Russert Leaker Fired
Filed under: TV News > Media Minute
On June 13th, when Meet The Press host Tim Russert passed away suddenly of a heart attack, NBC tried to keep the news from going public for more than an hour in order to notify his family of what had occurred.
The newsman had been vacationing in Italy with his wife and son.
At around 1:40pm, Russert collapsed from a heart attack in NBC's Washington newsroom.
He was treated on the spot and arrived at the hospital at 2:23pm. He was pronounced dead shortly after.
Then at 3:39pm, just two hours after Russert collapsed, Tom Brokaw announced the death. Though, shockingly enough, before the death was reported on air, the news had already leaked onto the internets and even made it's way onto Wikipedia.
Russert's Wikipedia page was updated at 3:01pm, about 40 minutes prior to NBC officially releasing their statement with news of his death.
It's tradition that the network suffering the death is allowed to make the announcement first.
NBC News spokeswoman, Allison Gollust, said “We were not prepared to say anything until all the family had heard. The last thing we wanted to do was to have the family discover this on the air. Before we reported it, I remember someone saying it’s on Wikipedia."
When the detailed records of the Wikipedia page were reviewed, it was determined the changes came from the Internet Broadcasting Services, which services a variety of companies, including local NBC TV stations in St. Paull, Minnesota.
A spokesperson for IBS has said that “a junior-level employee made updates to the Wikipedia page upon learning of Mr. Russert’s passing, thinking it was public record.” Adding that the company had "taken the necessary measures with the employee and apologized to NBC.”
NBC News was told the employee was fired.
[Image via WENN.]
FIRST !!!
first!
Dang
good for nbc! rip tim.
good for nbc. rip tim.
I first read about Russert's death on perezhilton.com. That was about 10 minutes before it was reported on NBC.
first…who cares?!
good
Imagine that! The Web got it first..hmmm. He is missed; great carrer
89th!!!!!!!!
dammn
first
4th. I LOVE HIM!
How could he have been in both Italy and D.C. at the same time, Perez? Your writing is horrible. Go get a college degree.
If you don't think Perez is part of the very people he tries to convince you he's not part of and if you think he is not part of the very celeb society he says he hates and hasn't sold out. Look at eonline.com today and see where Perez, with a lot more weight on him than he leads you to believe he has, and a receeding hairline, is coming out of church with Spencer and Heidi.
who cares? The guy was a pedophile child rapist, just like all politicians, congress, and even the president is. They all have after parties where they bring trafficked kids in to have sex with. Their all sick fucks with no souls.
This just isn't right. The "leaker" doesn't deserve to lose his job over this.
poor kid..he didn't need to be fired..shoot its not like he called Ryan Seacrest and spilled the beans..
so the fuck what?
if he is dead, he's dead.
reporting it a few minutes later was going to make him any less dead ;/
NBC is trippin'.
The junior employee had NO right to report the news before the family was notified. I don't know if I would have fired him/her….but some sort of "punishment" was definately in order.
Now that I understand they were in Italy- I am not surprised.
.
They are the least efficiant and apathetic when it comes to helpibg someone, especially tourists.
.
It's not just bad service, they just don't give a damn and could care less if anyone needs help. They are very lazy and will pospone doing something until they really have to do something.
.
I am so sorry for his family. If only that happened in England or other places in Europe or the USA, he might have been saved.
I don't think they should've fired the little employee I don't watch like non-celeb news so I don't even know who Tim Russert is, or how many people really religiouslly watched him wikipedia page.
Whoopdy doo what does it all mean Basil?
efef
/default.asp
Hypocrites!! They like it when other people leak stories to them, and it's sick that they were just concerned about having the "breaking story" for their own glory. To make things worse, they milked the shit out of this "news" that really wasn't worthy of all of their coverage. Yesterday was the tenth straight day of heavy coverage!! I don't know if they're doing it today because I blocked MSNBC off of my tv. NBC news is the most pathetic "news" organization there is. NBC's new motto: We make Fox look "classy" in comparison.
i have a friend who was fired by IBS for stating her support for obama to the clinton campaign. it's a bullshit company.
