During Tuesday night’s presidential debate, NBC’s Tim Russert tried to test the Democratic candidates’ basic knowledge of foreign policy, asking what they knew about the man who will almost certainly be elected president of Russia in Sunday’s elections. After Hillary Clinton gave a general answer that kept referring to “Putin’s handpicked successor,” Russert pounced: “Do you know his name?”
But if the fact that Dmitry Medvedev will assume the Russian presidency is actually important, Russert and his co-moderator, NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, have utterly ignored it as journalists. A Nexis search shows just one reference to Medvedev on NBC, an April 14, 2007 story about Russia’s giant energy company, Gazprom, of which Medvedev was chairman of the board. (The story aired on a weekend, when Lester Holt, not Brian Williams, was in the anchor chair.)
Reporter Jim Maceda talked about Medvedev for exactly 13 seconds, as file footage of Medvedev speaking at what appears to be a shareholders meeting. (See photo at top of post.)
MACEDA: They call it Kremlin Inc., capitalism with Putin himself as the ultimate CEO. In this system, the line between strategic resources, oil and gas, and political power is not only blurred, it doesn’t exist.Take Dmitry Medvedev, Gazprom’s chairman of the board and deputy prime minister. Many believe he's a front-runner to succeed Putin. It’s as if Microsoft’s Bill Gates were US secretary of commerce as well.
But over the past nine months, as Medvedev campaigned for the presidency, NBC has completely ignored him. So has ABC and CBS. Hillary could easily have said, “I don’t know anything about him, including his name, because I get my news from you, Tim.”
Assuming he wasn’t engaged in a childish game of gotcha, the point of Russert’s debate question is that our presidential candidates need to have some basic knowledge about the leaders of crucial nations like Russia. If so, then shouldn’t NBC News spend at least a few minutes on the subject?
Russert may have thought he was exposing the candidates’ lack of knowledge, but he also exposed the superficiality of NBC News.
—Rich Noyes is Research Director at the Media Research Center.
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BINGO! That is exactly
February 27, 2008 - 12:18 ET by ConservativeRexBINGO! That is exactly right. The fact that NBC News exist only for the Liberals in our nation is never more evident than this small exchange. These idiots played GOTCHA with Bush on a pop quiz on world leaders at one time (Boston Globe), which backfired because they themselves didn't know. They never fricken learn.
In the future, if NBC leads with a story on the new Russian leader they need to preface it with " Brittany says..."
Well, just as long as they
February 27, 2008 - 12:25 ET by Chris NormanWell, just as long as they know the leaders' names, I guess it isn't important what their policies and strategies (or lack thereof) will be, exactly...
Now expect to see Rusert
February 27, 2008 - 12:33 ET by red_dragon311Now expect to see Rusert strung up from a tree now.
I was a professional twice over - an analyst and a therapist. The world's first analrapist
Well
February 27, 2008 - 13:16 ET by well99Actually they should know more about it.They are running for president.Russia is important in scheme of things.So what is up with their advisers?Will they do this good of job of keeping them informed on a ever changeing world?
Russia
February 27, 2008 - 13:28 ET by iveseenitallRussia is making a comeback. The world is in peril. McCain, Obama, or Clinton may be President of the United States. Hide your children and grandchildren.
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"
I agree
February 27, 2008 - 13:34 ET by well99We really need to keep a eye out for them.
Cost of bread?
February 27, 2008 - 13:25 ET by Mica the MagnificentI wish Tim asked her how much a loaf of bread costs, like the MSM did to George H.W. Bush. I'd like to see how she'd squirm her way out of that one.
Hillary: (Cackle, cackle) Oh, Tim.
Tim: Well? How much?
Hillary: Much more than it used to and you can blame the Bush administration for that!
Tim: How much, Hillary?
Hillary: (Cackle cackle) Oh, Tim. Asking me how much a loaf of bread costs never fed a hungry child, or . . .
Barack: PLAGARISM!
further more ...
February 27, 2008 - 14:05 ET by CooperWhat is so funny about watching liberal candidates is that they can't think on their feet when someone is not telling them what a poll is saying right then and there.
Like when Hillary gave the mind-numb answer when she was asked by the Today Show whether the NY Times over stepped its bounds in reporting the hit piece on McCain.
She looked flustered like she couldn't figure out which answer voters would like so she ignored it and gave the typical my campaign is about side-step answer.
So much for the "opening up" Hillary.
Love or hate McCain, as least he isn't plastic.
Jeez, how many news stories
February 27, 2008 - 13:28 ET by motherbeltJeez, how many news stories over how many days did we hear about the fact that Bush didn't know the names of the leaders of Chechnya, Taiwan (he did know "Lee" but not his whole name), India and Pakistan?
But that's OK if Her Royal Clintoness doesn't know who's in line to lead Russia. And it's true, apparently NBC didn't know or care about the guy until it became a "gotcha" question for the debate.
MB
February 27, 2008 - 13:39 ET by well99It was nice to see the table turned on Clinton.Still I think it is legitimate question since Russia will be a important issue in days to come.What really surprises me is the candidates have all these advisors and they werent kept up to date.
Issues?
February 27, 2008 - 13:49 ET by iveseenitallUnfortunately, it's not about the issues, only the image. Three blind mice, three empty suits. Three socialists, Two Marxists. A friend of mine called the other day wondering if I ever would have thought an American presidential election could come to where it is now. Sad.
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"
Image is everything
February 27, 2008 - 13:59 ET by well99It is sad that we have these three running.Still to me we really need to be looking towards the congressional races.That is going to be the key.
well99... Bingo! This
February 27, 2008 - 14:05 ET by bigtimerwell99...
Bingo!
This is all we have left to fight for...and fight hard in this perspective we will.
I agree, well99; that was my
February 27, 2008 - 14:12 ET by motherbeltI agree, well99; that was my point. Russia is extremely important, yet NBC had no interest in covering the story, but uses it as a "gotcha" for the debate?
True MB
February 27, 2008 - 17:23 ET by well99I dont like the Gotcha garbage.Still I did enjoy seeing Hill getting it.Bad well99..)
yea-but
February 27, 2008 - 14:00 ET by CooperCan we give Tim the benefit of the doubt , or at least suppose another viewpoint, or at most suspect this was all setup for this moment?
That is, the reason NBC did not report on this was to setup the hit-job question in the first place. I mean if you understand that everything that liberals do is based on the premise that they think everyone has a short term memory and their idiocy of the recent past is not exposed, it's quite plausible. They are like the little kid with a bucket over their head saying, "you can't see me".
Gotcha?
February 27, 2008 - 14:04 ET by mustangsallyIt was a bit of a "gotcha" question, and Hillary did well to answer it. I'm sorry the stars were not aligned in such a way that Barack had to answer it. I doubt he could have ... and Hillary would have jumped down his throat...
There were a couple of times where he simply answered ... "Yeah, what she said ...." He keeps getting away with that (I think that is what prompted Hillary's "whine" at the beginning of the debate: "Hey, you keep trying to trip me up ... how about him for once?").
I think McCain will make cannon-fodder of him ...
Forget about the dude's
February 27, 2008 - 16:30 ET by marpelForget about the dude's name. The picture of the guy on this blog looks exactly like David Shuster from MSNBC. Why don't we just start calling the President of Russia "David Shuster-lookalike..."