skippy the bush kangaroo

Saturday, June 14, 2008

even gerald ford didn't rate this kind of coverage

we agree w/john cole at balloon juice:

but let’s get something straight- what i am watching right now on the cable news shows is indicative of the problem- no clearer demonstration of the fact that they consider themselves to be players and the insiders and, well, part of the village, is needed. this is precisely the problem. they have walked the corridors of power so long that they honestly think they are the story. it is creepy and sick and the reason politicians get away with all the crap they get away with these days.

tim russert was a newsman. he was not the pope. this is not the jfk assassination, or reagan’s death, or the space shuttle challenger explosion. a newsman died. we know you miss him, but please shut up and get back to work.
if nbc wants to hold a wake for their good friend tim russert, fine, by all means, please go thru the grieving process.

but does the american public have to watch it? it's not news. it's not even particularly entertainment.

it's actually quite personal, and because of that, quite embarrassing to watch.

readers of this space may remember that skippy recently lost a good friend who was quite instrumental in the san francisco community and comedy scene.

jose's funeral was quite an affair...many, many stand up comics and improvisors came to show their respect and speak tributes to the man who started san francisco's annual comedy day free concerts in golden gate park.

the funeral was in fact, quite entertaining...far more than the 24/7 religious awe-fest that is still running on msnbc as of this writing (saturday morning).

but we didn't insist that the world watch it. not only that, the stand up comics that attended actually went to do their scheduled gigs later that night...and they did not insist on paying tribute to jose simon instead of making people laugh w/their jokes.

no, they actually did their jobs. they didn't assume that the audiences, who probably knew who jose was, needed to hear the intensely personal grieving process that the comedians felt upon the somber occasion. no, they did their jobs and gave people jokes.

substitute "news" for "jokes" (unintentionally ironic metaphor there), and you get how we feel the washinton press corps should be acting right now.

do you know who else died yesterday? asspress:

the indiana flooding killed at least one person, a man who drowned in his vehicle about 50 miles south of indianapolis, said john erickson, a spokesman for the state department of homeland security. another person was reported missing after falling off a boat about 30 miles southwest of indianapolis.
yeah, remember that? the 500-year flood? how about some actual news on msnbc?

don't get us wrong...russert's death is a tragedy for his friends and family and colleagues, and yes, even for america on a slight scale. any death, especially at the young age of 58, is a moment for pause, grieving, and sadness.

but truthfully, even peter jennings didn't rate 24/7 tears in your beer over his passing, and in our opinion, he was a more objective newsperson.

so don't cry for the snowman, robert frost. if you have to hold a wake for your fallen comrade, have the decency to do it in private, and spare us your sanctimonious self-congratulations, which is what this is turning out to be.

the news is not the news. get back to doing your job.

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posted by skippy at 8:10 AM |

11 Comments:

it is sad to see Tim Russert (or anyone) die at such an age,
and i truly feel bad for his family. i am sure he was a decent person. I wish them nothing but peace in the coming days.

HOWEVER, he was a cheerleader for the war, and he was Rush Limbaugh & Dick Cheney’s favorite newsman, and showed a homophobic side from time to time in interviews. in the democratic debates, it was Russert who interjected questions about candidates religious values (see Article 6 of our Constitution: no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States).

the thing that really bothers me is the way the TV folks are covering this. you would think he was the pope. Suarez on PBS called him a journalist and an insider…seems to me those two cancel each other out…..which is the problem with TV news specifically and the MSM in general these days.
commented by Anonymous interlude, 9:25 AM PDT  
In the wake of a Democratic primary race that not only left many of those in both the Clinton and Obama camps embittered and furious toward each other, but showed the entire world just how shallow, self-imporatnt, and pathetic America's mainstream media outlets are; given that Tim Russert, for good or ill, was one of the biggest American mainstream media stars out there; and given that, no matter what the mainstream does to make John McCain look better than Obama, it isn't working -- Obama's polling numbers look a little bit better with each new day...

Well, if there is a God, I think it was mighty kind of Him to call Tim Russert home when He did. The timing does seem a little peculiar...
commented by Blogger Jim Yeager, 11:00 AM PDT  
I have nothing to add except agreement with this.
commented by Blogger SteveAudio, 11:48 AM PDT  
He had a good run comparatively (dying at 58 as opposed to under 25). So many seem to be offended by honest assessments of the man's career performance. It's not like anyone's forced their way into the eulogy. It seems to be a natural reaction to the hagiography that is taking place.

Here's what galled me the most on Friday:

On Rachel Maddow’s show, I heard w/o comment a reporter (David Gregory?) talking about Tim taking his kid to see the Oval Office (and presumably the president) and the reporter said he wondered if it was cool to try to get his kid in to see the president greet the World Series champs and Tim said, “Sure, I take my kid every year.”

This was reported without irony. This highlights the whole problem of access in that buddying up to power for the perks is more important than doing your f*cking job!

I hope in all this collective grief they remember that for a minute. Any reporters sidling up to power like that has blood on their hands as far as I’m concerned.
commented by Blogger LanceThruster, 11:59 AM PDT  
Frankly, I think Russert was worse for the cause of Good Journalism and The Truth than the likes of Limbaugh and Fox News.
The latter, after all, are clowns. No serious, clear-thinking American takes HateWing Radio or Fox seriously.
On the other hand, Russert was regarded by many as a sober, well-informed, serious journalist. He was, in fact, a prostitute for the White House.

"I suggested we put the vice president on "Meet the Press," which was a tactic we often used. It's our best format," as it allows us to "control the message."

-- Cathie Martin, media aide for Dick Cheney, under oath at the Libby trial.
commented by Blogger Marc McDonald, 12:26 PM PDT  
I wasn't a fan of Russert, but I am very sympathetic to his family, friends and colleagues, who must be devastated. Russert was by most accounts a very nice guy as a person, whatever his faults as a journalist. I think the sudden nature of this really threw his co-workers.

I agree there's an element of ridiculousness to it. I also didn't like the revisionist hagiographies of Reagan when he died, and there's some of that here. Maybe I'd have less patience if I were watching the key networks (although I caught a fair amount yesterday), or will change my mind, but I'm inclned to give a pass for the hoopla, just for this weekend.
commented by Blogger Batocchio, 1:15 PM PDT  
Long time since seeing the Roo ....not much seems to have changed....that's good and bad...
(he says cryptically, but not meaning to seem so...heheheh)
commented by Blogger Prior Essaress, F.C.F.J., 5:28 PM PDT  
I don't know, has this been any worse than Anna Nicole Smith's death? And since there are only so many press releases for them to repeat verbatim to the public over the weekend, were we expecting better?

You know how the cheese at the supermarket isn't cheese, but cheese food. Same fucking thing here, they're selling pre-wrapped pasteurized American news entertainment. It's not news, it's news entertainment.
commented by Anonymous sean, 11:45 PM PDT  
RIP the hack - but a whole hour of KO devoted to pretending he was a Journalist???? give me a break please! I fast forwarded to see if there was any real news, then deleted the whole hour.
commented by Blogger SB Gypsy, 8:49 AM PDT  
It lasted into Monday morning, btw.

Mother Theresa didn't rate this kind of coverage.
commented by Blogger Carl, 5:55 PM PDT  
Imagine when Rush Limbaugh dies of an overdose of drugs, pork fat or hubris? I bet we will get an outpouring of grief over THAT fallen comrade that it won't be safe to turn on the TV for a month.

Enjoy.
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 7:53 PM PDT  

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