Tim Russert was the Chief Executive of the News Division of NBC/GE, not a journalist

All the decisions about what they covered and how, on All THE NEWS SHOWS, went through Tim. He was responsible for the years NBC spent focusing on Bill Clinton's wayward ways instead of REAL news, crippling the presidency. He was responsible for the gradual disappearance of the foreign bureaus. He was responsible for the lack of serious questions about the buildup to the Iraq invasion. He was responsible for the blackout over the stolen elections in 2000 and 2004. He slavishly propped up this illegal president in the face of all the lies and crimes. He kept his mouth shut about Scooter Libby's treason until he was forced to speak by subpoena--and then he had to admit he only told just what the White House told him to say and no more.

He was NOT a journalist, nor was he ever (he was a political flak before he fell into the NBC job-never set foot in journalism school--if only he had!) All those honest things you list that journalists do, Tim never did--if anything he had a dozen underlings do that for him--only to ignore them if it didn't suit his goal, which was getting ratings, not telling the truth. He ignored news when it suited him and his masters at GE. He consistently attacked one party and threw softballs to the other. Media Matters did a study, and MTP was overwhelmingly biased against Democrats and favorable to Republicans, by thirty to forty percent.

Tim was a partisan corporate shill, pretending to be a journalist. He gave himself the high-profile MTP gig so he could show off his "aggressive interviewing style" there--and so people would think (mistakenly, as we know) NBC was an aggressive news gatherer. He fooled everybody with his barking and backslapping. He fooled even hardened political hands who should know better. We all want news we can trust. Everybody wanted to trust good old Tim. It worked.

This thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3456344&mesg_id=3456344

has just one example of a real journalist, Bill Moyers, exposing Tim in a lie, exposing him for his craven obeisance to the Cheney White House. This sort of thing was par for the course with the Chief Executive Producer of the News Division of NBC.

I am a journalist with two journalism degrees and decades of street experience. Today I hold a responsible gateway position in broadcast news. Tim never fooled me. I won't worship his phony image, just because he died at a relatively early age. I feel pity for all those blindly rushing to throw themselves on the funeral pyre with him. If only you had better access to information, maybe you would have better judgment. Tim was in part responsible for why you don't.

I respect the dead in the amount they are due respect. Let Russert rest in peace, and may they hire an actual journalist to replace him on MTP, like they used to have in the distant past.

silly post.

no, not silly. wtf are are you talking about????

it is dangerous not to recognize this because allowing hacks to eliminate our access to information, not standing up and "recognizing" it because we're allowing sentiment and sympathy to cloud the truth perpetuates and encourages the continuance of propaganda and the figureheads who dispense it.

"The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves, nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe." --Thomas Jefferson, 1816

I'll respond to more sober posts from now on.

On that day, I would have to shovel snow
from my driveway in hell.

I thought I was only going to make one Timmy piece on my blog, but if it's indeed true that he was, as Chris Wallace said, the most influential DC "journalist" then that offers perhaps the greatest insight on how the DC press corp got to be self-indulgent cheerleaders, taking one for the tribe. "Taking one for the tribe," btw, was a fantastic piece of criticism on the press, ironically published at Buffalo Beast.

In the old days, they used to call those people collaborators, and history was not kind. I only hope that Tim Russert's crime as a first class collaborator will be exposed someday since 4100 Americans and a million or more Iraqis are dead because of it.

K & R.

Exactly how perfect does a human being have to be to warrant favorable memorializing here on DU when they die?

and call out traitors. But we are NOT NICE to war collaborators, however charming they may be. !!

There are other places where that is a realistic expectation. But we are definitely the rude rabble here, that's why I like it.

Sick is the word. I'll chalk it up to the axiom - "some members of any group are assholes."

:rolleyes:

That's why I posted a message with my reaction to the way some here have responded to Russert's passing.

Are only irrational, hate-filled comments about those who have passed beyond reproach?

No way in the world this statement is anything but an irrational exaggeration of some fantasy-based reality.

You may not find the unfair demonization of this good man - as his family and fans are grieving, and before his body has even been put in the ground - to be hateful. I do.

while he was in that position.