Don't control my news NBC
Re: Not –
do you have an exact URL for us?
I don't think they should have fired him//her. they didn't know the family wasn't notified. poor communication on nbc's part!
I don't get it. He was vacationing in Italy w/ his family, while simultaneously working and dying in Washington??
Re: So Sa –
Russert was at work at NBC in WASHINGTON when he has a heart attack and died
His family had very recently been vacationing in Italy
don't trust Perez's poor writing as your news source So Sa
he died in the good old U S of A I'm sad to say
Re: Inter – It's on the eonline.com main page. Just scroll down.
ummm…isn't NBC news in the news leak business?
Would they have anything to talk about if they didn't work with news leakers?
What do expect from a gossip, they say shit when its not even true. Don't get your news from perez. Dumb ass doesn't know how to report, that's why he's a blogger!! Does it even matter the family was in Italy? Why mention it? And if it matters, say why it matters. Idiot!!!
Is he still dead or did they bring him back for an encore?
It's St. Paul not St. Paull
He was so great at what he did, but didn't those very newscasters and reporters greed for the same scoop as s/one else who wanted a "bump" to sell the next missing or dead. How many moms, dads, kids cry on TV that they heard the news on TV or the net. This defines Hypocritical. Perez, mayB not Russert but Heath, would'nt u love 2 have that first. The family DID not know when the USA was reporting! Then we got their reaction. Let's decide the moral higher ground!
Re: Taqo_Belle – He was so great at what he did, but didn't those very newscasters and reporters greed for the same scoop as s/one else who wanted a "bump" to sell the next missing or dead. How many moms, dads, kids cry on TV that they heard the news on TV or the net. This defines Hypocritical. Perez, mayB not Russert but Heath, would'nt u love 2 have that first. The family DID not know when the USA was reporting! Then we got their reaction. Let's decide the moral higher ground!
i have a friend that worked at CNN and she said they have a room full of timelines and bio's on basically any person that's is anyone in the public eye. The main purpose of the room is in case the person dies, they have that info on hand. A junior level employee has the job of keeping everything updated in the event of a death.
I would suspect they updated his file as part of their job.
sorry, i meant NBC….
I read it first here on Perez. You dropped a bomb, my stomach flipped. Then I went to the regular news outfits like MSNBC, CNN, FOX, KTLA, etc. and there was not a peep. But, something about the WAY P Grande gave us this news that gave me goosebumps-I believed him. I try to watch his show any Sunday I am home at that time of morning, and enjoyed the hell out of those shows. That man will be sorely missed. RIP, Tim.
i doubt thats what TIm would have wanted
Re: So Sa –
Get your facts straight, dumbass. He was in the NBC newsroom when he died.
Maybe now the news station understands a little more about respecting wishes and how it feels to be snubbed and have information leaked. I was in a similar situation, the family should be notified first, and well news was ALL over what was happening - Back the F off! Thats what Id say to any newsteam in the face of a death!
Good! The employee should deserved to be fired. And no points to you, Perez Hilton, for publishing the news before it was being announced by NBC.
but then, Perez, you have not shown yourself to have any class or ethics.
It's spelled SAINT PAUL you dumbass
[B]
===========================================
IT'S ALSO TRADITION THAT GAY AND LESIBIAN CELEBRITIES DECIDE WHEN TO OUT THEMSELVES, BUT THAT NEVER STOPPED YOU, MARI0 [/B]
SINCE WHEN DO YOU HAVE ANY ETHICS IN 'REPORTING'?
============================================
Re: aintr – I agree with you. Especially since they admit that he did not know it wasn't public info yet.
So . . . they fired the guy for being too efficient at his job?
Boo Wikipedia, boo
Fired? For "leaking" a fact that was about to be public anyway? That's total bullshit. The press lives for leaks when it comes to information that is actually supposed to be secret but it turns on someone who actually "leaks" a nothing story. Fuck you NBC.
