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Brian Williams, the anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” will be the moderator of “Meet the Press” this Sunday, taking the place of Tim Russert, who died last Friday, NBC News said.

His guests will be Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, and Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., Democrat of Delaware, who were to have been Tim Russert’s guests last Sunday. NBC has not decided on a permanent replacement for Mr. Russert.

(Image via Splash)

The death of Tim Russert is still shocking.

With all the celeb weeklies closing their issues today, many will be deciding how to treat the story on their covers.

While Tim wasn’t your typical “celebrity weekly” subject, his untimely death is what everyone in the country is talking about.

I believe that People magazine will make this story its main cover on Wednesday. This wouldn’t surprise me at all.

There’s also a slight chance that In Touch Weekly could go for this story. However, the magazine has not had much success covering stories outside the celebrity arena. The mag had dismal sales when it covered the Virginia tech shootings.

I expect either the Globe or the National Enquirer to feature Tim on their cover — most likely the National Enquirer.

Each of the weeklies will at least have an inset on their cover.

Your thoughts?

(Image via Splash)

Only days after the sudden death of Tim Russert, NBC News now must find the person to replace him on Meet the Press, according to the New York Times.

“Nobody should even think about replacing Tim Russert,” Jeff Zucker tells the NY Times. “What someone will need to do is find the next way to do ‘Meet the Press’ and provide political analysis. Anybody who thinks they can replace Tim Russert is kidding themselves.”

The potential candidates for Meet the Press include Brian Williams, David Gregory, Andrea Mitchell, Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough and Keith Olbermann.

NBC could smooth the transition by offering the post on a temporary basis to Tom Brokaw, who stepped down as the network’s anchor in 2004. Katie Couric’s name has also been thrown in the mix.

Thoughts?

(New York Times)

Tim Russert was “the pre-eminent journalist of our time” and said he was her mentor.

She called Russert “the historian of all things political.” She said Russert learned from his Jesuit education how to ask the right questions. “He would always ask what people wanted to know” from their political leaders.

(Image via Splash)

Brian Williams, the anchor of the NBC News, who is reporting from Afghanistan this week, broke down as he tried to describe what the loss meant to his network family, according to the New York Times.

“The network is struggling through shock and grief to bring the story of Mr. Russert’s life and journalistic achievements to its viewers immediately,” said Williams.

Mr. Williams said that Mr. Russert, trained as a lawyer, was “always about fairness.”

(New York Times)

(Image via Splash)

Tim Russert, host of NBC’s Meet the Press, has passed away from what appears to be a heart attack, reports the NY Post. He was 58.

Our thoughts are with his family.

UPDATE 1: Russert was in the tracking booth, recording a track, when he collapsed. He returned from Italy Thursday night, according to the New York Times.

Background:

Tim Russert, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press”and its Washington bureau chief collapsed and died at work Friday after suffering an apparent heart attack. He was 58.

Russert, of Buffalo, N.Y., took the helm of the Sunday news show in December 1991 and turned it into the most widely watched program of its type in the nation. His signature trait there was an unrelenting style of questioning.

Washingtonian magazine once dubbed Russert the best journalist in town, and described “Meet the Press” as “the most interesting and important hour on television.

He also wrote best-selling books, “Big Russ and Me,” in 2004, and “Wisdom of our Fathers,” in 2006.This year, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Russert also was a senior vice president at NBC.