We should all encourage vigorous, but fair, criticism of those who have the awesome responsibility of holding our so-called leaders accountable. Tim Russert himself would surely agree with that.

and you won't embarass yourself by believing an OP that is factually incorrect in terms of its characterization of Russert's job title and his duties, powers, etc.

than just a regular journalist.

who are desperately trying to make Russert into some kind of hero.
He was not.
He was a water carrier for the War Profiteers.
The canonization of Russert by the MSM is an attempt to legitimize their own failures to Report the News and Question Authority.

Maybe you should back away from your television for a while.

and prolly 9 times out of ten i find myself agreeing with j_d, however, we are more apt respecting and mourning the soldiers whose death and injury russert assisted in by carrying the water for those who chose to send them to war, or the innocent children and mothers and fathers whose lives have been destroyed if not ended by those who chose to invade their country and by those who were complicit or assisting.

russert's mourning friends and colleagues and fans? what about OUR families and friends and colleagues and fans who are mourning the senseless deaths of OUR soldiers? the deaths that weren't health related? the deaths that could have been prevented if hacks (and non-journalists) like russert weren't in their places, or if they have been more scrutinizing?

they gave little to no coverage to it, they didn't ask enough questions, they didn't present the picture the american public needed to see to stop it. they helped the murderers into power and helped them commit atrocities. they were their mouthpieces, they were responsible for making the calculated, murderous, illegal mission of war profiteers appear to be legitimate.

i said many times on this board during the primaries that i could not forgive certain politicians who voted unapologetically to go into iraq, and i am certainly not going to forgive a press who is guilty of negligent homicide on a massive, unfathomable scale. people like russert allowed war to happen, they allowed torture to happen, they allowed children to be locked up and tortured, our young men and women to be maimed and killed in painful and terrifying circumstances.

he may have been a real nice fella, he was certainly an icon, he had piercing eyes and a nice smile and a dashing manner about him, when he spoke and laughed and joked, one could hardly escape erupting along with him or being convinced by his sincerity, and when i saw that he had passed away, i mourned as much as one could mourn a high profile and endearing virtual stranger, i was and remain entirely sympathetic to his family, his wife, his son, his father. i respect that russert has tragically passed away at a relatively young age and left behind a family and people who cared dearly for him, however, he did it in comfortable circumstances, he went quickly and without much pain. he had a full life, and 58 is damned longer than 18 or 22, or 12 or 16.

i refuse to canonize him, i refuse go overboard with "respect." i refuse to buy into the press' exploitation of celebrity tragedy while neglecting the critical damage done by this administration.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

"stuipidy"?

Not cool.

....and still get someone on du to praise him? (actually quite a few)

Tim Russert was a collaborator with fascists. but he was a good man, right?

to be favorably memorialized here.
They just can't be war criminals who use their position to spread false and misleading propoganda for their fellow war criminals benefit.

I seen through him early on. There were a couple times where I'd forgotten what a shill he was when I would watch mtp but that never lasted more than one show at a time. I believe it was when President Carter was on and I watched just for that and timmy tore into him like a vulture on roadkill. If my memory serves me right President Carter was taken back by this and it showed. fuck tim russert. sorry for the cuss word but I just don't have any other for the occassion. He is part responsible for why we are where we are and I will never forget that nor will I forgive him even in passing.
sorry

my hubbie and I would list the questions we wished he had asked. He kept the status quo going. I do think he loved his family and for them I am sorry for his death...as I do all families in mourning.

I clicked it and it says "not found." Anyway, great piece, thanks for writing it.

Here's the original Bill Moyers Journal link

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/transcript1.html


And I just copied this link in GD so it should still be here!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3456344&mesg_id=3456344

But I found it by doing a search in GD for Moyers Russert. it comes up close to the top of the list. In fact, it should be here near the top of the GD list of threads.

The political junkies who were here (DU) during the build up for the Invasion of Iraq saw who Tim Russert was, who he worked for, and what he was willing to do for his paycheck.
I can remember NO threads praising Russert for his journalism, intelligence, courage, or integrity. Russert was always just another corporate dog doing his master's bidding.

What surprises me today is the number of people at DU attempting to canonize Russert.
Where the fuck did they come from?
Russert worked for the other side.
Russert carried water for the War Profiteers.
Russert was a War Profiteer.

The canonization of Russert is merely the MSM attempting to lend legitimacy to their own failures.

