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Tim Russert Dies At 58
SputnikPanic writes "Tim Russert, NBC News' Washington bureau chief and moderator of the popular Sunday talk program Meet the Press, has died of an apparent heart attack. He was 58. Russert was known as an even-handed journalist who did not shy away from asking direct and often difficult questions of politicians regardless of their political persuasion. Earlier this year, Russert had been named by Time Magazine as one of the '100 most influential people in the world.'"
I always looked forward to how Russert handled interviews and debates. Left or right, loony or sane, one always got a fair hand from him. He'd get on anyone who was hiding something, but I don't know of many who left his presence angry.
He was a rarity in the world of political journalism.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
The irony is, on his show recently someone referred to his dad, "Big Russ", as being deceased. Tim had to correct him.
Unitarian Church: Freethinkers Congregate!
Well he'll be missed by those who don't make dumbass analogies.
Virtually no one in news asks candidates and newsmakers the tough questions anymore. You could always count on Tim to throw hardballs every time. He also was very good at ignoring spin when he didn't get a straight answer. Great interviewer and moderator. Condolences to his family and friends, he certainly was taken before his time.
Tim Russert was one of the few journalists today who are worthy of that name. Hearkening back to the proud traditions of Walter Kronkite and Edward R Murrough, who asked tough questions of big players who could normally intimidate or frighten their way out of being asked the questions.
Instead, we're left with Barbara Walters asking what sort of tree people would be, and persisting.
Another blow to quality journalism in America.
cheers
Well, back to rejecting software patent applications.
Meet The Press was my Sunday morning staple, and it was because of Tim Russert. NBC will be hard pressed to find someone to fill his shoes.
I'll never forget Russert on the NBC coverage of the 2000 presidential election. Early in the evening, Russert wrote on his little whiteboard "Florida, Florida, Florida!" before anyone had any idea how close it was going to be. I stayed up with Russert and Brokaw that night until the next dawn, hoping to find out who the next president would be. Of course there were no conclusions, but Russert's exploration of the electoral college system and the implications of the vote returns were insightful and kept me watching.
Russert wasn't afraid of asking tough questions to powerful people. When they would try to weasel their way out of a direct answer, he would ask again, and again if necessary. If only all journalists would have that kind of conviction.
He will be missed. My condolences to his family.
-molo
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
Sad news indeed.
Here is his interview on Readers Digest a while back.
http://www.rd.com/poll-archive-parent/games-and-humor/celebrities-and-pop-culture/politicians/tim-russert/article26850.html
My fav. part is
After he was named moderator of Meet the Press in 1991, Russert called Larry Spivak, one of the show's original panelists, for advice. "Learn as much as you can about your guest, and his or her position on the issues," Spivak said. "Then take the other side. If you do that, you will have a fair and balanced program."
I think he followed that mantra throughout.
My wife and I had only one TV program in common...alas..our sundays won't be same.
RIP Mr. Russert.
The world of political news, especially with this historic national election coming up, will be poorer for his passing. I wish he could have lived to see it and report on it.
+++ATH0
He called Bill Clinton the Democratic nominee early for the '92 election...called Florida the "must win" state in 2000, and you could always count on him saying something that sounded like it was from left feild but would come true in a few months.
A few days ago, after Obama secured the nomination, I saw him smile a little while talking about him on Nightly News. Smiling not for the candidate, but I think he was really, really, really excited that he would might see a black man get elected president of his great country in HIS lifetime. He looked like a little kid...sad he did not live to see what will be.
Didn't know him personally, but great journalist. A lot will miss him.
While I doubt any of his family or friends is going to see this, for what it's worth, my condolences go to you.
Tim Russert was both an amazing man and an incredible journalist- a tremendous asset to the fourth estate, our nation, and the world. His unique blend of hard-hitting questions and high standard of impartiality have made our politics richer, our people better informed, and our politicians that much more honest.
Without any doubt, Mr.Russert's passing is a terrible blow to the once-noble profession of journalism. He will be sorely missed both by those who knew him well and by those of us who knew only the good he did in the public eye. His death, early as it was, should be taken by all of us as a reminder of our transience, and of the need to preserve the work of our lives for the generations that come after us. Tim Russert's great work, the great effort of his life, was to restore to journalism the spirits of integrity, honesty, and candor that once characterized the mighty fourth estate. It would be a great shame to his memory if those spirits were to die with him; if, in the absence of the man himself, we allow his dreams to wither.
