Who should replace Tim?
Writing by abuhatem on Sunday, 15 of June , 2008 at 5:07 am
The blogs are lit up in discourse concerning who should replace Tim Russert as moderator of NBC’s Sunday morning talk show Meet the Press. Names being floated around are pretty much everyone employed with NBC news, the typical list of Chris Mathews, David Gregory, Andrea Mitchell, or even to some Tom Brockow, Rachel Maddow, Joe Scarborough, or Keith Olbermann. Non-NBC choices have been Katie Couric or George Stephanopolis. Those are all silly choices, and I don’t think NBC News execs will consider any of them other than Gregory or Mitchell. I will bet that Gregory takes MTP in the end.
Anyways, I have two suggestions on who should replace Tim as a humble TV news viewer. There are only two candidates, one from NBC News and another outside.
If you want someone to replace Tim Russert you need a someone who has a combination of three things: (1) a deep knowledge of politics, (2) a strong interview style, and (3) ability to bring in high ratings.
Candidate 1: Now at NBC News, the only one with a deep knowledge of politics comparable to Tim Russert is their political director Chuck Todd.
Todd, before his NBC fame, was an integral part of the real political journalism at the real sources of PBS, CSPAN, and the non-partisan National Journal where he edited the Hotline for 15 years. Todd is very familiar with Washington, non-partisan, a professor of political communication, and a graduate of George Washington University. Viewers know Todd for his number crunching during this campaign season wherein he outlined scenarios for Clinton and Obama victories.
There is no doubt Todd knows his stuff. Howard Kurtz of the Washington Post did a story on him in May. Russert was quoted in the piece:
Tim Russert, NBC’s Washington bureau chief, hired him from the Hotline, the online political digest, telling Todd that beyond his office duties he would get a tryout on “Meet the Press.” Apparently Todd passed the audition. “The secret to his success is he understands politics and can explain it,” Russert says. “Our platforms are 24/7, and someone has to man the platforms.”
The flaws of Todd are that he is too young (36) and that although he is a political junkie it is still unknown how well his interviews would go. I hope however that NBC gives him a chance, it would take a few years but Todd’s talent would shine. He has already covered all of the elections from ‘92 on for the National Journal, so we hope he makes it.
Candidate 2: John King.
The only person with a combination of a knowledge of politics, although not matching that of Todd or Russert, the ability to anchor, and the prospects of bringing in high ratings is CNN’s John King. John King is professional and non-partisan. Before his days at CNN he was at the Associated Press (the real news as well) since 1985 in fact, and was the head of their political coverage since 1991. At CNN he has become particularly political savvy as the chief White House correspondent from 1999-2005, a role shared by his NBC counterpart David Gregory. King is the designated substitute anchor for Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, and even Larry King, and has even moderated a few debates.
The downfalls of King are that he is still contracted with CNN, he is not as politically savvy as expert Tim Russert was, and that his interview style is not hard hitting.
Whatever happens and whoever replaces Tim Russert, the man is irreplaceable. Nobody watched Stephanapolis, Scheifer, Chris Wallace or Wolfe on Sunday mornings because their shows all sucked. All of those other shows were preparation for Meet the Press, the only real politics show that mattered because of Russert’s personality, charm, knowledge, and hard hitting interviews. NBC News’ political team other than Russert, Todd, and a few other journalists is a complete joke. Without Russert, NBC is the political gossipy talk show network. When Gregory or the disgusting Chris Matthews takes over we will see the further degeneration of journalism!
UPDATE: The NYTimes tomorrow has a piece on replacing Russert. Names which are mentioned:
But the list of potential names to assume the moderator role on “Meet the Press” is already well known. From inside NBC, the potential candidates include the evening news anchor, Brian Williams, who would be doing double duty (as Mr. Schieffer did for a time at CBS), correspondents David Gregory and Andrea Mitchell and MSNBC hosts like Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough and Keith Olbermann. Several of those names are already lightning rods for critics, however.
NBC could smooth the transition by offering the post on a temporary basis to Mr. Brokaw, who stepped down as the network’s anchor in 2004. Because of past associations both with NBC and Mr. Zucker, Katie Couric will also very likely be mentioned as a possibility, with her tenure as the anchor of the “CBS Evening News” widely expected to end sometime in the next year.
In planning election coverage without Mr. Russert, NBC has him to thank. He was widely regarded as a good judge of talent and a good mentor at the network, and the list of successors includes many people, including Ms. Couric and Gwen Ifill of PBS, whom he recruited or encouraged.
Category: The media
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