Question Authority.
Think for yourself.
Turn OFF the TV.

Question Authority.
Think for yourself.
Turn OFF the TV - AKA, for good reason, THE IDIOT BOX or THE BOOB TUBE

:thumbsup:

yet "media savvy." Or, something else.

K&R and I have no pity for war mongerers. Fuck Tim Russert!

n/t

or what the implications of supporting people who wage war in your name are. What's that bliss like?

I just do not get why some folks think Russert was an honorable human being. He was nothing of the sort.

to assessing the real character of the guy.

Puts things in a different light entirely.

What was his early career? Where did he come from?

-Hoot

I was getting ready to write that he was Chief Exec in a commentary to some colleagues. I would have looked like an idiot.

Division.



Russert was Sr VP/DC Bureau Chief. I don't recall seeing the title of Chief Executive (or Chief Executive Producer) of NBC News Divison. Can you provide more info on that title/function?

too late to correct. With a little less scope, I stand by my OP.

All the decisions about what they covered and how, on All THE NEWS SHOWS, went through Tim. He was responsible for the years NBC spent focusing on Bill Clinton's wayward ways instead of REAL news, crippling the presidency. He was responsible for the gradual disappearance of the foreign bureaus. He was responsible for the lack of serious questions about the buildup to the Iraq invasion. He was responsible for the blackout over the stolen elections in 2000 and 2004.


None of that is true.

I was mistaken

No, I didn't think so.

here on DU about Russert.

Let's be COMPLETELY honest here-the guy was pretty much working for * Co!

Sorry if the truth hurts, but all of this is INEXCUSABLE!

except KO.

How is it that Russert, Gregory, Matthews, Mitchell, Schuster, Scarborough, O'Donnell et. al., are spineless puppets but KO who works right down the hall from them all has remained beyond the reach of the Corporate puppeteers? Perhaps KO has done a more remarkable sales job--he makes just enough noise and threats to cause progressives to claim him as outspoken and unfettered. Yet Jack Welch would never hire anyone that is truly outspoken and that cannot be fettered. If KO is your friend maybe Jack Welch is also.

:kick:

I watched MTP during the run up to the war as long as I could stand it.

One time I recall him asking what if the Iraqis don't welcome us as liberators and instead drag us into a protracted war. How would the public take it?

That was the only thing I recall that resembled a "tough" question. What I really remember was Tim trying to ferret out Democrats "weak" on Saddam or "weak" on terror and putting them on the spot. Did he make any critical evaluation of the reasons for war? Did he insist that war cheerleaders bear the burden of proof?

I hope nobody mistakes this for grave dancing. It's part of his legacy as a journalist and should be open for discussion.

Anyone who didn't see through him after the coverage on election nite 2004, wasn't paying attention.:hide: He was Democrat in name only.

was he responsible for Keith Oberman? Was he the one that made the decision not to have any Republican Conservatives on in prime time?

As I noted previously, Russert was not the Chief of NBC News Division. He was NBC's DC Bureau Chief, never President of the News Divison. I rather doubt he was responsible for closing down of NBC news bureaus overseas, solely responsible for everything at NBC news, or hiring himself as moderator of MTP. No doubt the PTB were pleased with Russert, including GE's CEO, but Russert wasn't calling all the shots at the network.

Additionally, you seriously mischaracterize Russert's statement to Fitzgerald's investigation and testimony at Libby's trial, if that indeed is what you are referring to. Libby claimed to the Feds that he first learned of Plame's identity from Russert during a July 10, 2003 (IIRC) phone conversation, which of course was not possible since a) it was documented that Libby knew of Plame's CIA employment by early June, having been told by several people within the Administration, including Cheney, and b) Libby was already shopping Plame's CIA employment to Judy Miller on June June 23 and July 8, prior to his conversation with Russert. (Libby had called to Russert was to complain about Chris Matthews comments on Iraq.) Russert's testimony was that he didn't tell Libby of Plame's CIA's employment. And that he couldn't have told Libby since he didn't at that time know she was employed by the CIA. Libby's "I heard it from Russert" lie was one of several clumsy lies, but Libby essentially was locked into what he'd told the Feds in late 2003, when he was confident the Plame inquiry would be buried by Ashcroft's DOJ and did not forsee that the journos would be eventually testify before a grand jury.

