Understanding the media's reaction to Russert's death.

[Pab Sungenis]

I've worked in the media, including some time at the Atlantic City NBC affiliate. It's a close-knit fraternity. You quickly become friends with your fellow broadcasters, even those at the "competition." Even those you may only know through network E-Mails or on the phone feel like friends.

Most people in the media at the national level knew Tim Russert. I've heard he was a likeable guy behind the camera, which is more than can be said for a lot of people in broadcasting (even some of those people on DU gush over).

Right now, the death is shocking everyone who knew him, especially considering how relatively young he was. To fans of Malloy he may only have been Media Whore #1, to people on DU he may have been just another pseudo-mouthpiece for the status quo, but for TV newsers, he was one of their own.

Maybe his death shouldn't be banner news requiring break-ins during afternoon programming, but to the people calling the shots in the news world it was, and the shock of losing one of their own is what drove Brokaw, Gibson, and Couric to break in with the announcement and mini-hagiographies.

It happens every time there's a relatively sudden death. Peter Jennings, Frank Reynolds, Frank McGee, and so on. You'll even see it on the local level; when popular Phiadelphia DJ and weatherman Jim O'Brien was killed in a skydiving accident it disrupted all afternoon programming right up until the normal newscasts on all three network affiliates at the time.

So if you think they're overreacting, understand the context. To me, Russert was nothing more than the face of MTP and a guy I spoke to for about fifteen seconds co-ordinating our sending some footage shot by two of our guys who happened to be on the Jersey side of the Lincoln Tunnel when the first plane it when I was in the newsroom on 9/11/01, but I still felt the shock when I heard. I can imagine what people who knew him well felt, and why they're making a big deal out of it; to them, it is a big deal.

So think that over before you criticize them for over-covering Russert's death. They're paying tribute to their fallen friend, and deserve a little leeway. We can talk about his real significance and legacy, or lack of same, tomorrow. For now, let them mourn.

[Gabi Hayes]

1. good post, but obvious, isn't it? they hang together, they're buds, and

lots of them are rich...lots in common....protecting their interests

some would call it the herd instinct

first read about all this in The Boys on the Bus

then On Bended Knee

then Fooling America

then Sound and Fury: The Making of the Punditocracy

then Fools for Scandal

then The Hunting of the President

and many more

most of these people are invested in their careers above all else, at least the ones who rise to the top....there are a very few exceptions, if Olbermann rising to the top works

most of them are either transparent shills, or lack the courage of their convictions (Dan Rather, anyone? at least he had the nerve to admit it.)

[Mabus]

2. Whoa, Gabi!

What you said. You hit the nail on the head. This cult of personality from a news organization is repugnant.

[Yael]

3. Or, a seemingly healthy colleague dropped over dead at work today

at the young age of 58.

[tom_paine]

4. Jim O'Brien: I hadn't thought of him in years. Old Jim O'Brien joke:

What was the last thing to go through Jim O'Brien's mind before he died?

His feet.

Sorry, he died 20+ years ago. Too soon?

[Demit]

5. I don't mind their reacting. I mind their covering it like he was a major statesman.

Digby has it right when she talks about the 'Village'. This is not a major news story. It is a sudden death, but the man was too much the story while he was alive—which is what the Village is all about: themselves as part of the power structure.

Jim O'Brien was a local story, as you said. He was a popular local figure. Nobody broke into national networks to announce his death.

Mourn one of your own, but do it in the proper venues, I say. Russert was a media bigwig who puffed out his chest and expected sources to call HIM. I'm tired of celebrity "journalism" like that. I'll just bet that in amongst the wailing of all the mournful friends in the media is some hot speculation on who will replace him on MTP. That's the significance of Tim Russert, I warrant. Sic transit legacy.

[skooooo]

6. It just happened..

..have a little patience.

[Demit]

7. Why? Do I owe TV journalists something? Let them let the screens go black, if they're

in such mourning that they can't do their actual jobs.

[skooooo]

8. goofy