For everyone reading this, I hope you can find a way to honor a man who worked so hard to make this world a better place in which to live- to build upon his life's work, and to bring even one more iota of honesty to the political process. Register a voter, write a letter to your representative or the editor of your newspaper, join a campaign- and always ask the hard questions. I don't think he would've liked anything better.
RIP, Tim. If you see God, I hope you get an exclusive.
I respected Tim Russert a great deal. He was one of the few out there who still seemed like he wanted to do hard news and prevent bias as much as he could.
Who cares if it is not interesting to you or to people outside the US? The set of people who are not you and live inside the US is plenty to make it worthwhile.
Also, if this were "offtopic" for slashdot, why is there an entire Section about it?
Politics
This section is for news relevant to United States government politics. It was created primarily to cover the 2004 US Presidential Election, but today exists for occasional stories that fit the bill.
Hows this for a geek tie in, I built my mythTV box specifically so I wouldn't miss Meet the Press. Very sad news.
I'd have to say he was actually a great man and a great reporter...from what I know of the man he was a good father and an excellent role model.
R.I.P. Tim, you will be sorely missed, not only on election nights, but on Sunday mornings. And though I'm not a Buffalo Bills fan...in your honor I say...Go Bills...
It makes me sad to see people memorializing Russert as a giant of journalism. At best he was a non-abrasive talker tossing softballs. The standard for journalism only seems to get lower and lower.
It's too bad he has died but it's only bad for journalism because so many of his competitors are loudmouth idiots. A calm demeanor has been enough to make him look like Walter Cronkite but for those of us with longer memories Russert is not notable.
And I'd recommend reading Scott McClellan's book to see how the press was manipulated. And is still being manipulated.
McClellan's book also has about the only decent quote from Russert about Gulf War II.
Lou Dobbs asks harder questions about immigration almost every single week than Russert ever did about the war.
Jon Stewart is the best journalist we have and he's limited by whatever he can turn into a joke.
Russert had earlier been diagnosed with asymptomatic coronary artery disease, but it was well-controlled with medication and exercise, and he had performed well on a stress test in late April, Newman said. An autopsy revealed that he also had an enlarged heart, Newman said.
This is what all that Omega3 fish oil is supposed to prevent? Time to go kill a salmon!
I'm sorry. Severe brain-fart there. I have confused Russert with someone else.
"Never mind."
-Emily Litella
Ok, now that the "24-hour-can't-say-anything-critical-about-a-dead-man" period is over, can I just ask - huh? Are you sure you're talking about the right Tim Russert?
I remember a Tim Russert who insisted in open court that his personal journalistic philosophy was that, when talking to a public official, anything that was said was implicitly off the record unless that public official said that it could go on the record, explicitly.
I remember a Tim Russert who adamantly refused to testify during the Libby trial, who refused to testify against a source who had committed treason against the United States (according to George HW Bush), a Russert who privileged his own journalistic access to the nation's elites over the interests of the people his journalism was meant to serve.
I remember a Russert who, in 2004, basically rolled over for the President. I don't remember any "hardballs"; I remember a craven submission to the bamboozlement of an administration he, along with the rest of his Beltway buddies, allowed to lie to us for years.
I remember a Tim Russert who the Bush administration knew was a sympathetic media outlet to their talking points, a Tim Russert whose "Meet the Press" was a preferred venue because, in the words of a top Cheney aide, they could "control the message."
I can't for the life if me imagine how you remember Russert as some kind of dogged truth-seeker who stuck politicians to the sticking place. Those of us who were paying attention to his show know that Russert was at the head of the destruction of American journalism; the leader of an abdication of their responsibilities as the Fifth Estate.
Who the fuck are you talking about? Because it wasn't, in any way, Tim Russert, official stenographer for the Bush Administration.
P.S. Maybe he was a great dad, and a great guy, I don't know. I feel bad for his father, I really do. But this Tim Russert you keep talking about, the one who was so brave and asked such probing questions... well, I sure as hell wished that Tim Russert had actually existed, instead of the craven, obsequious Tim Russert we actually had on Meet the Press, because maybe with a media that actually did it's job we wouldn't be in so many of the messes we're in.
I never have frustrations, the reason is, to wit:
If at first I don't succeed, I quit!