Russsert did keep publicly silent for a curiously long time about his involvement in the Libby case---in the summer of 2004 NBC released a statement of what Russert had told Fitzgerald's investigation so it wasn't secret. Ariana Huffington and others took him to task for it. The Plame matter was an occasional topic of conversation on his program and yet Russert strangely did not cite as a matter of full disclosure his involvement in the investigation.

I'm not arguing, however, with what I take is your contention that Russert served as a powerful gatekeeper and developer/purveyor of "established wisdom" regarding many matters of politcs, government and the news media.

my apologies--discovered my error too late to fix it. Have been regretting my haste all day.

Your grave dancing is appauling. This post and others like it make DU less than it should be.

Thanks for the thread, librechik.

Remember how the Bush Admin and RW'ers were blaming the local jurisdictions so as to absolve the Bush Administration from its failure to respond in a timely and effective fashion to a foreseeable disaster and a catastrophe unfolding live on our TV screens? (As I recall Chertoff "didn't know" there were people at the NOLA convention center until Thursday of that week when the media told him. The rest of the world knew days before, they had been seeing it on the TV for days.) The RW bloggers and RW noise machine chimed in: the locals were to blame, not the Feds, not the Bush Administration.

I saw MTP with the President of Jefferson Parish, Aaron Broussard. Clip One: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2005/09/04/17649131.php
And then Russert's subsequent follow up interview transcript and video: http://mediamatters.org/items/200509260002

In his follow up interview, Russert cited his news organization's and blogger's "research" when it came to disputing the details of a death cited by the President of Jefferson Parish, who had criticized the Fed Gov't's response to Katrina. One can see in the second interview how dogged Russert was in pursuing the circumstances of the woman's death. (While not addressing the larger story of the Fed's catastrophic response to Katrina that we saw with our own eyes.) But when it came to the buildup to the Iraq War, Russert told Bill Moyers he would have wished to hear from those who questioned the basis for the invasion of Iraq but no one picked up the phone to call him and he didn't have access to them. Although Russert was known to pursue people when he wanted them on the show he just waited for someone to call him? He read all those newspapers in his scruplous study to prepare for his programs, but evidently he missed Knight-Ridders' reporting that seriously questioned and contradicted the Bush Administration's claims. The aluminum tubes claims had been debunked by DOE and IAEA before the war. In 2001 Powell and Rice had said Iraq was no threat (especially in terms of nuclear capabilities). One year later these same folks were talking about "mushroom clouds" and "imminent threat." Too bad Russert wasn't as rigorous in his research and questioning on the matter of taking this nation to war as he was in nailing the president of Jeffereson Parish over the details of his staffer's mother's death.

No doubt Russert was a caring family man and a good friend and mentor to many. But it was not entirely an accident that Cheney, et. al. regarded MTP as a favored venue where they could "control the message." Russert's role and function was complex. He wasn't simply a mere shill as some have said: it was more subtle and complex than that. In many ways Russert was a purveyor of an American mythology, a political mythology and also the mythology of a "hard-hitting" American establishment press whose "stars" and careers depend on their relationships with the vested interests they are supposed to be covering.

He was a corporate executive who fell into the job of reading the news. His approach was such that the corporate shills capitalized on his ability to seem affable in order to bullshit the public.

Both them showed repeatedly a juvenile attitude, giggling and grinning like 13 year old boys who just saw their first female breast. I felt it compelled them to dwell too much on the salacious.

Not nearly as bad as the Fox RW machine, but no friend of the Left.

How about for Matthews and Schuster covering Plame?

etc... were ALSO allowed by Russert, one would have to agree. But, let's not allow that to get in our way of trashing the guy after he dies of a heart attack... my point is - how about people show this much zeal and energy trying to get rid of the corporate tools they cannot stand right now. Russert was a decently hard hitting commentator who was well liked even by people we like in the DEM party...



