Submitted by Roldo on Sat, 06/21/2008 - 14:34.
It’s always difficult to talk critically about the dead, especially the recent dead.
However, the incredible outpouring of glowing tributes by the news media over the sad death of Tim Russert forced everyone to genuflect to a media celebrity and ignore all faults.
So it’s up to someone as Alexander Cockburn in his Nation column “Beat the Devil” to bring some reason to the Russert sanctification by his fellow journalists.
Cockburn starts with “The delirium in the press at Tim Russert’s passing has been strange. As a broadcaster he was not much better than the average, which is saying very little. He could be a sharp questioner, but not when it really counted and when courage was required.”
With all the adulation, I think Cockburn brings some reality to the elevation of Russert to journalistic sainthood.His full column can be found here: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080707/cockburn
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Not canonization
I really think that it is not a matter of someone (a journalist) being canonized, so much as a realization that we are all mortal and that our collective sense of reality has become skewed.
Tim Russert is just one of many faces that we invite into our homes through television. We don't expect these electronic faces to die, and, especially, to die young. Just a wake up call for all of us.
dead zone
One thing we can definitely count on as we go into summer weather. News will become less relevant and forgotten on a sunny day, which might not be such a bad thing. And, blogs will also go on hiatus :)