure..

I guess he was their own personal "Reagan"..

The funeral will be wall-to-wall too..

[Sheltiemama]

61. I'm a print journalist.

I successfully lobbied to get the story about his death on our front page yesterday, though it is at the bottom of the page, which was the right call given our other news. I could tell that it was going to be a huge story, given the TV coverage and reaction on the Internet by the time of our news meeting yesterday afternoon, and our paper needed to reflect what people were watching. But when I was editing the AP story about his death, I was surprised to read that NBC not only interrupted its regular programming, which I would have expected, but continued with several hours of commercial-free coverage. I wasn't surprised at MSNBC doing it, but NBC's coverage shocked us. Watching the repeats of some of the coverage was very interesting when I got home last night. I think a big part of it is that he was relatively young and collapsed at work. Maybe that's a fear many of us have. I know I don't want to die at my desk. And we have had a couple of heart attack victims at my paper in the last few years, one of whom died. The journalism community is close-knit. I think part of the extensive coverage yesterday was because of shock on the part of the people who knew and worked with him, of which there seem to be many.