Tim Russert conducted 15-30 minute interviews with important Washington politicians. He wasn’t, in my opinion, a particularly good interviewer, or a particularly tough one. He had a trick, which was he would look for quotations from a persons’ past which he felt were inconsistent with a more recent quotation, and confront them with that. This wasn’t necessarily a good or a bad trick to pull in an interview - it depends how you pull it off, and Russert’s results varied. His approach was generally deferential to the more prestigious players - accommodating, helpful even. He frequently came off as uninformed and - apart from the gotcha quote - ill-prepared. He never struck me as being particularly concerned about the effects of Washington politics, of the work of the people he interviewed, outside of a very select cohort of politicians and pundits, and how people in Buffalo, NY would perceive them. His work product was closer to Ryan Seacrest’s than William Shirer’s. He wasn’t the worst journalist/pundit in the country - I doubt he’d crack the top 1,000, the competition being what it is - but he also didn’t serve the public particularly well. These are all my subjective opinions, same as when he was alive.
I know, I know .. don't talk ill of the dead but ... Timmeh really was a terrible journalist and the fact that he has died far too young doesn't change the damage that he and others of his sort have done to our national discourse.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Not moderated but I do delete spam and I would rather that people not act like assholes.