While I didn't watch Meet The Press with any regularity, I was a something of a fan and admirer of its late host, Tim Russert. He always struck me as prepared, tenacious, and tough - not to mention that he didn't seem to be as "gotcha" driven as a lot of the other political newsfolks. I also am an unabashed admirer of those who manage to scramble up from humble origins to the top of their particular heap - extra points if those humble origins were Irish Catholic. Tim Russert's father was a garbage man in Buffalo, NY, and Tim was a 16 year product of Catholic schools.
Fair play to you, Tim, that you made it as far as you did. Good on you.
I did watch the Irish-wakish tribute to Russert on Meet The Press this past Sunday, and found it heart felt and interesting (even though I'm not a big fan of James Carville or Mike Barnicle - two of the wakers - and exactly what was Mary Matalin wearing that looked like an outfit for a cocktail party? Oh, well, people wear just about anything to wakes these days.).
But there is a touch of over-the-topness to the reaction to Russert's death. It's not quite Princess Diana caliber, yet it seems just a bit disproportionate. Sure, he was an impressive figure, but to devote most/all of Friday night's NBC news half-hour? Did nothing of greater importance happen that day? Sure, this is an election year. And Russert died suddenly and at a relatively young age (i.e., mine). And with the Jon Stewart's and Steven Colbert's of the world making sure that earnestness is replaced by irony, we're not likely to see the likes of Tim Russert again anytime soon. But all that air time and attention? It seems as if the private emotions of the understandably upset NBC newsroom got the best of them.
Tim Russet left his wife and a relatively young son who, at 22 has just graduated from college.
Russert's son, Luke, has quite impressive credentials for someone of his young age - a sports show on ESPN. I read an interview a couple of years ago when the show first started - the local interest was that Luke R was a student at Boston College - and recall that the kid made no bones about the fact that he got the opportunity because of who his father was. The impression that I took away from the interview I read was that Luke was decent and likable enough, although obviously wildly and widely privileged.
I noticed yesterday that young Luke had appeared on The Today Show to talk about his father. I watched a bit of the clip and was struck by how poised and articulate he is. But, of course, he is a young man who, as the son of two prominent journalists (his mother, Maureen Orth, is also a writer), has been somewhat groomed for this. He is, as well, a newsperson on his own right, by dint of his however nepotically (is that a word) he got the job.
But I was also struck by just how peculiar it was to have this young man on TV, talking about his father and his death, just a couple of days after it occurred.
Surely, this is private grief time for Luke, his mother, and their family and friends.
It was one thing for those journalist friends - public figures, talking heads, all, with the exception of Tim Russert's assistant who appeared to be the most shaken of the lot - to sit around on Sunday on Meet The Press. Quite another for his son to go on with Matt Lauer.
There is also a photo circulating of Luke Russert on the stage of Meet The Press, touching his father's chair a day or two after his death. Not quite John-John saluting Daddy's caisson, but poignant and sweet.
Yet I noticed that the shot had been provided to AP by the staff of Meet The Press.
All of a sudden, this personal moment looks staged, contrived, posed - even if it's not.
Why do we need to see this picture? Why do we - who are neither friends nor family of Tim Russert - need to hear what this bereaved young man has to say?
I do not for one moment believe that the photo op and Matt Lauer interviewed were stage managed by Luke Russert and his mother. But I have no problem believing that Tim Russert's friends in high places had no problem pushing for the on-air interview, and circulation of the photo. I have no problem believing they were doing something that they believe will help move Luke Russert's career along.
Certainly, millions of people who never heard of him - or only knew of him in the context of being Tim Russert's kid - have now had the opportunity to see Luke Russert on his own.
God knows, I don't expect to see him on Meet The Press grilling Obama and McCain anytime soon. But a career that was already on the lottery-in-life fast track has just been accelerated, and if Luke is as smart, tenacious, and as hard working as his father he will no doubt go far.
Tim Russert's friends and colleagues have every reason in the world to help Luke Russert along in his career.
This is the way the world works, and there's nothing wrong with pull - to a point, and issues with the incumbent president aside.
Those pulling Luke along are, no doubt, well meaning.
