No long-term decisions have been made, but Brian Williams will host Meet the Press this Sunday.

His guests will include Lindsey Graham and Joseph Biden, the scheduled guests for Meet the Press on June 16 before Tim Russert's sudden death last week. Jacques Steinberg of The New York Times has the news from NBC's spokeswoman, Allison Gollust.

Yesterday afternoon, politicians, journalists, news executives, friends and family members gathered at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. for a 90-minute memorial service honoring the late Tim Russert.

The moving ceremony reached an emotional peak when Mr. Russert's 22-year-old son Luke took the stage and spoke eloquently about his father's unfailing optimism, his faith in God, and his enthusiasm for life.

"Great men often lead with their egos," said Luke Russert. "Tim Russert led with his heart, his compassion, and, most importantly, his honor. He had a great time living, and is no doubt having the time of his life now in heaven.  read more »

Leon Neyfakh tracks the latest bookish fad: Picking up girls (or boys) using a galley: "This is what happens when someone reads a galley (a.k.a. ARC, or advance reading copy) in public: publishing people take notice and begin to wonder about certain things. There’s the galley’s provenance, of course. But what about its owner? Where does he work? Does she like the same things I do? Is he single?"

Felix Gillette looks back at the life and career of Tim Russert. "He was shrewd enough to make his shrewdness appealing. ('He was a ruthless guy,' one of Russert’s former coworkers told The Observer.  read more »

Before the hearse arrived bearing Russert’s dark wooden casket, the presidential motorcade had arrived; President George W. Bush and Laura Bush were among the first mourners. Then the hearse arrived to bear Russert’s casket into the refectory, followed by his son, Luke, and his wife, Maureen; then a host of his famous television news friends.  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/tim-russert-man-ambition#comments Media Tim Russert Tue, 17 Jun 2008 19:31:02 -0400 Felix Gillette 70873 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2008/tim-russert-new-yorker

He was a fixture in Washington, one of the most influential people in a city where power is the only currency that matters. From Capitol Hill to K Street to the suburban boxes of Alexandria, Va., Tim Russert was a man to be courted, flattered and envied. He was the best politician never to run for office.

But for all the glory and all the power that came with his job, Tim Russert never really stopped being a kid from Buffalo, an unapologetic political junkie who loved the spectacle of campaigns and elections and who never lost his curiosity about the people who would lead us.  read more »

Another tribute to the late Tim Russert, this time from Late Night with Conan O'Brien on Hulu.com. On Friday, just a few hours after Mr. Russert's death was announced, Mr. O'Brien said in his monologue, "This is pretty shocking for us He's been a pretty good friend to me and us here at the show." Mr. O'Brien added that Mr. Russert's son, Luke, had been one of his show's interns last year.

Mr. O'Brien praised Mr. Russert by saying, "From the moment I met him, he put me at ease. I always told him countless times, he reminded me of my Irish Catholic uncles: Big head"—here he gestured to indicate he meant big in size, not in self-regard— "big laugh, huge heart."  read more »

This morning, Luke Russert made an appearance on NBC's Today where he spoke to Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera about his late father, Tim Russert, who passed away of a heart attack on Friday afternoon.

The segment began with a moving photograph, taken by the Associated Press on Sunday morning, which captured Luke standing in the Meet the Press studio in Washington D.C., with his hands resting on his father's empty anchor's chair.

“I’m going to keep that chair forever,” Luke Russert told Mr. Lauer this morning. “That’s my chair now.”

On Sunday morning, Tom Brokaw hosted a special edition of Meet the Press, honoring the late Tim Russert. He was joined in the Meet the Press studio in Washington D.C. by James Carville, Mary Matalin, Mike Barnicle, Gwen Ifill, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and MTP Executive Producer Betsy Fischer. Maria Shriver patched in from Sun Valley, Idaho.

"Tim has a very large wooden sign in his office and it's going to be our mantra for this morning," said Mr. Brokaw at the outset. "It says, ‘thou shall not whine.' If I could add anything to that, I think, thou shall not weep or cry this morning. This is a celebration."  read more »

After digging through his extensive database and crunching the numbers, TV news analyst Andrew Tyndall has found that ever since 1991 when the late Tim Russert took over as the D.C. bureau chief for NBC News, his correspondents in Washington were significantly more productive than their competitors in terms of getting air time on the evening news.

"The DC bureau has been the backbone of NBC's journalism," writes Mr. Tyndall. "Each evening at the news hour, NBC Nightly News has relied on Russert's inside-the-Beltway corps of correspondents much more heavily than either CBS Evening News or ABC World News."

More from the report:

Tyndall Report's data show that since 1991, when Russert took the chair at Meet the Press, his DC bureau has accounted for fully 30% of all Nightly's weekday stories, an annual average output of 1520 minutes, more than 25 hours.  read more »

]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/report-russerts-d-c-bureau-was-23-percent-more-productive-competitors-abc-and-cbs#comments Media Meet the Press, Tim Russert Mon, 16 Jun 2008 06:59:45 -0400 Felix Gillette 70713 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/2008/l-times-speculates-about-next-host-meet-press-battle-between-chris-matthews-and-david-gregory-c

In the aftermath of Tim Russert’s sudden death, the Los Angeles Times speculates on who NBC News executives will choose to replace Mr. Russert as the host of Meet the Press.

“Speculation on possible successors centers on three on-air personalities already under contract to NBC: David Gregory, the former White House correspondent recently given his own MSNBC show, "Race for the White House"; Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC's long-running "Hardball"; and Joe Scarborough, the former congressman and host of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC, according to talent representatives who declined to speak on the record for fear of jeopardizing relationships with network management,” reports the L.A. Times.

   read more »

]]> http://www.observer.com/2008/l-times-speculates-about-next-host-meet-press-battle-between-chris-matthews-and-david-gregory-c#comments Media Meet the Press Tim Russert Sun, 15 Jun 2008 21:14:27 -0400 Felix Gillette 70714 at http://www.observer.com