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Tim Russert Dead at 58

From MSNBC.com

NBC News and MSNBC
updated 3 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Tim Russert, NBC News’ Washington bureau chief and the moderator of “Meet the Press,” died Friday after being stricken at the bureau, NBC News said Friday. He was 58.

Russert was recording voiceovers for Sunday’s “Meet the Press” broadcast when he collapsed. He was rushed to Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, where resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, said Russert’s physician, Michael Newman.

Newman said the cause of death was not immediately known.

Russert had returned from Italy, where his family was celebrating the graduation of his son, Luke, from Boston College.

A grilling on “Meet the Press” was often considered an essential proving ground in the career of any national politician. Russert took the helm of the 60-year-old public affairs program in 1991.

“If you could pass the Tim Russert test, you could do something in this field,” said Howard Fineman, senior Washington correspondent for Newsweek magazine and a columnist for msnbc.com.

Russert’s tenacity as a reporter and his consuming passion for politics were evident during his nearly round-the-clock appearances on NBC and MSNBC on election nights.

Statement from NBC
Statement from Jeff Zucker, president and CEO of NBC Universal:

“We are heartbroken at the sudden passing of Tim Russert. We have lost a beloved member of our NBC Universal family and the news world has lost one of its finest. The enormity of this loss cannot be overstated. More than a journalist, Tim was a remarkable family man. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Maureen, their son, Luke, and Tim’s entire extended family.”


Aside from his on-air responsibilities, Russert was a senior vice president and head of NBC’s overall Washington operations.

He was “one of the premier political journalists and analysts of his time,” Tom Brokaw, the former longtime anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” said in announcing Russert’s death. “This news division will not be the same without his strong, clear voice.”

Kucinich Was Excluded from Nevada Debate Afterall

I had a feeling that this was going to happen. At the last minute, NBC appealed a lower Court judges ruling that Kucinich should be included in last nights debate. Just a few hours before the debate was to begin, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled in favor of NBC, which wanted Kucinich out of the way.

The other candidates, especially Hillary Clinton, were scared to death about the prospect of having Kucinich in the debate. I may have spoken too soon when I suggested that Clinton had not yet bought the State of Nevada. Clinton already has the mainstream media on her side (which is how she gained her frontrunner status) and has been their favorite all along. Look at the lengths that NBC and Clinton's minions were willing to go through to keep this man out of the debate. Unbelievable!

Kucinich tried to use the Civil Courts to get a temporary restraining order preventing NBC's effort to exclude him, but he ran out of time. Read up on how they hustled him out of the debate. Folks... I predicted this kind of nonsense before the campaign season even started. It's the same thing every 4 years.

Just another episode in America's False Democracy. If you thought that you lived in a free Country with an electoral system that is truly free & fair, then you thought wrong.

And the debate itself was pretty much recycled from many of the previous events. The moderators spent the first 45 minutes talking about trivial nonsense, attempting to fan the flames between the candidates in an effort to boost their ratings. I can understand one or perhaps even two questions...and then let's move on. But these hosts just didn't want to leave the subject alone. They didn't touch on any of the important issues that Americans are concerned about in the first hour or so of the debate.
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Related Posts

NBC Tries to Pick the Next President

Read more about the Kucinich Lawsuit

Media Blackout Continues for John Edwards

There has clearly been a concerted effort on the part of the major media to take John Edwards out of the Presidential race. This has been going on for more than a year. They have successfully moved Edwards out of the way by sinking his campaign; allowing them to get the matchup that they want no matter what. And with so little time between Iowa and the New Hampshire Primary, Edwards has little chance of making up any ground.

All along, the networks wanted to see a matchup between Obama and Clinton because it would be the biggest ratings draw. Therefore, the networks proceeded to set the stage & set the agenda for what THEY wanted....(not what the people wanted), by giving disproportionate wall-to-wall coverage to the Obama and Clinton campaigns. In doing so, they set the agenda for voters...and established who the "favorites" were going to be...in order to get the matchup that they wanted.

Without the media hype, the Obama & Clinton campaigns would have gone nowhere... because neither candidate is the best that the Democrats had to offer, and neither candidate is the most electable.

What we are witnessing with John Edwards is one of the biggest travesties in American electoral history. And no one will do anything about it.... because there is no election authority in this Country that can regulate, enforce laws, recommend changes, or correct these kinds of injustices.

