[The_Blur]

Every professional field has great leaders that deserve respect for what they have accomplished, but it seems that most fields get recognition in few cases. Since Newton and Einstein, there have been no physicists that have become household names. Ali was a great boxer, but few who don't really follow the sport know of De La Hoya's talent. The truth is that few leaders in industries, including journalism, get recognition during their lives. The ones responsible for reporting already have more than enough to report, so following every single industry's greats would be a waste of news space in the papers. In their lives, great people do a lot of great things. In their deaths, few are remembered by anyone outside of their field.

And then there's the media. Tim Russert was a great journalist. He contributed his life to a field of cutthroat competition for the best story; of building relationships that would give his company, CBS, the inside scoop. Russert was great at what he did.

However, at the same time as we read about his story in the news, we miss other potential front-page stories about people who need our attention in the Sudan, a failing democracy in Zimbabwe, the Irish blow to EU unity, and Afghan threats to invade Pakistan to pursue terrorists. While important issues of the day get ignored on Fox and CNN, we read about Russert. Does anyone else think that meda's self-promotion of their own heroes hurt journalism as a whole? Aren't journalists supposed the thankless heroes who go into the field and report? Knowing that Russert is such a great journalist, I'm sure he would appreciate the news companies reporting the news.