New Obama Items Weekly!
www.cafepress.com/warisprofitable

KO is just playing the part of "good cop" to placate the left and to provide a counterargument for discussions such as these. When 90% is rw let 10% be lw so the "we're fair and balanced" ace remains safely tucked under their sleeves. Arent the KO vs Oreily squabbles ludicrous? Same as the dems and reps. Good cops on one side and bad cops on the other, all obeying the same agenda. They play on the "football fan" mentality. Look at the obama vs hillary circus. Lasted a ridiculously long time, dont you agree?
Why did it start so early and was so widely covered by all talking heads (ko included)? Total media blackout on many scandals while filling time slots with fierce devotion to the hillary vs obama theatrics. Wake up! There is only one propaganda source, one party and one agenda. Meet the Republicrat party, kiddos.

P.S: No matter how much you gnash your teeth or rip your vestments, the facts do not change. Tim Russert was, is and forever will be a now historical abilitator of mass murder and thievery. :puke:

:thumbsup:

how corporate media has been completely corrupted.

fall into line with what you think, how you would do things, how you woud confront interviewees.

n/t

...is the ADVERTISERS!

It's all about the ad rates. It's all about getting YOUR eyeballs in front of the damn TV and soaking them with images of automobiles, laundry detergents and cell phone plans.

I don't know what companies bought ad time on Meet The Press, since I rarely watch television. I respect my brain too much to subject it to more than a few minutes of that torture at any one time. However, the companies that bought that ad time should be held just as responsible as Tim Russert for the lies and propaganda leading up to the invasion of Iraq.

We can bitch and moan all we want about the water carriers and the toadies for those that run the country. But until we ACTUALLY start discussing and doing something about those who pay the bills, it's all just talk. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk...

What companies sponsor Meet the Press?
When are you going to start talking about them?
When are you going to stop buying their products?
When are you going to let everybody know that you have stopped buying their products?
When are you going to hold THEM accountable for the actions of those they sponsor?

Want REAL change?
That's the ONLY way it will happen...

Russert was head of the Washington Bureau.

People like Brokaw and his staff did not work for Russert.

and thus must be perfect.

and too late to edit.

Something the mainstream media rarely does. But that is what a journalist does.

n/t

Yes, it's sad he died at such a young age, but that doesn't erase all the damage he has done for years and years.

you'd think DUers would know better

Russert was a corporate hack who was a propagandist for the MIC, the neocons and the bush-cheney cabal. He did that job exceedingly well, was paid handsomely and then died. He was NOT a journalist by any absurd post-Eisenhower twisted meaning of the word. I wonder if perhaps there was a nagging shred of conscience somewhere inside there that added to his stress.

My condolences to his family.

And much appreciated.

Russert was DC Bureau chief, and was not calling the shots on much of what the OP attributes to him in the first paragraph.

And I wasn't talking to you, anyway.

LoL

There are things called PMs. Use them if you don't want a response.

And while you're at it,if there is "shit in my statement" you should be able to quickly cite to evidence that Russert was "Chief Executive of the News Division of NBC/GE" and that he was responsible, among other things for "all the decisions about what they covered and how, on All THE NEWS SHOWS" and "was responsible for the years NBC spent focusing on Bill Clinton's wayward ways instead of REAL news, crippling the presidency" and "was responsible for the gradual disappearance of the foreign bureaus." ETC ETC.

Oh wait. You can't. Because there isn't any. Because its not accurate. Good work Hog.

sadly, this was the truth. tim contributed to many deaths in Iraq and in the ranks of the soldiers. had he been tough on the repugs, other news organizations would have found it difficult to sugercoat everything was well.

we can mourn the man. professionally, he was an evil shill.

there was one show where he fondly recounted how his kids were playing baseball with the kids of repug leaders and that and the parents were friends. that was as objective and tough as his questioning got around iraq with the treacherous repugs.

I'm sorry that Russert had to die young. I'm sorry for his wife and son. However, NBCs' efforts to turn him into Murrow re-fleshed stinks to high heaven. He was a cooperative, complicit enabler in the Bush/Cheney march to war. Another corporate media get along, go along willing chump. I never heard him speak against the war or the administration. Never heard him condemn torture. Never heard bemoan the cancer that is the two party system. Timmy, you had the cat bird seat and did nothing but dose in it. His replacement Gregory will be even worse. Why won't someone tape Brokaw in a box?

is the "outing" of those here who worshiped Russert. The majority are those who joined here and moved this place from "underground" to "mainstream centrist".
I didn't wish him harm, and I feel sympathetic to his family, but the guy was neither a journalist nor a hero.
Excellent thread, btw.