Comments on: Life on the Frontier

By: siren19

siren19 — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:49:06 +0000

While I find the concentration of the media on one of their own to be, mmm, disproportionate, I’m not sure it’s worse than the usual lack of proportion w.r.t. celebrities, small town human interest stories, etc.

I suppose one factor in everything is that Russert was only 58 and was “doing everything right”– exercising, trying to lose some weight, watching his cholesterol, etc.

By: Huw

Huw — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 10:13:08 +0000

Lack of TV… clearly!

I begin to see a balkanisation of media. The world of Geeky Blogging was, for a time, very small - still is, I’m sure. There was a time when Blogging was all the rage in CA - nearly passe already - and you couldn’t find someone in Des Moines or Macon who knew what it was, even. We thought we were so important when no one knew or name. But the pond was small - and there were some big fish there.

Now I think there is a line drawn between the different people - two ponds, separate but increasingly equal. Since Internet media is, at times, just as inane as old school TV, which pond houses the wiser fish?

By: Lee Penn

Lee Penn — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 08:18:25 +0000

Huw, you are not alone.

I had no idea who Russert was till I heard of his death. Somehow, I have passed 10 years as a writer on culture and politics without this knowledge. Chalk it up to the lack of a TV in the house, I guess.

Nevertheless, one of my editors was totally shocked when - after she told me of Tim’s death - I asked, “Who was he”?

Lee