The National Association of Broadcasters inducted “Meet the Press” into its Hall of Fame as the program celebrates its 60th year on the air. The presentation began with a video marking highlights of those years:
- The nine hosts, starting with Martha Roundtree in 1947. (Can you name them all?)
- Presidents and presidential aspirants.
- Politicos famous and infamous.
The show’s current moderator, Tim Russert, accepted the award for MTP, calling the program a national treasure and himself its temporary custodian.
Other Russert thoughts:
On how he got his start:
A nun in his grade school, who decided his youthful energies needed to be channeled into something constructive, and put him in charge of the school newspaper.
On the secret to success as a moderator:
Preparation, discipline and accountability.
On past moderator Lawrence Spivak’s advice to him:
Learn as much as you can about your guest and that person’s positions – and take the other side in questioning. Be aggressive, persistent, and civil. The show is never about the moderator.
On other forms of political programming:
He supports the advocacy style of some who host cable TV or talk radio – or who blog.
People who state “this is what I believe” as they conduct political conversations are important to a democracy. But he believes in a different role for the host of MTP – one that doesn’t inject his own views into the conversation. And while TV has tended to gravitate toward conflict rather than nuance in issues, he strives to use the limited time he has each week to “encourage, motivate and tweak curiosity.”
On new media and MTP:
The program is now available over-the-air, online, on cable, and podcast. Extending its availability has built rather than fragmented the Sunday TV audience. When told that his program was the fifth-most-downloaded podcast, Russert said his competitive spirit led him to ask who was beating him. “When they told me the first four were music and porn, I shut up.”
