Reaction to Tim Russert's death

File:Carville and Matlin cry for Russert during tapeing on Meet the Press.jpg

Photo: Wong / Meet the Press
Russert was highly respected by persons regardless of their political persuasions. Here, Democratic strategist James Carville and wife, Republican strategist Mary Matalin, regular Meet the Press guests, burst into tears during taping of the Tim Russert tribute show on 15 June 2008.

Reaction to Tim Russert's death came from across the political spectrum, pop culture, and the sports world as well. Cable news stations devoted many hours to such tributes over the course of the weekend following his death as well.

Media coverage on Russert's death was so voluminous that various criticisms were leveled at the amount.

From politics and journalism

On the evening of his death, the entire, nearly commercial-free half hour of NBC Nightly News was dedicated to Russert's memory, featuring previous news segments with Russert and interviews with some of Russert's colleagues. The broadcast also included tributes to Russert by presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, as well as Keith Olbermann, Ethel Kennedy, Bob Schieffer, Tom Brokaw, Bob Woodward and others. Dateline NBC also served as a memorial for Russert, by highlighting the heights of both his early life and political and journalistic career in television. No other news was covered in the broadcast. Other major public and cable news agencies, including CBS, ABC, CNN and Fox News also devoted large segments of their programming on June 13 to Russert's life and memory. Even the BBC covered his death. MSNBC, the cable network operated by NBC at which he had spent much time working, devoted several continuous hours of commercial-free interviews with Russert's colleagues, during which host Keith Olbermann and other NBC commentators teared up several times. Their weekend coverage was also devoted exclusively to interviews and analysis about Russert and his impact.

Journalists from multiple news organizations praised Russert's commitment to the highest standards of well-researched journalism and fair play. CBS News anchor emeritus Walter Cronkite wrote: "Tim Russert was a giant in our field — a standard-bearer of journalistic integrity and ethics. His masterful interviews and round-table discussions are legendary."

Washington Post journalist Carl Bernstein wrote: "Tim Russert was a transformative journalist. He changed American television news, by bringing to it his own values: integrity, fairness, good humor, humility, and a unique sense of how reporting, history, and politics are bound together. He was masterful at exposing hypocrisy. I knew him as a source, a colleague, a competitor, and — on the air — as the subject of his tough questions. His approach to every role was always the same: he loved what he did, and sought a way to the truth, often unconventionally."

Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn discussed on NBC Nightly News how warm and religious Russert was. She said he was kind to her son Quinn and even inadvertently referred to Tim Russert twice as Quinn. Gwen Ifill reported Russert's death and acknowledged Russert's impact on the world of television journalism on her PBS show Washington Week broadcast of June 13, 2008, saying she considered Russert a friend, described how he brought her into the world of broadcasting on a dare, and lamented his loss.

Politicians who had faced him in presidential debates and on Meet the Press also commented on his death. President George W. Bush praised him as "a tough and hardworking newsman. He was always well-informed and thorough in his interviews. And he was as gregarious off the set as he was prepared on it." Former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton released a joint statement saying: "Tim had a love of public service and a dedication to journalism that rightfully earned him the respect and admiration of not only his colleagues but also those of us who had the privilege to go toe to toe with him."

Sen. John McCain said: "Tim Russert was at the top of his profession. He was a man of honesty and integrity. He was hard, but he was always fair." Sen. Barack Obama said: "I've known Tim Russert since I first spoke to the convention in 2004. He was somebody who over time I came to consider not only a journalist but a friend. There wasn't a better interviewer in television nor a more thoughtful analyst of our politics, and he was also one of the finest men I knew."

On Sunday, June 15, the first Meet the Press airing after Russert's death was devoted entirely to a remembrance of Russert. With the moderator's chair empty, Tom Brokaw led a discussion among Russert's colleagues, including James Carville, Mary Matalin, Gwen Ifill, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Mike Barnicle, and Maria Shriver. Clips from Russert's years as host of Meet the Press were included throughout the broadcast.

Entertainers

Radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh posted a statement on his website, writing in part, "It's just a shame. Tim was a regular guy with [a] perpetual smile he wore naturally all the time....Tim was always the same with me: genuine."

Bruce Springsteen, a friend of Russert's, while performing in Cardiff, Wales on Saturday 14 June, offered an on-stage tribute to Russert calling him "an important unreplacable voice in American journalism" and offering condolences to his family. Springsteen dedicated the performance of "Thunder Road" to Russert's memory to resounding applause from the audience.

On Monday evening, comedian Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, dedicated the "Moment of Zen" to Russert's memory. Former Daily Show correspondent Stephen Colbert, host of The Colbert Report, also made a similar tribute to Russert that same evening: "Mr. Russert was a model journalist who brought dignity, credibility, and joy to his work. He will be sorely missed." Conan O'Brien, of Late Night with Conan O'Brien, also devoted a segment of his show in rememberance of Tim Russert by showcasing clips of Russert from past interviews on Late Night. The same night Jay Leno broke style with a serious tribute to Russert in the last section of his monologue.

Memorial services

Also on June 15, a candlelight vigil was held in Tim Russert Park in his hometown of Buffalo. WGRZ-TV reported that over 1,000 people attended. A number of local politicians offered praise and fond memories of Russert, led by Mayor Byron W. Brown, who talked about Russert’s “continuing love affair with the City of Buffalo,” proclaiming Sunday “Tim Russert Day.”

On 18 June, Russert's memorial service was held in the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Among the many who eulogized Russert amidst both tears and laughter, Bruce Springsteen performed his song "Thunder Road". MSNBC's Chris Matthews noted that he sat and watched the normally heated presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain, in attendance, chatting in a friendly tone, with heads nodding affirmatively, and interpreted that this was iconic of Russert's journalistic even-handedness (both had been separately and conjointly interviewed by Russert shortly before his death). Matthews continued by saying that Russert's devoted Jesuit Catholicism was not in any way a "crutch" to a limping life but a centrally empowering component that both formed and filled it. Keith Olbermann on MSNBC noted that just before memorial attendees were dismissed, organizers played "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", sung and strummed on a ukulele by Israel Kamakawiwo'ole, which had been found on Russert's iPod. Displaying a photo, Olbermann said that attendees were stunned at the sight of what seemed like "a miracle" as they filed out the building toward Nebraska Avenue. A double-rainbow, an actual one, had arched prominently in the sky.