OMG - this rUSSERT dude was hotter than Zac Efron and Shia LaBeouf combined (if a little heavier). Too bad he's dead.
Insignificant.
Poor guy. He should not have been fired. What would Saint Tim Russert have done????
what happened to the guy that said castro was dead????????////
Too bad. NBC got scooped, again. These network clowns don't have a lock on information anymore. The internet and timely news WHEN IT HAPPENS, is here to stay.
Is this really a big deal? He was a guy on TV. A million other people could have done what he did. We glorify THE WRONG people in this country. Remember the Nicole Kidman movie? YOU'RE NOBODY UNLESS YOU'RE ON TV. That's what we've become. I
Ass wipe deserved to be fucking fired. No common sense, no decency, no clue. The internet has turned everyone into complete freaks with zero sense of dignity and privacy. Except for me of course because not in a thousand years would I go to Wikipedia and post someone's death when I knew the family hadn't been informed. Ass fuck.
Tim Russert was a-one. All the way
However, his disreputable network used the entire weekend to try and bolster their platform. Tim Russert would have been mortified.
What can you expect from a hack network that would back Hitler if he was running for president?
so now you get fired for actually doing your job??
gotta love wikipedia!
how come nobody brings up that there was a major power outage in washington that day.nobody mentions what perils they had to go through on generators or no power to do all these things.he was also in italy at the same time ol' shrub(you know who)was in italy but he cut his vacation short for something urgent.then a day or 2 later he has a heart attack while taping who knows what.on who knows what.look deeper folks.really question what the main stream meaty yuh stuffs up your unsuspecting ass.why don't you bring that up perezoso.you fuckin clown.
This kid is like a young Jimmy Olsen but if he's working in television he's gotta know you can't upstage the on air talent. Hopefully he gets a job at Daily Planet.
The media won't shut up about Tim Russert. It's getting old as hell they're trying to make him into some sort of hero of journalism and he died of a heart attack not like he was tortured to death in gitmo or something for not giving up a source.
There is only one fucking "l" in ST PAUL! GOD, PEREZ.
I know people who work at NBC. The morning buffet at MTP was like something you never saw. Guest were feted like a state dinner. You think he didn't participate? Hell yeah he did. Every thing you could dream of was sitting in chaffing dishes like some king was going to eat. The dude ATE himself to death. Damn gluttony will fuck you everytime. Word.
Maybe someday this person, who is probably "young," will learn that honestly — there is something more important in life than being FIRST! Or FRIST! (An "old" person would not find value in being the "first" to say it.)
poor tim rip to him, and if you all read the story correctly, he had been vacationing in Italy, and was back in DC and collapsed on the set, so he was back from vacation and back to work.
why fire the guy, he's not a mind reader. Someone else there must have known and should have told him of their procedures.
i hope that kid gets a lawyer. i'm sure the family was notified AS SOON as russert collapsed…which means they were on their way to the hospital, not trolling fucking wikipedia, looking up their family member's name. nbc is just pissed because they didn't techincally "break" the story, and they're pretending as if not allowing them to do so somehow huet russert's family. fucking disgisting on their part
fuck you nbc, and intern, GET A LABOR LAWYER!!
Yeah good call Jenny, the whole incident reeks of sour grapes by NBC. This kid getting fired is bullshit.
That guy did nothing wrong. He was not informed of any thing different. I'm sick of NBC and this whole canonization of Russert. He was a mediocre journalist, who NEVER had a single scoop I recall.
Why did MN have to be involved? Stupid People, and St. Paul only has one L.
The poor guy made an honest mistake - thought he was being diligent and doing the right thing. He should not have been fired - and if they have any class, NBC and/or Maureen Orth will ask that he be re-instated at IBS.
o man there are so many ignorant people on this website.
Russert was not a politician one, he was a neutral broadcaster to help people better understand the political process as well as challenge politicians for the American public.
