Debbie Schlussel: Not Sure Why Everyone is Shocked--Shocked!--by the Overboard Coverage of Saint Tim Russert
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I'm not sure why everyone is so surprised that the media elevates one of their own--who did an okay job, but nothing heroic--to hero status. The minute I heard, on Friday, that "Meet The Press" host Tim Russert died, I knew that we would be in for non-stop, around-the-clock, overboard coverage. The media's sense of priorities on who is important has always been out of whack and his death is yet another notch on that ill-advised priority list.
We saw this with Princess Diana. But what did she ever do? She was a glorified high school drop-out who whined about her husband's true love (which she knew at the time of her marriage wasn't her, but dove in anyway because, hey, she'd be a Princess, get cool dresses and party invites, and possibly give birth to England's next spoiled figurehead king). Then, she slept with everyone, too. That was her "achievement." Yet, she was beatified with non-stop around-the-clock coverage on TV. It nauseated me. And it's still nauseating because more than eleven years, later, we still can't hear the end of it from the Fayed clan (who see an anti-Islamic conspiracy amidst a British Royal family which can't stop kissing the butts of Muslims).
We saw it with John F. Kennedy, Jr. and his wife Caroline. But what did they ever do? He was the vastly over-glorified playboy son of a vastly over-glorified adulterous President who risked our national security to sleep around with Russian spy and mob chicks. She was a wannabe-model who became a publicist for Calvin Klein and married him and dug the gold. Wall to wall coverage about this fortunate son of fraudulent Camelot who did nothing of note but live the good life. Not heroic.
We saw it with so many others who died earlier than we expected, but right on time in G-d's plan. And none of these people--while not necessarily bad people--were heroes. None were saints. None really did anything to make America a better place.
Yet, they met the obsession of the people in Washington and New York bureaus who decide what you will watch . . . if you choose to populate your mind with this mindless garbage, instead of opting out to a DVD, the Internet, helping people in some way, or--horror of horrors--fresh air and the outdoors.
And that's what we got with Tim Russert. Yes, he possibly gave slightly more in his interviews than anything JFK, Jr. or Princess Diana ever did. And he was semi-decent at what he did, hardly the greatest or even one of "the greats." But he is one of "them"--one of the elite media, so he is far more important than anyone. Far more important than our heroic soldiers who've given their lives in battle, far more important than scientists who've discovered cures for fatal diseases. In hosting a Sunday talk show, he somehow contributed more to this country than they did? In the media's eyes, yup.
Not a bad guy, but if anything, he was over-rated, and he certainly was far tougher on Israeli leaders in his interviews than he was on Arab Muslim ones. And he had his blatant guffaws and foot-in-mouth incidents, something no-one seems to remember. There really needs to be some balance in the sycophantic coverage, and there wasn't. Just like with Peter Jennings, when he--St. Peter of "Palestine"--died. The mindless groupthink gushing is annoying.
And if NBC thought so highly of this man, then why--one wonders--did the network prominently include known plagiarist, Mike Barnicle, on Sunday's non-stop, gushing tribute? Not sure what the message of that was.
Did you forget the clip of when Russert used a metaphor with Senator Bob Kerrey, asking him, "Aren't you concerned that if you cut a deal with Republicans, President Clinton will saw your limb off?" Kerrey is already an amputee, having lost one leg in the Vietnam War, something everyone--and presumably Saint Tim of Russert--knew. It was remarkably obtuse and insensitive. Anyone right of center would never have gotten away with that.
And, of course, there is that time that Russert--supposedly an "impartial" journalist (who formerly worked exclusively for liberal Democrats)--took $20,000 from the American Banking Association to do an interview with Bob Dole, and yet didn't want to answer "Meet the Press"-esque questions about it. Watch the video of that below.
Another Russert interview that comes to mind was his interview with former CIA Bin Laden analyst Michael Scheuer. Russert threw Scheuer--a regular on the Islamist, anti-Israel speaking circuit--repeated softballs, without even one critical question. While Scheuer went on to criticize our policy toward Israel, and parrot the Bin Laden line that we wouldn't have been attacked if only we'd changed our Mid-East foreign policy, Russert never once challenged that absurdity. Nor did he point out that Scheuer was fired from the Bin Laden unit and failed to take seriously the Bin Laden threat, while he now claims otherwise. It was yet another example of how Tim Russert was very selective in when he chose to be incisive in his interviews and when he chose to let propaganda go forth without challenge.
The fact is that Tim Russert was an okay and decent journalist, which is very rare these days. But it's still an expected benchmark, the reaching of which is not heroic. Far from it. A basically good interviewer, but he wasn't a saint, and he certainly wasn't on the list of great journalists. Yes, he was above average. But above average for his profession, which is like being above average in the used car salesman industry (which is rated about the same as journalists). And certainly not round-the-clock coverage-worthy.
And the coverage continues today.
Nice guy, I'm sure. And I'm sorry he died such an untimely, sudden death. I feel bad for his immediate family. But he was a talk show host. Not Patton or Albert Schweitzer. Enough, already.
Perspective is important. But in this case, it was thrown out the window.
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Please don't send me e-mail or post comments about how I haven't even waited until Russert's body was cold. The story is in the news NOW. Not a month from now, when it will be old, or a year from now. My apologies for not having read the official "Hands off people until [x amount of time] after they die" memo.
**** UPDATE: Read The Cassandra Page's excellent commentary on this. Cassandra Page has a long list of Tim Russert's displays of "objectivity" that weren't so "objective."
**** UPDATE #2: A reader from Ireland writes that he is sick of the coverage even on the Emerald Isle, the land of Russert's heritage:
God Bless you,I live in Ireland and was sick and tired of hearing about this human--by way of FOX. Any death is sad, but this was not Mother Theresa. While talking to friends in the US, we all agreed: how much B.S can we put up with?
This man was nice and professional, but pray tell us why all this adulation? Why more important than the death of a Police Officer or your Great Military Men and Women?
Good question. The answer is that they--the liberal media--are more important than any of the true great ones in history . . . in their minds (and reflective coverage).
Posted by Debbie on June 16, 2008 01:28 PM to Debbie Schlussel