This is why fundamental electoral reform is so desperately needed...including the regulation of media coverage. Other Countries already regulate media coverage and public polling during campaigns.


Here are the latest examples of the media's Blackout effort against John Edwards... But this nonsense has been going on everyday for over a year.





Example with additional video



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Related Links

The Blackout of John Edwards and the Aftermath of Iowa

Other Candidates Banned from Participating in New Hampshire Debate

Iowa - A Test For American Democracy

NBC to do a 5 -part series on Black women

Hat tip: Prometheus 6

From What About Our Daughters:

NBC NIGHTLY NEWS WITH BRIAN WILLIAMS
SPECIAL FIVE-PART SERIES
TO AIR BEGINNING ON MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26

New York, N.Y. – November 15, 2007 – Throughout the week of November 26, "NBC News With Brian Williams" will take a look at the issues facing African-American women across our nation in a new series "African-American Women: Where They Stand." The series will cover a wide-range of issues from their role in the '08 Presidential race, to the increased health-risks that they need to be concerned about.

Monday's installment will discuss African-American women's progress in the education field. Nearly two-thirds of African-American undergraduates are women. At black colleges, the ratio of women to men is 7 to 1. And that is leading to a disparity in the number of African-American women who go on to own their own businesses. Rehema Ellis will talk to educators, students and businesswomen about why this disparity exists.

Tuesday, Ellis will look at relationships within the African-American female community. Many agree the gender disparity in education and business among African-Americans is having an effect on relationships that African American women have. Some even say the implications could redefine "Black America's family and social structure." In the past fifty years, the percentage of African-American women between 25-54 who have never been married has doubled from 20% to 40%. (Compared to just 16% of white women who have never been married today). Ellis sits down with the members of a Chicago book club and talk about this difference and how it impacts them.


Dr. Nancy Snyderman will discuss the increases risks for breast cancer for African-American women on Wednesday. Mortality rates for African-American women are higher than any other racial or ethnic group for nearly every major cause of death, including breast cancer. Black women with breast cancer are nearly 30% more likely to die from it than white women. Premenopausal black women are more than twice as likely to get a more aggressive form of the disease. And, not only are African-American women more likely to die from breast cancer, but they're less likely to get life-saving treatments. Dr. Snyderman will profile one of the only oncologists in the world who specializes in the treatment of African-American women with breast cancer.

On Thursday, Ron Allen will take viewers to South Carolina -- the first southern primary state -- and ask the question: Will race trump gender or gender trump race? In South Carolina, black women made up nearly 30 percent of all democratic primary voters in 2004. This year, polls show a significant number are undecided, torn between choosing the first African-American or first female Presidential candidate. Allen talks with the undecided, as well the state directors for the Clinton and Obama campaigns, who happen to be African-American women.


To close the series on Friday, Dr. Snyderman will raise the frightening statistic that African-American women are 85% more likely to get diabetes, a major complication for heart disease. And, like breast cancer, more black women die from heart disease than white women. Dr. Snyderman will profile a leading expert and a unique church-based outreach program in South Carolina that seeks to spread the word about heart disease risks to black women congregants.

Mara Schiavocampo, Digital Correspondent for "Nightly News," will address two hot topics in the African - American community: interracial dating and the impact of hip hop music on black women. Interracial dating is a growing trend in the African - American community. An Essence.com poll found that 81% of participants approved of black women dating non- black men.


According to a U.S. Census Bureau report in 2000, 95,000 black women were married to white men. In 2005, that number increased to 134,000. Schiavocampo will talk to experts about the trend and discuss how this defines the "Black family" of the future.

Schiavocampo will convene a panel of leading black men and women from the hip-hop industry for an engaging discussion on whether hip hop lyrics and videos positively or negatively affect black women. The roundtable also will address how these portrayals are affecting relationships between black women and black men.


Consumers can go online to join the discussion and share their thoughts on message boards. They can also read and respond to blog entries at www.nightly.msnbc.com .
Alexandra Wallace is the executive producer of "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams." Bob Epstein is the senior broadcast producer, and Rich Latour is the senior producer for this series.

Just thought it would be a good FYI. Let's see if NBC is going to be balanced in their reporting.