4,099 dead Americans, and not one got half the coverage Russert's getting...

[elehhhhna]

I find all this media wailing about his being "cut down in his prime" and dying "in the presence of his helpless coworkers" rather ironic.


http://icasualties.org/oif/

[mathewsleep]

1. heath ledger.

[chelsea0011]

2. You know, I feel bad for his family and friends and he will be missed

on Sundays but this is totally off the wall with the 24/7 coverage. It really does show how much they care about their own and not others, especially, as you mentioned, the troop deaths.

[stray cat]

3. They would if they all died on one day - spread over 6 years the impact on the newscycle is lessened

[liberal N proud]

They are never in the news cycle

Some get local coverage but not many if any get national coverage.

[stray cat]

7. There isn't a biography of each which there should be but you do hear about the fatalities

[liberal N proud]

4. They are never in the news cycle

Some get local coverage but not many if any get national coverage.

[ulysses]

6. no. the fact is that they matter less to the average point of view.

Russert was someone people "knew". Most of the soldiers who have lost their lives, somewhat less so.

Many people in American knew who Tim Russert was. Most would be hard pressed to name even one soldier who has died in Iraq, much less Afghanistan.

[MedleyMisty]

12. I think the way they died makes a difference

Russert died a natural death. Sure, it's sad for his family, but it's not remarkable for anything. Happens all over the world every minute of every day.

However, dying violently in a war and occupation, especially one started under false pretenses and for the personal profit of a few, is an entirely different thing. That is remarkable and worthy of being news. Sure, I don't know the soldiers any more than I knew Russert and their lives are just as priceless as Russert's, no more and no less, but their deaths were not natural and perhaps would not have happened if the media were not the propaganda arm of the state and had investigated and reported the truth before the war.

[hedgehog]

5. Television personalities reside in a strange netherworld. Even though

few of us knew Tim Russert personally, he was a frequent guest in our living rooms, kitchens and even bedrooms. We were probably more familiar with him than with the check-out clerks at the big grocery stores we go to. Even though we weren't really acquaintances, the fact that we encountered his image so often over so many years gives his death at least the echo of the feeling we get when a friend dies suddenly.

[FrenchieCat]

8. It is because it is the news business reporting on one who was in the news business

They are only doing what they hope will be done for each of them.

If you pay close attention, the media always give accolates to itself.

"Here is the best political team in television" is how CNN's Wolf Blitzer routinely presents a group of CNN talking heads.

Now that Tim Russerts has been properly canonized, the rest of the Media mavens will believe that their place in history is also "safe".

[babylonsister]

9. Ironic is not the word I'd use. Pathetic maybe? nt

[earth mom]

10. Exactly!

:grr:

[truedelphi]

11. Notice how Russert dying shut up the interest here on The Articles of Impeachment

Kucinich brought forth this week.

[barbtries]

13. i clicked on the link

4 more soldiers died in the last two days. how is this improvement?! and why isn't this reported? never mind, i know the reason. fucking msm, they're a pack of cowardly killers-by-complicity. thankfully i don't have cable but based on my DU browsing today they're really pulling out the stops for tim russert. as if it matters in the scheme of things. at least he died naturally. he got to live 58 years before he died. he died at work close to home.
i feel badly for his loved ones but not less for the loved ones of all the soldiers being murdered by bushco. with russert at least you can say his number was up, but these young people dying in iraq and afghanistan, no. can't say that. they should all still be alive.
aaaarrrrgh i could rant for days and it still goes on. it needs to end.

[truedelphi]

14. KO released the list of the ten names of those who

had died recently. He did it with tears in his eyes.

It is somehow so awful to be young and dying in Iraq in JUNE!! The deaths that occur this month always hit me the hardest because of the obvious contrast. June is the month when the young should be at barbeques and graduations, or on hiking trails and out at the beach playing volleyball.

Not stuck in some war zone, getting their synapses fried. And even those that come home will have PTSD and Depleted uranium poisoning as their welcome home.

[nomorenomore08]

15. The death of one is a tragedy, the death of 4,099 is a statistic. Sad but true.

:puke:

[barbtries]

16. i disagree

the death of 4,099 is 4,099 tragedies.

[nomorenomore08]

18. I was speaking of public perception, not reality. Of course each of those deaths is tragic in itself

nt

[barbtries]

19. i knew you were

just felt for the moment it had to be written.

[mwb970]

17. It's really just MSNBC that's still 24/7.

CNN and (yuck) Fox seem to have gone back to regular news, but as far as I know it's still all Russert all the time on MSNBC, going into the second day of it now.

I suppose they feel that they owe it to him, but is this really what Russert himself would have wanted?

[samsingh]

20. sadly the whole group hasn't either.