Tim Russert, the chubby but stern face of American political journalism, “the greatest political interviewer of our time and maybe all time,” has passed away after a “sudden heart attack”. He was 58.
Moderator of the flagship Sunday morning program Meet the Press and the Washington bureau chief of NBC, the proud son of a garbage-collector was recording voiceovers for tomorrow’s broadcast when he collapsed. Author of two best-selling books, Big Russ and me and Wisdom of our Fathers, Russert was on Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world this year, at No. 72.
Larry King, the host of CNN’s eponymous interview show, said in tribute:
“He had the ability to walk with kings, and to walk with the guy picking up your laundry. He was Tim the Irish guy.”
Read the New York Times obituary
Mr. Russert was a true great. Be it as a host or as an analyst he would bring a wealth of knowledge to the discussions at MSNBC. He was affable and smiled from the heart. He was tenacious when the guest doled out BS bringing them back on track in a flash. He was steadfast in ensuring the discussions were germane. He was a sea of knowledge and in my honest opinion, one of the last in Murrow’s mold.
Mr.Russert’s contribution to MSNBC is immense and irreplacable. I will surely miss this wonderful person. May his soul rest in peace..
he was easily in the top three in the US.
what was great about him was that his only interest was genuinely understanding the issue at hand. he was not interested in upholding any theories or using any theories for analysis. as a result he had a clear, unclouded, simple commonsensical logical approach to understanding.
naturally, his questions and hence the interviews, flowed in a coherent and logical manner and thus yielded information and understanding. and therefore his interviews had value.
he didnot seek to influence public opinion. he would talk to his guests and listen to them. he was a platform for ideas not a pulpit for propoganda.
he was saintly.
a real seeker.
The initial days of satellite television in India were great when NBC used to be available without some teenaged twerp “tailoring” the content to meet “local tastes”. Watching Tim Russert and Meet the Press thus was one of life’s small pleasures. “If it’s Sunday, it must be Meet the Press…”
I later browsed through a book on the 50th anniversary of Meet the Press. It contained a priceless letter from Indira Gandhi to the show’s producers. Mrs Gandhi had appeared on the program a few times before but this letter of hers as she prepared to face the 1980 elections (as the Janata rule was on self-destruct) was revealing of her feminine side.
“I had appeared on Meet the Press on such-and-such date,” Mrs G wrote. “Can you please let me know what the NBC makeup person used on me that day?”
I was watching his sunday program religiously for last several years. It is 100% true “if its sunday, it’s meet the press”.
He was the best and irreplacable, period. He is the epitome of political interviewing. He was tough, fair and balanced, considerate and interviewed people with high integrity and true intensions. A true american, family guy and role model.
May his soul rest in peace.
As I was watching on different TV chnanels tributes paid to the great Tim Russert, I was thiknking of our own journalists and how many will fall in his category. Why India has not been able to produce such journalists who are able to be passionate on their professional work? How America cherishes their heroes? This is what former President of India Abdul Kalam was asking us to do. To look for our heroes which youngsters can follow as a role model.
Tim Russert was the finest political interviewer on television — skeptical, fair, passionate about the issues, brilliant in a sense that he always connected the dots, and very dignified.
I’ve seen none like him on Indian television.
@ Dr Shenoy
There certainly were a lot many print journalists of Tim Russert’s calibre in the past, but of the present I am not so sure because for most of us television has become the primary contact point of journalism. And Indian television with two mandatory breaks in 23 minutes is not journalism but something stuffed hastilty between the commercials. No depth, no rigour.
But the bigger question, prompted by Churumuri’s mischievous headline, is how many garbage collector’s children—or children of parents from like strata of life—can rise to be anchors and moderators in our current television/journalism atmosphere and hold the high and mighty by the scruff of their necks.
Looking at Indian TV journalists is scary. All seem to have gone to the same kind of colleges (St. Stephen’s, Presidency) and universities (usually Oxbridge), all seem to have the same convent school nasal English, all seem to act like bum-chums with their guests, and all seem to be sons and daughters of bureaucrats and other high-society types.
Blue-collared Tim Russert came from Buffalo. He was a working class man’s son. He had his faults, of course, but he never forgot where he came from while interviewing people. Looking at our TV stars, you get the feeling that you have gatecrashed into a private party of PLUs (People Like Us). Our mass media is disconnected from mass reality.
Journalists like Prannoy Roy, Vinod Dua, Prabhu Chawla, ignited interest in their early days. Later they also fell into trap of biased reporting and having soft corners for famous people instead of working for pride, legacy, fairness, etc., Big money is spoiling the Journalists more than ever.
