Sex, Football and Politics

Tim Russert died last week.

I don’t know if I am going to watch Meet the Press this Sunday.

Or an Sunday after that.

Oh, maybe I will watch this Sunday. it probably will be a tribute to him. I’ll TiVo it, and get it off iTunes and save it for history.

Tim Russert is gone. Unbelievable. I could not believe the NYTimes alert that came across my PDA around 4pm on Friday.

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Friday, June 13, 2008 — 4:01 PM ET
—–

Tim Russert of NBC Is Dead at 58

Tim Russert, the Washington bureau chief of NBC News and the
host of the program “Meet the Press,” has died of a coronary
embolism at the age of 58, NBC has confirmed.

An earlier news alert stated incorrectly that the cause of
death was an apparent heart attack.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/business/media/14russert.html?_r=1&scp=8&sq=russert&st=cse&oref=slogin

As soon as I called my buddy Shaft, he stopped his activity in disbelief.

“That guy was legit. What are we going to do this election season without him?”, Shaft said.

It was so shocking that even my son’s mother, who rarely has any words for me, engaged me in a conversation about the great Buffalo Bills fan, son of Big Russ, husband of fMaureen, and father of Luke.

On Sunday mornings my dedicated television program is Meet the Press, then football.

I don’t watch Nightline as much because Ted Koeppel retired from it.

I don’t watch 60 minutes as much since Ed Bradley passed away.

I had a relationship with Tim. He was on my television set, on my Ipod. I trusted him. That’s the same way I trusted Ted and Ed.

I trusted them because they didn’t show their agenda.

They all have agendas. We all have agendas. They didn’t show their agenda.

They were fair, insightful, tough. They remind me of how the BBC and NPR journalists are: they don’t let a contradictory comment go unchallenged.

It’s not to say that I wouldn’t get to trust the next person except I don’t feel anyone can be trusted in major media. It’s so commercial. It’s all about money.

I know about major media. I worked for 11 years at Time Warner.

And that leads to compromises in integrity. That is unacceptable for me in a newsmaker.

Maybe if someone from public radio took the gig, I’d be more apt to tune in. Brian Lehrer of WNYC comes to mind. http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/

I trust him.

Anderson Cooper does a good job CNN.

So on this Father’s Day, I know Tim Russert is holding a special edition of “Meet the Press” in heaven. I wonder who his guests are?