And who among us hasn't used our network to find work - or to help out friends and relations?
We're just doing it at a far lower, less visible level - for jobs that the country's elite class wouldn't give two hoots about.
And there's something unsettling about seeing Luke Russert paraded out less than 72 hours after his father's death. Good, no doubt, for ratings. Good, no doubt, for Luke's career. But somehow a tiny bit distasteful to me.
My father had nothing in common with Tim Russert - other than the fact that they were both witty, smart, sports fan, kid-loving Irish-Catholic guys from working class backgrounds who died at the age of 58.
Unlike Tim Russert, my father didn't die suddenly: he suffered from a progressive illness that took nearly 7 years to kill him.
So I had nearly 7 years to get used to the idea that he would be gone before we were any near where ready for him to be.
I have nothing in common with Luke Russet - other than the fact that we were about the same age when our fathers died. (I had just turned 21; Luke Russert is 22.)
Unlike Luke Russert, at 22 I didn't know a damned soul who could have helped me out with my career - even if I had a clue what that career was going to be. The summer after my father died, I did get a "pull" job through my uncle. Charlie was head of the Worcester city workers/laborers union, and he got me a job as an intake clerk in the Worcester City Hospital walk-in clinic - a truly interesting (not to mention eye-opening) job. One of the patients I remember most clearly was a woman who had fallen down drunk and bashed the side of head in. By the time she sobered up enough to come into the Hospital, her wound was infested with maggots.
There's plenty of time for a 22 year old kid to talk about his father - including at the wake and party-after the funeral, where those who knew and loved Tim Russert will be happy to trade stories with him.
You'd have thought that those pushing Luke Russert to "go public" might have given him a few days to himself. He is not, after all, someone in his 30's, 40's, 50's who's just lost his father. Nor is he - quite yet, despite his sports show - a public figure. He's a just out of college, 22 year old kid.
But if the folks pushing the story had waited,the moment might have passed.
We'd have already forgotten about Tim Russert.
Who will be replacing him? On to the next!
So, career-wise, those engineering the go-public moves for Luke Russert were probably right to encourage him to jump on the story fast.
And maybe the idea was all his to begin with - maybe in the "all is public, nothing is private" world we live in, this is Luke's way to come to grips with his father's death.
Still, that picture of him touching his father's chair...
We the people - who will miss Tim Russert for his contributions to the American polity, but for whom any glimpse of the true grieving is vicarious at best - didn't need to see that.
Not now. Not ever.
9 comments:
Your attempt at rationalizing an irrational and emotional situation smacks of your own shallow self-promotion from the platform of Tim Russert's death. That's sad. Luke Russert was not thinking about his career these last five days. He's been likely moving through his devastating loss as best he can with no calculation. Touching his father's chair and talking to Matt Lauer were his ways of coping perhaps. You didn't need to tell us that. Unfortunately you made this unhappy situation about yourself through your own bloggingly sloppy soliloquy. Stick with product marketing.
I did not mean to imply that Luke Russert was thinking of his career, but that others at NBC, out of affection and concern for Russert's family, or in their own shock and grief, may have unconsciously (or consciously, even) been pushing him forward. The picture of him touching the his father's chair was so personal, I don't see why it needed to be exposed. But I guess we have such interest in the private lives of public people that we feel in a way that we deserve to be part of them.
Anyway, I'm sure that you won't be returning, but when I do comment on what's in the news, I typically draw in and on my personal experience, just as I draw on my professional experience when I write about product marketing as well.
I disagree with anonymous. There is something unsettling about how little time he has had to grieve before rallying in front of the cameras. However, I think when you have a strong faith and you know your father lived life to the fullest then your grief is for your own loss. I daresay that it hasn't sunk in for Luke yet. The process of grieving for a parent starts when they pass and ends when you do.
I moved to DC from another world capital and in my experience the private schools produce incredibly astute and poised graduates. It was only when I went to college that I realized how remarkable is the education these elite schools provide. Since it was comparable to even lower ranked private schools in my homeland I thought it was typical of paid-for schooling. But then again I thought that all parents knew the word "no" and how it should be used with children. But I digress...
