Integrity is for paupers!
Podvin on the Media
1/9/02
CHOCOLATES AND NYLONS, SIR?
By David Podvin
In 1992, shortly after being named moderator of Meet The Press, Tim
Russert was having lunch with a broadcast executive. The mealtime
conversation was about the pros and cons of working for General
Electric's NBC subsidiary. Russert expounded on how being employed by
GE had brought him to the realization that things functioned better
when Republicans were in charge.
"You know, Tim, you used to be such a rabid Democrat when you worked
for Pat Moynihan," said the executive. "But now that you've gotten a
glimpse of who's handing out the money in this business, you've
become quite the Jaycee. Were you wrong about everything you used to
believe so strongly?"
"I still believe," Russert said, leaning across the table. "I believe
in everything I ever did. But I also know that I never would have
become moderator on Meet The Press if my employers were uncomfortable
with me. And, given the amount of money at stake, millions of
dollars, I don't blame them. This is business."
The executive agreed. "But are you concerned about losing yourself?
You know, selling out?"
Russert pounded the table. "Integrity is for paupers!"
When Tim Russert joined NBC News in 1984, he began a personal
transformation from Democratic congressional aide to broadcaster-in-
charge of General Electric's political interests. His early efforts
for the network drew some criticism from the GE corporate suites as
being "too knee jerk", a euphemism for "insufficiently pro-GE/
Republican". The executives at General Electric viewed with hostility
the Democratic Party that wanted to burden them with obeying laws
that the company preferred to break and complying with regulations
that it preferred to ignore. While Republicans turned a blind eye to
the serial environmental crimes and bribery committed by GE, the
Democrats were less submissive. The company was especially upset that
the Democratic Party had taken a position against transferring public
ownership of the broadcast airwaves to the media conglomerates.
The ambitious Russert soon learned that, in order to climb the ladder
at NBC News, he had to please two sets of managers: the news
executives who were ostensibly his bosses, and the employers of the
news executives. In the years that followed, he refined the strategy
to ingratiating himself to General Electric Chairman Jack Welch.
For much of the eighties, Russert coordinated specials on summits and
foreign policy related topics. His breakthrough performance occurred
in 1990, when he oversaw the production of the prime time special, "A
Day In The Life Of President Bush". The show was so worshipful and
fawning that one embarrassed production assistant referred to it
as "Deep Throat: The Missing Footage". By this time, however, Russert
had figured out that only one opinion counted. Jack Welch loved the
program, telling an associate that it "hit just the right note".
When the moderator position on Meet The Press needed to be filled in
1991, Russert was chosen from on high. The show had been struggling
in the ratings, earning less than a million dollars a year. The new
moderator changed the format, eliminating the panel and turning
America's longest running program into The Tim Russert Show. The
revised philosophy of Meet The Press was borrowed from the book
Animal Farm: All Guests Are Equal, But Some Guests Are More Equal
Than Others. The more equal ones, who all coincidentally had an "R"
appear after their names on the show's graphics, were asked questions
about policy and the moral shortcomings of the opposition party. The
lesser equals were usually challenged to disassociate themselves from
issues (liberal) and individuals (Democrats) that Russert found to be
lacking in virtue.
In 1992, Russert enthusiastically led the media frenzy about the
relationship between Gennifer Flowers and Democratic presidential
nominee Bill Clinton, but he refused to report about a similar
relationship between incumbent Republican President George Bush and
Jennifer Fitzgerald. Four years later, Russert focused on questions
about Clinton fundraising, while studiously ignoring the lengthy
record of well-documented influence peddling by Republican nominee
Bob Dole.
Throughout 2000, with less pretense of objectivity than ever, Russert
dutifully echoed the Republican theme that the Democratic nominee
was "dishonest". Week after week, the topic on Meet The Press was
the "repeated lying" of Al Gore. One lowlight of Russert's descent
into shameless propagandist occurred when it was revealed that George
W. Bush had been convicted of drunk driving in Maine, thereby proving
that the Republican candidate had been deceitful when he was
questioned about whether he had ever been arrested.
Russert's immediate response on national television was, "The
question on everybody's mind is, `Did the Gore campaign have
something to do with the release of this information?'"
That was not the question on everybody's mind; a poll taken
immediately after the revelation showed that most Americans did not
believe that Gore was involved.
It was, however, the question being faxed nationally by the
Republicans in a memo circulated to their operatives who were
responsible for diverting attention from the fact that their
candidate was guilty of, for want of a better term, "repeated lying".
As media mogul and future Fox network founder Rupert Murdoch noticed,
Russert's brazenly partisan approach attracted large numbers of white
male viewers. In 2000, Meet The Press earned a $50 million profit for
General Electric, which was sixty times more than when Russert was
named moderator.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, Russert established a link
between Meet The Press and the G.O.P. opposition research team that
was responsible for digging up dirt/manufacturing dirt on Al Gore. On
election night, after conferring with Welch, Russert demanded that
Gore quit the race before the legally mandated recount took place in
Florida. The next morning, on the Today Show, he repeated the demand.
During the recount, Russert actively campaigned for Bush, going so
far as to insist that Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe
Lieberman endorse the counting of illegally cast military ballots
that would benefit George W.
