As soon as I heard the news about Tim Russert, I started checking the news channels to get some details. I began on MSNBC for awhile–no surprises there, seeing as he was one of their own. I then moved to CNN and saw Wolf Blitzer doing interviews with friends and colleagues of Mr. Russert, pretty much continuously.
Out of curiosity, I then switched to the Fox Noise Channel. I saw coverage of Bush’s trip to Europe, a story about some politician in Tennessee speculating that Barack Obama may or may not be “terrorist-connected”, and yet another story about illegal immigration. And for the entire 30 minutes that I forced myself to sit through this bullshit, there was not ONE mention of Russert’s passing. I couldn’t fucking believe it! NOT EVEN ON THE FUCKING NEWS TICKER! Which, BTW, was the only reason I stayed with it as long as I did–I wanted to see how little space they would dedicate to the passing of this giant in the news industry.
How little? Zero. Zip. Zilch. THE SQUARE ROOT OF SWEET FUCK ALL!
What are you fuckheads afraid of? Afraid your tongues might catch fire if you evoke the name of a real journalist?
Actually, you know what? It’s just as well. Not ONE of you Fox whores deserves to speak his name!
As a fly-off-the-handle-on-occasion guy myself, I get it. I’m sure NO one EVER jumps to a conclusion based on having too little evidence, not around here, nosiree.
OTOH, CNN pissed me off with their coverage. They announced Breaking News and Wolf Blitzer came on and told about Tim Russert. Then they spent 3 hours talking over and over about what a great guy and outstanding journalist he was. No news about the floods in the midwest, nothing on Bush in Europe, the only thing they had from Obama and McCain was their reactions to Russert’s death.
It was good they had something about him. He was a pretty good journalist and it was a sudden death. But for those 3 hours, it was like there was nothing else in the world going on. It pissed me off enough that I sent them an email about it. If I was a Daily Show writer, I would be all over this.
It was Friday afternoon. Nobody watches the news on Friday afternoon; that’s why the White House dumps any bad news there to generate as little reaction as possible. Nobody cares if there was other news.
The huge chunks of time paid to Russert’s passing are what is wrong with cable news, IMHO. Does any reporter at any time really justify having 5+ hours of coverage? Even if his passing was an unexpected event?
What happened to the guys on TV reporting the news rather than being the news?
The tone wasn’t “it was shocking, we would like to take a few minutes to remember one of our own.” Rather it was “one of the most influence figures in the upcoming election has passed. It will affect EVERYTHING.”
Making these TV personalities into celebraties who influence current events is one reason they shade stories and always opt for the easy RO stuff rather than discussing the things that affect the country.
It is shocking and sad for anyone to die suddenly. He was well know so it is, indeed news. But to devote an entire day to the guy was incredibly self-important and self-indulgent.
Fox News was waiting for NBC to break the news, because his wife and son were vacationing in Europe. Once NBC broke the news, then Fox News knew the family had been informed. I have no idea if CNN extended the same courtesy.
I saw Neal Cavuto spend a solid 45 minutes (before I switched off) no commercial breaks, talking about Tim’s death. Chris Wallace was on set, and John Gibson looked like he had been or was about to cry.
I have just done that on CS, and am now coming over here to do the same. I have been informed that Fox did dedicate a good chunk of time to the story, so I am admitting my error.
I think it was the lack of any mention on the ticker that, ahem, “ticked” me off. I jumped to an incorrect conclusion based on, as you say, “too little evidence”, and felt the need to vent immediately.
