Charles Pierrce on Meet The Press nostalgia

[underpants]

Link to tweet

?s=46&t=3VBm1LJ8j8qLp6JTs_8J2A

[Paladin]

1. Many thanks, Charley. As usual. (nt)

[Kid Berwyn]

2. "Integrity is for paupers." -- Tim Russert

Per David Podvin:

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!”

Continues…

https://www.vendio.com/mesg/read.html?num=28&thread=139994

[mountain grammy]

9. Wow!

I knew a lot of that, but not all of it. What a damn disgrace. The first time I heard Hillary say something about a vast right wing conspiracy my ears perked up because I had been watching it on TV for a long time.

Thanks for posting this.

[shrike3]

16. Yes, indeedy

That's what he said. Made me sick. They gave him what amounted to a state funeral.

[Pepsidog]

22. WTF! Never heard any of this. Anytime I would mention Russert here I would get unkind comments.

Now I know why.

[Johonny]

3. Pretty much, it was in the early 2000s they showed

That Sunday political shows were like 60 percent GOP guests, 80 percent GOP point of view questioning. Meaning even if a Democrat was on, they spent their while time discussing the world from a conservative point a view. Conservatives rarely had to defend policy or discuss actual liberal topics.

MTP has always been a conservative reach around.

[JHB]

26. I recall some reporting on that going back to the early 90s

I don't think ones back then were specifically about MTP, but MTP wasn't exactly a bastion of liberalism (at least to anyone who isn't a right-winger).

The media watch group FAIR (Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting) compiled reports on "Who's on Nighline's Guest List", and another on PBS shows, showing a preference for conservatives and a dearth of liberal/left voices, unaffected by which party was in the White House.

[Wednesdays]

28. Well, no surprise there.

It's been decades since I even glimpsed at MTP, but I remember vividly their commercials--the ads that were paying their bills.
Entities such as EF Hutton, Merryl Lynch, Alcoa, Chevron, AT&T...
Bet it's pretty much the same today.

[T_A]

4. Whenever I Was Posting About The Show

back when Russert was hosting, I referred to it as "MEET THE REPUBLICANS".

[GB_RN]

23. The Late, Great Bartcop...

Of Bartcop.com referred to MTP as Meet The Whore. In fact, each of the Sunday morning political talk shows degenerated into nothing more than Repuke propaganda outlets while Clinton was in office, so Bart also referred to ABC and CBS’s shows as This Whore and Face The Whore, respectively.

[cilla4progress]

5. Pierce is

such a great writer...

[LisaM]

6. I couldn't stand Tim Russert.

Last edited Sun Sep 17, 2023, 02:26 PM - Edit history (1)

He did nothing but prop up Bush for eight long years.

[Sky Jewels]

18. Same.

Remember when he showed somebody the "secret" Dubya for Prez button he wore on the INSIDE of his lapel?

He was a right wing fluffer, just like the rest of them.

And his little snot-nosed kid Luke, who he tried to launch into career in media, was insufferable. I'm glad that wannabe nepo baby has disappeared from the scene.

[AnrothElf]

7. "Link to Nazi bar" LOL I mean, "Link to tweet"

[Zorro]

8. I remember when Meet the Press was actually meeting with the press

That's when a group of real reporters from a variety of news organizations would grill a government official on plans and policies.

Tim Russert changed that format, making the moderator and post-interview chats among the reporters the focus of the program.

[musette_sf]

10. I for one

never cared for, or missed after the fact, Ole Punkin Head.

[Squaredeal]

11. I thought of him as chucklehead.

In with the right wing. Stopped watching years ago, when there were three channels to watch. Infuriating watching such biased interviews.

[MOMFUDSKI]

12. Phil Donahue

had to have 2 rethugs on against 1 Democrat. He finally had enough

[underpants]

20. His show was canceled

Last edited Sun Sep 17, 2023, 02:50 PM - Edit history (1)

It was, at the time, by far the highest rated MSNBC show ever. MSNBC was fairly new. He complied with the 2-1 rule but NBC execs couldn’t have him presenting the obvious truths about the coming war.

[JHB]

27. Especially since at that time they were owned by General Electric...

...which was and is a major military contractor.

And it wasn't just the execs. Chris Matthews stuck his nose into it too, against Donahue.

[underpants]

29. Yes. GE

Matthews was probably following orders. Not an excuse.

[calimary]

13. I remember thinking of Tim Russert as a nonstop blow job.

It was hard to feel anything like respect for him as some “elder statesman of broadcasting”. Actually, more like damn near impossible.

[NoMoreRepugs]

14. Russert became a news icon when he died. Not before.

[flashman13]

15. Here is how Meet the Press worked back in the day. There was a plain stage.

There was a desk for a guest to sit at. There was a desk for a moderator to sit at. There was a place for a four person (I almost said man and alas they were mostly men) panel to sit. The panel was made up of the best news reporters from print and electronic media. And the panel would grill the guest with solid, meaningful, questions on the issues of the day. No soft balls. No talking points. Endless followups. No opinions from the panel. No bullshit allowed. That was real journalism.

[NNadir]

17. I am old enough to remember when "real journalism" existed, which means I'm pretty old.

It died around the time Walter Cronkite retired, a little more than 40 years ago.

[underpants]

21. 60 Minutes ironically

It was the first news program to make money. Everything else was seen simply as a requirement by the FCC. Kronkite didn’t have ads until the last few years. He didn’t want GE, Maytag, P&G etc pressuring the CBS chiefs about reports on his show.

Once 60 Minutes made money it was off the rating races. Fox News ended up from this.

[rubbersole]

24. Well, we certainly can't have corporations doing anything but maximizing profits.

It would be unAmerican.
Just wait until AI scripts the news. Murdoch will be the quaint old grandfather of journalism.

[Aristus]

32. john Chancellor was, no joke, my childhood hero.

Long before I knew anything about politics, liberalism, conservatism, journalistic integrity, etc, he was my hero. I watched his news reports avidly from around age seven. Before I could even articulate it in words, I felt like he was achieving acts of heroism by letting the people know what was going on in the world.

And when he or David Brinkley offered an editorial comment on the news of the day, they prefaced that by saying 'this is an editorial'. They didn't report opinion or gossip as fact or news.

[NNadir]

33. I absolutely agree that in those times all of the TV anchors...

...were actually journalists in the true sense of the word.

There was a Paddy Chayefsky movie, "Network" that was about as prescient at what the media would become as any.

It was startlingly prescient, so much so that a modern viewer might not get to what the movie was referring.

[ms liberty]

19. This. And every network had a version of the exact same news show.

I remember when all of DU called it "Press the Meat" and it's still as accurate today, to my sorrow.

[yonder]

25. +1.

[JHB]

30. Such as in the 50s, Chronoscope, which ran on CBS

Sponsored by Longines watches.

[DJ Porkchop]

31. I miss Bartcop

https://www.metafilter.com/137363/RIP-Bartcop

The site was crude, the graphics sometimes even cruder (I have a special place in my heart for his animated gif of Tim Russert repeating "Clinton's cock" over and over and over again), but most importantly it dispensed with the niceties with a wicked grin with a well-placed deflating shiv between the ribs.