There have been reports from those who were present that journalist
Tim Russert was wearing a Bush For President lapel pin when he
attended the traditional Al Smith Dinner in New York shortly before
the election. This should be interpreted as less of an endorsement
than a brownnosing. Russert was accompanied by Welch, who was a
strong supporter of Bush and completely intolerant of dissent on the
matter.
During the Lewinsky episode, Russert latched onto the sexual aspect
of the scandal with obsessive fervor. When the story appeared to be
running out of steam, he showed America his creative side. The
following was written by Martin Schram of the Nando Times:
I was especially dismayed to hear Russert present what sounded like
a misbegotten Virtual Scoop:
"There are lots of suggestions coming out of people close to Ken
Starr that perhaps the Secret Service 'facilitated' for President
Clinton. Remember that code word -- it was used about the state
troopers in Little Rock ... Was the Secret Service -- was a Secret
Service agent -- an accomplice in trying to cover up a relationship
with Monica Lewinsky?"
Sounds like a major, unsavory exclusive report from a source in the
independent counsel's office -- that the Secret Service was pimping
for a president of the United States.
But rewind and rethink. We only heard Russert say there
were "suggestions" from people "close to" Starr that "perhaps" an
agent had facilitated in the president's philandering. Were
these "suggestions" based on any substantial evidence or proof
obtained by the independent counsel? Or was it just a prayerful hope
of someone in Starr's office who hates Clinton but has not a shred of
evidence that this might have happened? Which of course means that it
would be a journalistic outrage to air the story if that was all it
was.
Now fast-forward. It is midday, on MSNBC, the all-news cable channel.
Behind the scenes, Starr's spokesman, Charles Bakaly, has called
Russert, and Russert has conceded the source wasn't in Starr's
office; it was a congressional source. Which means it may have been a
political opponent of the president -- who may or may not know if
there is any substantive indication that such a thing had occurred.
Now, on MSNBC's regular noontime show, "Investigating the President,"
Russert sounds like he is just repeating his morning scoop. But he
actually tells a much different, much weaker version -- while never
indicating that he is issuing a correction:
"This morning I reported that congressional sources had told NBC News
that Ken Starr is very interested in finding out" what Secret Service
agents may have done -- as "accomplices" in a "cover-up."
Wait! This is more than just saying the source was "congressional";
now Russert is saying that Starr is merely "interested in finding
out" if any agent had facilitated on behalf of the president. Well,
of course he is! And so am I! But it is not newsworthy that either
Starr or I want to ask these questions. It would only be news if
either Starr or I had proof that this happened.
Fast-forward again. On NBC's "Nightly News," Russert reports live
from the White House lawn: "Members of Congress have been talking to
investigators, people, lawyers associated with the grand jury, people
who are free to talk"-- what the heck does all that mean? -- "and
they are coming to some conclusions that perhaps Secret Service
agents may have been, quote, facilitating." (Again, just perhaps.)
"We don't know whether that's Republican spin, partisan spin,
ideological spin, or there's a germ of evidence."
Translation: We don't have any idea whether any of this is true. But
we've spent all day raising the smarmy specter that the Secret
Service may have been pimping for the president -- just as the
president's political opponents hoped we would. Even though we didn't
have a germ of evidence that it was true.
Mr. Schram is an excessively generous man, lavishing the undeserved
benefit of the doubt on Russert in a situation where there is no
doubt. This was not a "misbegotten virtual scoop". It was a lie. What
was happening has been on public display countless times before: Tim
Russert was acting as an operative for the political interests of the
multinational corporation that keeps him fat and happy.
The spectacular rewards of manipulating the public for GE were
realized in 2001, when Russert received a new contract worth tens of
millions of dollars. The wages of sin have been huge, while the cost
has been the negligible loss of whatever integrity he might have once
possessed. He is not an objective journalist; he is a partisan
deceiver. He exaggerates Democratic wrongdoing, going to the extreme
of inventing criminal behavior. Conversely, he has been unrelentingly
oblivious to all Republican scandals; his infinite fascination with
the missing intern in the case of Democrat Gary Condit was
accompanied by total disinterest in the dead intern who was found on
the office floor of Republican Joe Scarbrough. Russert spent years
obsessing about an ill fated land deal called Whitewater that
involved a couple of hundred thousand dollars, but he remains
indifferent to the multi-trillion dollar taxpayer funded kickbacks
that George W. Bush has been ladling out to his campaign contributors.
Russert has every right to serve General Electric and its chosen
political party, but truth in advertising mandates that he should
never appear on television without having "We Bring Good Things To
Life" emblazoned on his forehead.
The saga of Tim Russert is not unique, or even uncommon. With minor
changes, it could be the story of Peter Jennings, or Brit Hume, or
Jim Lehrer, ad nauseum. This is the modern reality of the mainstream
media: those who dutifully conform to the company line and
deceitfully ignore any facts that are incompatible with increasing
corporate profits are compensated with vast fortunes, while whatever
democracy remains in this country struggles to survive without a free
press and an informed electorate.
The founders of America conceived of a nation with an unregulated
flow of information that would provide the citizenry with access to
the knowledge they needed to govern themselves. That patriotic vision
has been distorted by the huge conglomerates that control the
mainstream media, and by journalistic prostitutes like Tim Russert,
who corrupt our society with their eagerness to pervert the truth in
exchange for personal wealth.
http://makethemaccountable.com/podvin/media/020109_Russert.htm
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