Opinion

An Independent Attitude

Newsman's death leaves real void

Tim Russert's sudden and untimely death Friday shocked the public as much as, if not more

Publisher George Schwarz

so than, the journalism community of which he was a part.

The news certainly brought me up short and tears to my eyes.

I think I reacted that way for a number of reasons, some complex and a bit personal.

It's hard to face the fact of human mortality and that your time can come at any minute without warning. It's particularly hard when you witness death in someone younger than yourself. That is enough to make you pause and take notice.

Still, it is the tributes pouring in recalling Russert's love of family that particularly resonated with me on Father's Day. My parents are gone, but my daughters are very much with me, although they live 1,500 miles northeast of Amarillo. I didn't let on how much I missed them Sunday. But I always tell them I love them.

For me, something more was at play than the personal.

I think we real journalists have a bond, and we share a kinship, even with those against whom we compete and even with those whom we don't know personally.

I believe some of the tributes for Russert came because he could do what few in the national journalism community could or were willing to do — take on, and sometimes speak truth to, power.

But Russert could also do something else, also at odds with much of the national media. He could extract truth from power.

Many in the national media are constrained from doing so because their corporate masters won't let them. In fact, many of the corporate media in the United States won't dare extract truth from power in their local communities because they don't want to rock the boat.

Those reasons may also in part explain why the media are willing to feed people a rasher of generally harmless celebrity pap. There are no real consequences to that waste of ink and paper.

Oh, wait, yes there are. An ignorant public.

Russert was able to question those in power and not cower before them. He was, as were Bob Edwards when he was with National Public Radio, and Steve Inskeep and Scott Simon, still with NPR, a great interviewer because he could ask the tough questions without being offensive. I wish I had the skills of those journalists.

But for all the coverage, with some 4,000 stories counted on Google's news site about losing Russert, I've not seen the national electronic and print media undertake the self-examination this event offers.

We face an unprecedented time in our country, with a landmark election looming and events that place this country's foreign and domestic policies at a crossroads.

We are well past the time for the media to return to investigative reporting and playing a role the Fourth Estate is called to do. The enormity of the news media's role and responsibility is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution in nothing less than our First Amendment. I can't think of a higher and more potent portfolio than that.

Here are some questions for the national media:

• What issues did President George W. Bush lie about and how many times did he lie about those issues?
• What issues did Vice President Richard Cheney lie about and how many times did he lie about those issues?
• What issues did the disgraced former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld lie about and how many times did he lie about those issues?
• What issues did Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice lie about and how many times did she lie about those issues?
• What issues did other administration officials lie about and who were those officials?
• Why are oil prices so high and which administration officials have a personal stake by virtue of their personal stock holdings, including so-called blind trusts?

I think if Tim Russert were alive, he'd think those were good questions to ask, and I don't think he'd stop until he got the answers. Neither should the national media.

George Schwarz: Editor and publisher of the Amarillo Independent. george@amarilloindy.com

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Posted: June 19, 2008