Shame on anyone who comes on this site and badmouths a dead man, imagine if your father died and it was all over the news before you found out and you had to learn of a family members death by a shit website like that…shame on you.
first, don't fire someone for this bullshit.
second, since when does the news hold anything back that's news worthy. Oh, when it's one of them involved.
clearly, no real journalists posting in the comments today. let's clear a few things up:
1. the kid who was fired: kissing nbc's ass aside, the employee was likely fired for posting on a non-NBC site while on the job. think of it as a 911 dispatcher called her friends about a fire before calling the fire house. just not cool.
2. yes, nbc — and all media — were being a bit hypocritcal about this one. think of the lack of images of russert being taken to a hospital, taken to the funeral home, russert's family (particularly hounding big russ in a retirement home).
3. chaz, your friend who was fired for stating political beliefs when s/he was likely not a columnist/political blogger/opinion expresser. see, generally, journalists keep their politics to themselves so they can gather news as fairly as possible.
Discipline would have been appropriate. Firing a young news staffer because god king Russert's death leaked out early is not.
St. Paul has one "L" Perez. It's the fucking capitol of Minnesota for god's sake.
Good, the employee deserved to be fired. How rude can you be??? The family was in Italy and needed to localed. People suck!
Okay. RIP senor Russet. Despite bullshiters having to state their bullshit. (Let the man rest in peace!) He's not Anna Nicole!
Re: Rache – Learn how to read! Analyze it bitch!
LOVE ROSIE. FU*K ELIZABETH AND ALL THE STUPID AMERICANS WHO THINK ROSIE IS UNPATRIOTIC BECAUSE SHE SPEAKS HER MIND AND IS RIGHT ABOUT WHAT THE REST OF THE WORLD THINKS OF US FU*KING A.
proofreading burns calories.
wikipedia is the most awesome resource ever, i contribute all the time and so should all active informed people. the days of privileged information are ending.
wikipedia is the most awesome resource ever, i contribute all the time and so should all active informed people. the days of privileged information are ending.
wikipedia is the most awesome resource ever, i contribute all the time and so should all active informed people. the days of privileged information are ending.
Tim Russert died!?? Get out!!
Who givez a shit..he worked for NBC and we all know that they are liarzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…yea..I watched Tim over the yearz,
but I have to say…they made way TOO BIGG OF A DEAL OUT OF
HIS DEATH..HE WASN'T .”””””'GOD””””””…THATZ FOR SURE.
So those WHORES fired the poor guy? WTF? That is so wrong. I hate NBC now. What a horrible thing to do. Tim would NOT approve.
Come on. How many times has NBC broken news without consulting with families. This is so hypocritical.
This is bad compiling of news Perez. You say "The newsman had been vacationing in Italy with his wife and son" and then immediately after that you say he collapsed in NBC's Washington newsroom. Can't be in 2 places at once my friend.
actually, it showed up on The Drudge Report HOURS before it was officially announced…I saw it there in the morning and it wasn't until later that afternoon it was on mainstream news. Go Matt Drudge.
"NBC News was told the employee was fired."
Is this not the way you work perez? You get your info from squealers!
Good for them, imagine your family member finding out you passed away on TV.
Too bad for NBC. They break news all the time about deaths. I am sure there is more than one person who found out by watching NBC that their love one has died. The fact is it was one of their own.
NBC news is in the game of news and they had a breaking news right in their own office and they couldn't get it right.
Should never of fired the person who leaked it. They thought it was public knowledge.
NBC blew it!
Fired?? What the hell is the matter with people. Once again we see the "little guy" get screwed . I doubt Tim would approve of that action.
It's spelled St. Paul … there aren't 2 l's in the name
Re: So Sa – Russert wasn't in Italy, his family was. It was a misprint on Perez's part.
This is only part of the story ladies and gentlemen. You may not even know that part of what is written here is not even accurate. How do I know…I can't divulge that info-but it's personal! I understand the uproar due to the Russert family may not knowing, but you have no idea RE: the employee-was he/she trained properly-was he/she new to the job….think before you post…