My main comment is that instead of tsk-tsking at nepotism that we should consider that Luke R has not had the same opportunities to mess up like other children and that he has higher expectations to meet. Maybe doors have been opened specifically for him but what he does with it then is his accomplishment and should not be stolen from him.
Clearly he was raised by two loving and very involved parents who gave him the best opportunities and instilled universal values in him. Instead of looking at him as another member of the privileged elite perhaps we should consider that he is a model of positive parenting. At a time when Lindsey Lohan, the Spears girls and just about any other young celebrity extoll the virtue of a shallow life - here is an example of a young adult worthy of admiration.
Anonymous #2 - Thanks for your comment. I agree that there's nothing wrong with someone opening doors for others - children, childrend of friends, etc. It's what we all do, but mostly in less visible and public domains. The unfortunate burden that the offspring of the famous carry with them is that people will believe they got where they are from pure pull. Certainly in the public/famous realm, there are few examples of anyone "lasting" who doesn't perform - and their achievements are, indeed, their own.
I think that some at NBC may have in a sense pushed him forward, as you stated, out of care and concern, but my gut tells me it was for Luke the person, the boy they watched and probably in a sense helped raise, to grow into a young man, not for his potential career or ratings or anything of the like. I have no doubt many at NBC are literally part of the Russert family and Luke turned to them in a sense, to help him through this difficult time - that's what people do, turn to family and friends to get through. Grief is something we ALL handle differently and I don't think anyone has any business questioning how Luke handles his.
As to the photo, absolutely, not necessary but that's the problem with ALL of the media today - they thrive on the shock value of prying into the private lives and times of public persons.
Push Luke's career? Let's face it, he doesn't need it. His career is already started, if his Dad was able to help him, God bless and more power too, I wish I could do the same for my son - and, chances are Luke could probably (though doubtfully will) ride the gravy train and not do a darn thing for the rest of his life except enjoy it. I don't mean to assume or be rude, but really, I doubt Luke ever "wanted" for much and more than likely never will, his family is very well off, so the argument that it was in a sense FOR his future career just doesn't wash with me - but, that is an opinion to which you or anyone else is entitled to, just as the Russert family is as entitled as anyone else, to grieve in their OWN way.
Anonymous #3, thanks for your take. The NBC people were no doubt helping in the way they know best: getting the story out, making it compelling, reaching their audience. For people in "the business" reaching out to a family in "the business," this makes perfect sense. The career pushing aspect becomes incidental, or a side benenfit, given Luke's career interest.
What's particularly fascinating to me is the larger story about how people who once may have had private lives - who even knew if Huntley and Brinkley had chidren? -are now more or less "owned" by the public. We feel entitled to hear the details, see the pictures, etc. and feel deprived and resentful if and when we don't.
One of my young nieces tells me she wants to be "famous" when she grows up. I always tell her to be careful what she wishes for.
We feel entitled to hear the details, see the pictures, etc. and feel deprived and resentful if and when we don't<
Exactly. It's the norm now and a sad state of the media and our society in general. It's not only an invasion of one's privacy, it's just blatantly disrespectful. It's not enough that a prominent newsperson, rock star, actor, etc., works to do a good job and share their knowledge and talent with the world and it's never enough for some people.
Your advice to your niece was quite sound.
I have seen many comments about Luke Russert, some bad, some good. I believe that it is best not to judge a person when that person is grieving. People have different ways of handling death. Sometimes, a person is numb and functions great and then it sinks in later. I know that the picture of Luke and the chair was planned, and it was difficult for me to see. However, I would hesitate to judge why it was done. Possibly, the family wanted it done as a final tribute. They chose to show it publicly, and that was their choice. Several people in my family died at a young age. It is a difficult time. I admire the way that everything was handled.
Audrey - Thanks for lending your perspective. I hadn't though of the picture as a tribute. It was so raw and painful, given the timing, that I jumped to the conclusion that the newspeople had put it out there - yes, in their geuinely sorrow - but also to make news.
However it came across, I was not intending to be judgemental about a young person who has just lost his father. He certainly has much pain and sorrow ahead of him, and will have to live with the regret that he never got to know his father as an adult. I feel personally that I lost out in a very big way by not having that perspective on and relationship with my own father.
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