Tim Russert: How TV news covered a death in the family

It was a sad day, to be sure, but also, frankly, a little jarring, watching all these TV personalities famous for keeping their cool through floods and terrorist attacks and other disasters so totally lose it. It went on for much of the weekend, and not just on MSNBC; CNN and Fox News also devoted huge swaths of airtime to reminiscing about Russert's career and rerunning loops of condolence videos from presidential candidates and other public figures (both Obama and McCain expressed sorrow and claimed Russert's friendship). The coverage made Russert seem more like a slain head of state, or a princess killed in a car accident, than the burly 58-year-old newsman who turned up every Sunday morning looking like an unmade bed to interview cabinet members and senators on TV's longest-running public affairs program. For a guy much of the apolitical television audience has probably never heard of, it was quite a send-off. (Pictured, on Sunday's tribute episode of Meet the Press, are pundits James Carville, Mary Matalin, Mike Barnicle, and Brokaw.)

Still, maybe it was appropriate. Inside the cathode-tube beltway — among those few million wonksters who regularly watch political coverage on the cable-news networks — Russert was a giant. Since he took over Meet the Press in 1991, enduring his inimitable grilling style (which usually involved him digging up old quotes that directly contradicted the guest's current policy positions) has been a rite of passage for every politician with an eye on the White House. His election night pronouncements have become the stuff of legend — like when he predicted that the key to the 2000 race would be "Florida, Florida, Florida" (and jotted it down on a white board just in case anybody missed it). It's also now clear that Russert was a charismatic character off camera, as well, a mentoring figure to half the folks reading the news on cable TV these days, judging from all the impromptu on-air tributes over the weekend. Whatever his Q-rating with the non-political public, the man was obviously genuinely loved by his peers.

And that, to be cold-hearted and analytical about it, is what made watching cable TV these past few days so riveting. Usually when we get bad news on TV, the newscasters are there to buffer the shock and provide enough safe space so that we'll keep on watching. This time, though, the bad news was about one of their own. And you could see the hurt all over the screen.

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