Kurtz: Journalists Mourn Russert Out Of "Journalistic Insecurity"

Washington Post:

Scratch the surface of all those glittering tributes for Tim Russert and you might find an undercoating of journalistic insecurity.

The NBC analyst was hailed as a symbol of old-fashioned, carefully balanced, substance-driven reporting, an approach that, while not exactly extinct, often seems drowned out by today's loudmouth television culture.

But why was his passing depicted as the end of an era? What, after all, is stopping the networks from putting on other hour-long programs of sustained political interrogation, even if its practitioners are less skilled than Russert?

The answer is that news organizations are too often captives of the convenient. The networks still air their half-hour newscasts at 6:30, despite declining audiences, because trying an hour in prime time is deemed too risky. The cable networks lean toward loud and opinionated shows because such fare brings in the hard-core audience. Despite Russert's success, many producers today are terrified of boring the audience. Most interviews last six or seven minutes before it's time to move on to the next segment about Michelle Obama doing fist bumps on "The View."

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[Mattie]

I thought it was because they like him, and he was their friend.

[RobinSeattle]

This is Kurtz' equivalent of Obama's remark about insecure working class voters retreating into a cocoon of god and guns. That Russert delighted in making mountains out of verbal molehills such as Barack's comment and then had it turned around on him is delicious irony.

By the way, Kurtz, who, by and large, is a moron, stumbled helplessly into the truth here, as John McLaughlin is famous for barking.

[Village]

Oh, jeeezzze, cry me a river.

The elite lost their minds over Russert because he was rich, he was like them, he had the best health care money can by, and he dropped dead, IN SECONDS.

The REALLY REALLY rich cannot believe their money and health care cannot protect them from sudden death, and the end to their perfect lives. Period. That's what they were mourning; their lost of safety.

And NBC News had crawled into the closet that Fox News crawled out of when they had to admit they are biased in favor of the right wing nuts. Russert was very biased toward the right, just like the rest of Bid Media. Do the elite think the great unwashed can't see and think?

[darthdarcy]

The networks made the news what it has become they chose to dumb down and report fluff rather than getting better, they got worse and over paid worse people to report it...

[jukesgrrl]

In decision-making of any kind, TV execs (network and cable) are totally dependent on Q scores, the rating that determines recognizability in relation to popularity. People (in news, entertainment, or sports) who have the highest Q scores (which results in the biggest paychecks) are people who are known by all but offend no one. For many years, the TV star with the highest Q score was Angela Lansbury. Everyone knew who she was, and while maybe very few adored her, an even greaterl number would never have thought to dislike her. She was through-the-roof on recognizability, but roused no animosity.

That same evaluation is no doubt applies to anyone hired for a position in TV "journalis­m." Everyone recognizes Chis Matthews (the derisive laugh, the pomposity), but correspondingly he generates as much animosity as likability. Everyone recognized Tim Russert, too (the oversized face, the odd hair), but while his journalistic skill may not have been any better than Matthews, he offended few -- including the people he interviewed. His Q score was probably in the Walter Cronkite category and the true reason he rose to the top at NBC. Unfortunately his success doesn't bode well for anyone in TV journalism who wants to take a risk, or a stand, or waste their time researching for a true scoop. Better they should emulate Angela Lansbury than Dan Rather!

[Oldtimer]

Well said. Mr. Potato Head may have a high Q score but he he's no Ed Murrow. The country
need Ed Murrows more than ever and the networks would rather feed their Q scores. We are
screwed until this gets fixed.

[CaptainVideo]

I am sorry that Russet died at a realtively young age and his relatives have my sympathy.

BUT: The hoo ha that was made over his death was rediculous. This was only a newsman, not someone really important, yet with the coverage that was given one would have though a beloved President, or someone similar had died.

And he certainly was not fair and unbiased. He threw softballs at the Republicans and hardballs at the Democrats.

[marignymitch]

The painful All Russert All The Time wall-to-wall coverage was disrespectful of his memory and his legacy. It reminded me of TV coverage of JFK's assassination and funeral over another long weekend back in '63. But JFK was the president of the country. The insular news execs at NBC lost all sense of proportion when Russert died and I am embarrassed for them.

[Eric8869]

The never ending mourning coverage of Tim Russert was inrcredible. If they had paid this much attention to the war and/or the Bush Administration they might actually be able to call themselves journalists.

He was a great guy but give us a break!

[alan2a]

Tim Russert a balanced, substantive "corporate" mainstream media reporter. That's the obscenity of this culture that the famous "gotcha" MTP guy, who was consistently adversarial with Democrats and a pussycat with Republicans somehow gets transformed into some sort of cultural icon. Pure crap. Though it is a shame the man died, he was an example of the low level of what passes for journalism in this country , has sunk to. On the other hand, a truly great man, George Carlin passed away and there was hardly a whisper, compared to the disgusting display for Russert, at his death. Carlin was a real American cultural icon, maybe on a level with Lenny Bruce. Given the leanings of the corporate press, I'd guess that if Dennis Miller were to die(if only we'd be so lucky) they'd probably make a huge thing out of that.

[Ides]

Yeah, Tim Russert nailed John McCain every time he went on the show. He nailed him even harder when John Kerry shared the table with him. Save the one-sidedness for Fox News.

[cw9580]

Brokaw was the managing editor of NBC news when they not only failed to do their job reporting on WMD and the phony intelligence, they re-branded their newscasts with the administrations war-selling slogan "Operation Iraqi Freedom". They have blatantly acted as the mouthpiece for this crooked administration without question. In those situations the past seven years where George W was getting pillored, Rove would send him or Laura Bush on the Today Show where they were assured of being able to deliver their spin in a fake news setting.

None of the major new outlets (except the McClachy team or Seymour Hersh) has taken this administration to task for the crimes they have committed.

Why should anyone expect more from Tom Brokaw

[kellygrrrl]

hey, I thought it was sad, too
but after the first 36 hours of 24/7 coverage I found the whole thing a little self-serving
I just kept thinking every single one of them is doing this thinking some day it will be done for them

[CallMeDeaconBlues]

The only reason there is mourning for journalistic insecurity is because Russ was the most objective in the non-FOX networks.

If there was any, I mean any journalistic integrity left, there would be no concern. These guys have just now realized how far over the line in compromise and yellow journalism they have traveled.

[Darsan54]

And Russert wasn't immune to this trend either: note his comments on the Plame issues and automatically giving any administration official "off-the-record" status.