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Originally Posted by AGDee
I think if Walter Cronkite had passed away before retirement, he would have received the same type of attention
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Cronkite is an excellent example, and I suspect you're right.
There have been other "news stars" who have died and not gotten this kind of coverage, even though they were "main" anchors -- which Russert was not.
Part of this, I suspect, is the the fairly recent tendency for the cable networks to latch on to one big story and (sometimes) cover it to death -- with no pun intended.
Clearly though, the other part is Russert's reputation -- which is deserved.
The tributes from his peers seemed more genuine than the ritual comments often heard, and his "rags to riches" background is certainly the story of the American Dream.
It was fascinating to me that former GE Chairman Jack Welch said on FOX that Russert was the only NBC on air talent who never had an agent. (For those of you who may not know, NBC is owned by GE) He just wanted to be treated fairly and do what he loved to do.
Thankfully, NBC did that -- not always common these days.