Remembering Tim Russert One Year Later

NBC News paid tribute this week to "Meet the Press" host and NBC Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert, who passed away one year ago yesterday.

Nightly News anchor Lester Holt recalled "the man who taught us all so much and showed us how to do our jobs a little better."

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On Friday, Keith Olbermann described Russert as "the light" of the network. "One hour a week belonged to him and him alone." All of NBC New's programming has continued, he said, but none of it is the same.

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Comments

[PAposter]

I really miss Tim Russert...there is no one who demands truthful answers any longer. Today, it's like the interviewer is in competition with the interviewee for popularity points, no substance!

[2Bfair]

The one thing that NBC could do to honor Tim Russert is to give Meet the Press to someone with a presence and the capacity to hold the powerful accountable. Dick Gregory is not that person.

[Sweetie4Obama]

Agreed.

[robiform]

Actually, Dick Gregory could be "that person"--he is a former comedian, social activist, and a pioneer among African-American humorists. I think you meant David Gregory, and I agree that David Gregory is not that person!

[dsgeorge]

Tim asked tough questions, mostly to democrats because most hosts are too weak-knee'd to get tough on republicans so they can say they are not part of the "liberal media" which makes that term an oxymoron.

That said, David Gregory cannot hold a candle to Tim Russert. He was rude and interuppted The VP today and when republicans are on his show or Liz Cheney they get mintutes on end to spew the lies and bs.

[AlexNYC]

Tim Russert asked the tough questions, EXCEPT, in regards to the Bush/Cheney Administration. Tim dropped the ball continuously when interviewing anybody affiliated with Bush/Cheney. When it was important to ask and follow up with tough questions, he folded his cards over and over. Why? I recall watching those interviews and getting pissedoff at Tim and yelling at my TV. Those were some glaring omissions. Why did he lose his journalistic integrity when it mattered most? Dan Rather asked the tough questions though, and he paid the price. Perhaps Tim knew what the price would be if he did get tough with the Bushies?

[Altruth]

I miss Tim Russert; anyone who went on his show had to take their "A" game or got ripped apart. No matter how you feel about him you can't deny that he did his homework!

[SoryaGArt]

Tim Russert was a brilliant journalist. I spend every Sunday morning with a huge cup of coffee watch him. He asked questions that not many of our journalists do and he also asked follow up questions. Today, we see journalists letting people get away with whatever answer they give.
Tim deserves many tributes and he will be greatly missed.

[cnick]

Compared to David Gregory, he did a great job on Meet the Press, he died too young, that's about it.

[kbkw54]

I miss Tim Russert.

[PeterLoffredo]

I wrote this on my blog a year ago: “The primary responsibility of the media is accountability of government.” (Tim Russert, who died suddenly today.)
Husband, father, son, media figure and a man who has nudged history... until a little over a year ago, I was only peripherally aware of Mr. Russert as a journalist and interviewer. If there was a particular subject or guest on "Meet The Press," I would tune in, but since last spring and the beginning of the presidential campaign, I have spent a lot of time with him on our television, almost daily at times. During the Democratic debates, Tim stood out as the most direct, thoughtful and confident moderator, and not coincidentally, the most ego-less. Likewise, during the various news shows, including his own, that analysed the course of the primary season, Russert was a respite from the hype, a sharp but gentile knife that cut through the bullshit.
I find it interesting when considering Tim Russert's possible karma and soul plan to note that he was instrumental in exposing sides of the candidates, and especially Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, in ways that surely had some influence in the outcome of the primaries, which of course, now effects the course of our history as a country. That job being accomplished, he left this earth.
Maybe Tim Russert can claim, in a corrective and healing way for us all: "Mission Accomplished!"
http://fullpermissionliving.blogspot.com/search?q=russert

[jaytingle]

I watched him moderate the Dem debate with Brian Williams, and they effectively dealt Clinton a series of blows from which her campaign could not recover. Mission accomplished, I guess.

[AKJM]

also the hit job on Kuninich.

[truegreen]

RIP Tim. Sunday news hasn't been the same.

[Francis99]

Can anyone imagine if someone at Fox News passed away that there would be anyone on the surviving Fox News staff praising him or her a year later?

[IcedTee63]

Hmmmm...Nope.

[MsIrisMG]

I'm in the "I miss Tim Russert" camp. Hate that he missed seeing Obama elected.

[TJCole]

Thank you Tim without your help we never could have sold America on the Iraq war...!

[rabiddog6708]

And a shout out to Colin Powell and the rest of the MSM for their assistance.

[miriamfl]

You have got to be kidding!

[HRH]

Ya got that right, TJCole.

[GeorgeKaplan]

Rubbish

[lovable]

if russert were still around all this bs going on with statements and lies being made by politicoans today would not allowed by time. now u can lie and the hosts never calls u on it he jsut lets it go as fact. how sad !!!!!!! god speed mr russert.

[NHBill]

There was a lot of lying about WMDs on MTP that went unchallenged!

[raker]

Give it a rest, NBC. Enough already.

[ladyrefined2000]

enough already................god.............

[JamesA1102]

While I'm sure Mr. Russert was a nice man personally, he should not be canonized as some beacon of unbiased journalism. This very site (as well as the Columbia Review of Journalism) featured a column called RussertWatch because his bias was becoming more and more evident. It is best seen in a Frontline report on the media's complicity in the run up to the Iraq invasion. Russert simply could not answer Bill Moyers questions about how he enabled the administration to use Meet the Press to sell the war to the public.

[NHBill]

amen

[truthglow]

So true!!! He was corporate all the way, and Keith does not remember!