From the ArcaMax Publishing, Alexander Cockburn Newsletter:
http://www.arcamax.com/news/alexandercockburn/s-365999-460905
In the old days, when a journalist met his final deadline, friends
would gather round the grave, toss in a few memories and then make off
to the bar for liquid comfort and disrespectful stories about the dear
departed. Contrast this with the send-off for Tim Russert, NBC's
Washington Bureau Chief and 17-year maestro of "Meet the Press," who
dropped dead of a heart attack last week.
He got funeral ceremonies most U.S. presidents would envy: a private
funeral with this year's two presidential nominees sitting side by
side on Russert family orders, with the congressional leadership in
the neighboring pews; George and Laura Bush at the public wake;
thousands at the memorial in the Kennedy Center, with Washington and
New York's media and political elites massed in respectful homage.
Was Russert so extraordinary a fellow, to elicit so tumultuous a
farewell? Surely not. He was a sharp interviewer, but I can't remember
too many occasions when I said to myself, "Russert has given me a
whole new insight into the way the world works." There are journalists
and broadcasters I would put miles ahead of him.
Russert was an insider, with a useful line in presenting himself
somewhat to be an ordinary Joe from Buffalo (his hometown, where the
flags have been flying at half mast). He didn't have enemies, (which
for a journalist is not an impressive credential). So this nice,
popular insider was a fine advertisement for two professions --
journalism and politics -- whose collective ranking in public esteem
is down there with salesfolk for subprime mortgages. No wonder they
made haste to offer Russert to the people as the hero-journalist. In
hailing Russert, they got to hail and to ennoble themselves.
I was in Virginia the weekend after he died, and the lead editorial in
a local paper had this to say: "Tim Russert was the kind of newsman to
which every journalist aspires; which every journalist wishes to
emulate." His conduct on "Meet the Press" was "fair and courageous,
balanced and tenacious. Liberal or conservative, Democrat or
Republican, Russert held everyone accountable to the people of
America. He demonstrated the highest qualities of professional
journalism as well as the highest qualities of humanity ... a deeply
religious man, a dedicated family man, a true American patriot."
Now Russert had the power, the clout and the venue to ask tough
questions in the run-up to the war in Iraq, which began in March 2003.
There were plenty of serious people with informed views about whether
or not Saddam Hussein really had a nuclear missile to level London and
bio-weapons to kill millions. But Russert was part of the Amen Chorus
for a war that sent countless men, women and children to their deaths.
When it mattered, he entertained no dangerous differences with the
White House line. Was this a performance worthy of "a true American
patriot"?
Did this "true American patriot" commanding the attention of millions
every week not open his mouth to lament the fact that the U.S.
government has been trashing the Constitution and tossing the Bill of
Rights in the toilet? Negative on that one, too.
We've had seven years of craven, culpable journalism -- across the
mainstream board. No one honors the reporters at Knight Ridder
newspapers, who were among the few ones in the mainstream press,
pre-war, to hammer away at the WMD lies. They never led off Russert's
or anyone else's show. Russert was managing editor and host of "Meet
the Press," host of "The Tim Russert Show" on MSNBC, senior vice
president of NBC News, NBC Washington Bureau Chief, and a regular
political analyst on "The Today Show" and "The Nightly News." So he
was as responsible as anyone for the press collusion with the
Administration. But now that the administration is looking bad, he's
not a collaborator but a tenacious knight, jousting with them,
"truth-telling," getting "the bad guys" for "we, the people."
Final question: Since NBC had a huge stake in Tim Russert's future
("Meet the Press" brought in $50 million a year and they paid him
around $5 million a year), you'd have thought the network's executives
would have taken a look at the TV screen and raised the alarm. Across
the past three months, he looked in increasingly awful shape, bright
red in the face, overweight and sometimes with a slightly glazed, sad
look. I told people I thought he was set to die of a heart attack
right there in the studio, which is exactly what happened. On one
sighting, he didn't take his loafers off in the gym, and, when pressed
about this casual approach to vitally needed exercise, he gave a wink.
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