Russert was a reporter

[ruggerson]

nothing more, nothing less.

He was no more or less important to the life of this nation than any other hardworking man or woman.

This self aggrandizing display of inflated importance that MSNBC has been broadcasting all day speaks loudly to a major problem in our celebrity culture.

There are other, perhaps saner, nations where the people who read the news or ask questions of those in elective office are not considered to be better than, or more important to the well being of the nation than those who teach, those who write, those who build and those who work at the local grocery.

That is not meant to take anything away from the sad and sudden death of Tim Russert. He had a family who loved him and a father who was proud of him.

But when a beloved teacher dies suddently and unexpectedly at the local high school, the small town mourns, without the television cameras, without the studio sets, without live broadcasted, self important encomiums from fellow co-workers.

The teacher is as important to the lifeblood of our country as the journalist.

Yet, we will never know their name, because they didn't conduct their class as a reality show on national television.

[Demit]

1. No, reporters go out and get their own stories. Russert was a STAR. Who had his own show.

He didn't call people to get information, or verification on things. Remember his testimony during the Plame affair? People were supposed to call HIM.

[ruggerson]

3. Perhaps

but I'm not trashing Russert. He did the best he could at the job he loved to do.

But his father, the garbageman, was no less or no more important than his son.

And yet, if you listen to MSNBC, one would think we had lost Ghandi.

Our culture is very, very troubled.

[pettypace]

7. MSNBC, and CNN, and Fox

this is pretty big deal.

I mean i'm a political junkie and MTP was the one show to get your fix every Sunday. TR would go after Dems and Rep with equal ferocity, and it was where all the big senate contestants debated each other before the 06 midterms.

Why blame the news org for covering their own.

[Demit]

21. You might not be trashing Russert. But I was.

And that's why I have been and will be watching TIVO stuff until this nonstop eulogizing for him finally winds down. I agree, it's wildly inappropriate.

But It's not OUR culture that's troubled—people across the country will say 'Oh! too bad' and go on with their lives as usual—it's the culture of Washington insiders who've lost a club member—a TV personality just like them! only more powerful. Why it should dominate our airwaves, as you say, as if the world had lost Gandhi or someone who actually DID THINGS, I don't know—except we're expected to regard them as part of the Brahmin class that tells us how to think. But we don't have to watch. I think a lot of them are jockeying for the suddenly open position, anyway.

[ruggerson]

24. TV reporters, especially the cable news jocks

seem to have a distorted sense of reality. We are essentially the lifeblood of MSNBC, because we PAY to have to it in our homes. We are their financial bosses. Yet, they deem it appropriate to flood our cable channel with non stop 24 hour coverage of the death of a man who we only knew as one talking head amongst many.

The answer? Watch PBS or CSPAN.

[Araxen]

2. He was more than a journalist

He was the face and head of NBC News.

[TahitiNut]

4. Heresy

[Vilis Veritas]

22. Tim Russert Bobble-Head...Priceless.

It says so much and yet...

saddlesore

[tabasco]

5. The corporate media whores must aggrandize themselves.

Their only importance is their service to the ruling elite.

Disgusting cowards.

People like Olberman are allowed to give a sense of credibility to the propagandist networks.

[dflprincess]

13. Russert was no better or no worse than those who are eulogizing him tonight

They have to turn him into super reporter because by doing that they are not only excusing Russert's failure to ask the hard questions before Bush started his war, they are excusing themselves. After all, if a reporter as good as Russert allowed the country to be lied to, how could we have expected any better from those reporters who are still here?

[stray cat]

6. Einstein was just a scientist ?- I'm a scientist but in the grand scheme his impact beats mine

[ruggerson]

8. true

but Russert didn't develop the theory of relativity.

He asked questions of our public servants and tried to catch them being two faced.

[girl gone mad]

12. Bad analogy.

Russert was good at his job, but he didn't change human thinking. As a scientist, you should understand that Einstein fundamentally altered the way we perceive the universe and simultaneously gave us one of the most remarkably elegant theories in 5000+ years of exploration on knowledge.

[BlooInBloo]

20. Aaahhh... the comparisons made by the illiterate.

[H2O Man]

9. He was an attorney

who worked for Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Mario Cuomo. Those are things that most journalists don't do. Thus, it is not true that he was simply a journalist.

Every human life has value.

[ruggerson]

15. And I think his had value

but not moreso than the soldier or the construction worker or the seamstress.

None of whom get all day eulogizing on a cable news network.

[H2O Man]

18. Right.

Most people are eulogized by family, friends, and co-workers. Russert's positions are why politicians and journalists are paying tribute to him. A construction worker's circle of friend would do the same. It need not be viewed as a measure of one's worth, compared to anmother's.

[belpejic]

10. I grieve for Russert's family

He seems as if he was a nice guy in real life. But he was basically a journalistic jerk, subjecting politicians he didn't like to over-the-top prosecutorial questioning and fawning over politicians he did like, such as Dick Cheney, by tossing big softballs. He basically was a slave to Republican power. Which was probably part of General Electric's agenda.

I feel for those affected by his death, especially his family, but he basically was a journalistic bully. No need to sugarcoat it.

[jobycom]

11. When I die, those whose lives I affected will be affected.

That's not a lot, really. When a local teacher dies, those whose lives the teacher affected will be affected. That's a bigger number. More people will care, more people will mourn, more people will talk about it and use the death as an example of how to live and how to die and maybe even how to avoid dying so young.

When a national celebrity dies, a nation is affected. More people knew them, loved them, hated them, were inspired by them. More people will be saddened by them.

No one's saying Russert's death is more important than your eventual death. They are talking about it so much because so many people are affected by it. He visited more living rooms each week than you or I will visit in a lifetime.

Let people grieve without telling them why they are wrong to feel grief.

[belpejic]

14. A loss of any human life is tragic.

Especially for those directly affected. But there's no need to ignore the negative impact a talking head has had on political discourse. I can be sad that Russert passed, but I also don't need to forgive what I thought were some major journalistic sins on his part. Especially his interview with Big Dick right after "Mission Accomplished."

[jobycom]

16. Everyone sins.

I hope when I die that people are at least charitable about mine on that day, for the sake of my loved ones. Then again, some of my sins might make amusing stories... There's a lifetime to discuss his sins. But later.

Hell, I bit my tongue when Reagan died, out of respect for his mourners, and a realization that when my heroes die, I don't want them torn apart, either. Damn Golden Rule. Always ruining my day.

[belpejic]

17. You are a very kind person, jobycom.

More power to you. If anyone shows up to talk about my sins I'd consider myself lucky.

[jobycom]

19. LOL!

Your last comment is closer to the truth of most of us than anything I say! :rofl:

[TwilightGardener]

23. Russert was an NBC fixture, he was the source of (mostly) credible information

and analysis on government and politics, for millions of Americans, every single week for 17 years. I didn't always agree with him, and was suspicious of his GE corporate masters, but I can't think of too many TV journalists whose work I consistently respected more. So, yeah, his fame doesn't necessarily make him more inherently valuable as a human being than you or me, but a lot of us invited him into our living rooms every Sunday to hear what he had to say to Joe Biden, John McCain, Colin Powell, etc. I'll miss him on MTP and on election nights. Nothing wrong with a big tribute to him.

[Phred42]

25. Bullshit. Russert was a Propagandist for the Reich.

Apparently he was better at fooling some than others