While I get much of my news these days from the Internet, it is not because I have anything against television news in principal. If the TV networks would produce worthwhile news shows, I would probably watch them. Most TV news shows today, however, are vacuous, shallow, and incredibly biased.
One of the few bright spots was Meet the Press hosted by Tim Russert. I was not a religious viewer—mostly because of religious commitments on Sunday mornings away from the television—but I always liked the show. Russert, though you can find with some research that he was a Democrat, rarely-if-ever let his personal biases show through to his lines of questioning. Politicians, whether their name was followed by an R or a D, got tough questions from Russert . . . but they got fair questions. There were no hit-pieces, no zingers, no yelling, and no interrupting. Russert simply asked a question, and gently pried until he got a real answer. Watching Meet the Press usually resulted in the viewer learning something about the politician who was being interviewed, unlike the mindless regurgitation of talking-points you usually get from interview shows.
Tim Russert, 58, one of the very few respectable newsmen left in the industry, died yesterday. He collapsed at NBC’s studios in Washington, DC, while recording voice-overs for this Sunday’s episode of Meet the Press, suffering from a sudden coronary thrombosis caused by rupturing cholesterol plaque. He was rushed to the hospital, but doctors were unable to revive him. Russert is survived by his wife, Maureen Orth, and son Luke.