Long ago in the days before journalists became celebrities, their enterprise was reviled and poorly paid, and it was understood by working newspapermen that the presence of more than two people at their funeral could be taken as a sign that they had disgraced the profession.
Full pdf here:
www.nationinstitute.org/pdf/Elegy_for_a_Rubber_Stamp.pdf
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The quasi-state funeral accorded to Russert was another self-aggrandizing promotion by the MSM, couched as an elegy to Russert. He was a decent journalist, but got manipulated by Cheney among others, and helped make a celebrity out of John McCain, having him on MTP more than twice as often as any other politician, even though McCain was not in the leadership of the Senate or the GOP at any (previous) point in his career. The lamentations went on for three long days as one main-stream mourner after another eulogized Russert, and by implication, shared in the glory that was supposedly reflected off him. Nobody seemed to point out that Russert, like most of the rest of the MSM, aided and abetted the administration's march to war in Iraq with barely a skeptical lifting of the eyebrow. Lapham is almost alone is pointing out the media's performance on this occasion. Too bad.
