The New York Times’ David Carr, in between the tributes, has a couple of paragraphs that really sum up the media shift in political coverage that Tim Russert’s untimely death proclaims:
For decades, American national politics has been the province of a meritocracy, a self-nominated, self-important bunch who choose to be part of the media-political apparatus because it is a bloody sport for very high stakes.
And it has historically pivoted around a rather tidy triangle defined by the parlors of Georgetown, the lobbyists on K Street and lunches at The Palm. And once a week, hierarchy is assigned and tribute is paid on the Sunday morning shows, with “Meet the Press” long being the more equal of equals.
You won’t hear this on a Sunday morning show — not this week and not any — but this political season suggests politics don’t work that way any more. As media platforms have multiplied and coverage has become ubiquitous, custody of the political narrative has left the Beltway.
Meet The Press isn’t going away, but with Russert’s death there is a realization that the significance of Sunday morning TV for American politics has diminished. If it wasn’t election season, you almost feel NBC would like to put it to rest. The NYT again:
Jeff Zucker, the president of NBC Universal, the parent company of NBC News, said the network was well aware of the issues it faced going into a pivotal presidential election.
“Nobody should even think about replacing Tim Russert,” he said in a telephone interview on Sunday. “What someone will need to do is find the next way to do Meet the Press and provide political analysis. Anybody who thinks they can replace Tim Russert is kidding themselves.”