Out of a decent respect for the memory of Tim Russert, I have held back from commenting on how most of the leading television organizations – CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, MSNBC – handled the news of his untimely death.

Certainly it was appropriate to announce his passing and to add brief encomiums about a fellow newsperson who had filled his role well. But five whole days, hours of precious news time, lauding somebody who, after all, was not a major figure on the world stage? What’s going on here?

I interpret it as an example of the wider phenomenon of journalists so ga-ga about their perceived celebrity that they, like Narcissus, can’t help peering into the river to admire their image. It’s part of a growing tendency for television journalists to interview and talk about other journalists instead of going out to talk with people beyond their inner circle who, just possibly, might have different knowledge to offer..

It smacks of incestuousness, of vicarious self-aggrandizement, as though an on-air person could somehow be promoted to somebody truly important, somebody who actually passed laws, or led armies, or did anything beyond interviewing and talking. If Tim Russert could be made to seem the equivalent of a president, a prime minister, a talented artist, a hands-on healer, then why can’t we other reporters, too, claim a statue on the village square or our place on Mount Rushmore?

This illustrates that the inner circle of reporters is so out of touch that its members could think the death of one of their own trumps news about the ordinary people who need vital information – what we call news. Reporters, the folks who should have been minding the store, were too busy trying to turn one of their own into a star in the firmament to take notice.