Since his death Friday the 13th of June, we have learned much about Tim Russert and his life. In watching “Meet the Press” and the “Today Show” over the years, I am not surprised by reports of his character and his impact both on those who knew him directly and only through the television.
That said, the coverage afforded by the major networks has set a double-standard in journalism that I hope we can all embrace go-forward. Conspicuously absent from the coverage is the ubiquitous microphone, forced in front of those grieving at a time its presence is most inappropriate. By virtue of the amount of coverage, the professional news networks clearly deemed Mr. Russert’s death as a top news story. Unlike most top news stories, however, they never disregarded the family and their right to privacy and dignity during a difficult period.
I hope we can all learn from this double-standard.
It should be embraced by both professional journalists and those of us who enjoy a voice through blogs, Twitter, forums and the like. We now have the power as a democratic body of millions of journalists to bubble-up only those stories we find interesting and worthy of others’ attention. Let’s take the high road and learn from this. The need to know now does not relieve us of our human obligations toward others.
