Sunday, June 15, 2008

Tim Russert

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All I know about Tim Russert was what I read in the papers.

Before I retired, I, and most people I know were rarely home in time to watch the 5:30 news (in the Central time zone). And I might have watched Meet the Press once or twice in my life, before he hosted it. On Sundays when I was preparing for, or at Mass, or in my pagan days on the golf course, I wasn’t thinking of national news issues, either.

That information one can pick up in huge quantities from weekly magazines, newspapers and now the internet.

It amazes me how much celebrity status news readers receive considering how small their audience is. The Huffington Post had a note on January 17 that an appearance by Hilary Clinton had the largest Meet the Press audience in three years: 4.7 million viewers. In a country of over 300 million.

Granted, those included all the movers and shakers. But the voters weren’t watching, that’s for sure.

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