Current day breed (pundits from elite college) are more show off than substance who will do anything for quick fame and money. These people don’t show any traces of attaining the level that some of the well known american journalists like Tim Russert, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, etc., have attained in American Journalism. They are american Icons. It is very hard to recognise any of our current journos as Indian Icons. May be few in print media come close.
I don’t mean to say all american journalists are good. Reporters like Dan Rather, Bill O’Rielly, etc., are biased and opiniated and play to the galleries.
Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, etc.,
not really. they are more like pretty boys. neither of them inherently curious.
jim lehrer & russert more in the same league. charlie rose is also curious but he seems to look at all things in terms of american exceptionalism, even if he is genteel about it.
nbc would do well to get gwen ifill onboard. shez young, articulate and curious.
@tarlesubba,
Couldn’t agree more on your assesment of Jennings and Brokaw. I liked/like them both as news anochors, but they are no Russert. Ifill is good but needs work..
Tim is a good role model not for journalists, who have a desire to come up.
But the point here in India is that every political correspondent or important anchor thinks that the viewers and readers are there more to hear their views than know about the persons being interviewed. They believe in showing off needlessly by the self claimed punditry. How can you expect any balanced coverage or justice in the protrayl of the views from a know-tribe?
This is the first time i’ve ever heard his name,googled it read some of his achievements.Too be honest nothing impressed me and nobody cares about this guy in India.
BJ,
I agree with you. When I see Indian journalists holding forth on TV in love with their own voices and asking questions in print about the well-known farmer suicides…
“Families are always rising and falling in America”, says DiCaprio in the movie The Departed quoting Nathaniel Hawthorne.
That is the philosophy of that country. It doesnt matter whose familial connection you have. So men like Tim were there, will be there and are yet to be there.
Though I’m not so much of an American political journalist tracker, I think its true honor for few men who take work seriously to die at work.
To the gushing Mysore Peshwa sorry I am being a lame Ashva here:)
“Tim Russert was the finest political interviewer on television — skeptical, fair, passionate about the issues, brilliant in a sense that he always connected the dots, and very dignified. I’ve seen none like him on Indian television.”
that is not very difficult to see because we have ‘Radio personalities like Sardesai, Shekar Gupta and a bunch of ‘seldom-use-toothpaste-but always ready for a chai with ciggies-look ‘issosalist’ journos… going about their business on TV…
Our TV news personalities are the way they are coz they learned the tricks of the what works in news from the one source that made news a profitable commodity “FOX”. With all due respect people to Tim Russert, Meet the press kind of shows, PBS are mostly for news-politico junkies and are almost irrelevant in the main stream. So comparing our folks to him is pointless..
On the other hand, I’m disappointed as to why is there no right-wing TV channel in India, like Fox ? I’m sure there is a big enough market for them to make things ‘Fair and Balanced’ :) We need our own Oreilly, Hannity..
BlackLad,
I agree! Go ahead and suggest a few anchors. I have Kanchan Gupta, Swapan Dasgupta, Arun Shourie,,,,
Doddanna,
The folks you mention are not really right enough, centre-right at best.. no match to Oreilly. Something like a cross between Prannoy Roy and Praveen Togadia might work ;)
@ karihaida,
we frankly dont need the likes of O reilly but only if it is your idea of a comic relief. That chap is an abject buffoon capable of putting both his feet into his mouth at the same time.
However it was quite a sight to watch Steve Colbert rip him apart when he appeared on O reilly’s show.
@ karihaida,
we frankly dont need the likes of O reilly but only if it is your idea of a comic relief. That chap is an abject buffoon capable of putting both his feet into his mouth at the same time.
However it was quite a sight to watch Steve Colbert rip him apart when he appeared on O reilly’s show.
Our Indian TV Journos, can make a start by dropping that phoney accent of theirs and should stop talking as if they were chewing on somebody’s dikk. The biggest offenders are Karan Thapar and Rajdeep Sardesai.
While they are at it, they should also learn how to speak in front of the camera,without shouting at the top of their voice. They should remember there is a mike attached to the lapels of their coat. The biggest offenders in this is Padmashree Rajdeep Sardesai.
@Vitlan Potli,
who is “we” ? Please don’t try to push your agenda thru on everyone.
In this pseudo-democracy of ours there is no english media outlet for the right wing ideology even when there is a sufficiently big market for them. Oreilly might be a buffoon sticking various parts of his body into his mouth, but always sticks to his ideology and that is what is required in our country also, not some pseudo “unbiased” crap of a media that we have right now..