Culture

Tim Russert Coverage: The Backlash Begins

by Amy Judd | June 14, 2008 at 01:30 pm

519 views | 17 Recommendations | 3 comments

Of course there has been a lot of coverage about the death of Tim Russert. When a figure in the public eye passes away, especially suddenly, (remember Heath Ledger?) it is going to get a lot of coverage.
But less that 24 hours after his death was announced the blogoshpere has imploded with tributes, and I'm surprised to find, criticisms, about the man and his death.
Some bloggers, not able to just write about his work, and his life, or horror of horror - not post anything at all (!) are turning their attentions to criticising the man.
I think it's in poor taste. Despite who he was or whether you agreed with his work or political viewpoints, a man still died, earlier than he should have, and shouldn't we all respect that?

Less than a day after Tim Russert died of a heart attack at 58, his life and death have received so much coverage that some bloggers—who need to have opinions on everything—are complaining about the coverage, and that, too, of course, is being covered. Both The New York Times and the Stranger focus on one particular note of dissension from John Cole of Balloon Juice.

"MSNBC has been running nothing but a 5 hour (and presumably it will go until 11 pm or beyond) marathon of Russert remembrance. CNN has done their due diligence, and Fox news has spent at least the last half hour talking non-stop about him.But let’s get something straight- what I am watching right now on the cable news shows is indicative of the problem- no clearer demonstration of the fact that they consider themselves to be players and the insiders and, well, part of the village, is needed. This is precisely the problem. They have walked the corridors of power so long that they honestly think they are the story. It is creepy and sick and the reason politicians get away with all the crap they get away with these days.

"Tim Russert was a newsman. He was not the Pope. This is not the JFK assassination, or Reagan’s death, or the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. A newsman died. We know you miss him, but please shut up and get back to work."