Russert Probed Children

The latest tell-all child abuse story is on CNN. Tim Russert's son charges, "Sometimes he'd interview me." In talking with Larry King, Luke Russert said he was made "a guinea pig for politicians" by his father. Apparently Tim Russert, who couldn't get enough as host of Meet the Press, not only exploited his own son by interviewing him behind closed doors, he also groomed other neighborhood children to satisfy his insatiable need to ask penetrating questions. This is just why we need Child Protection Services. It's also a good argument for banning news-maker interviews. Once someone, like Tim Russert, begins substituting news-maker interviews for genuine human relationships, it's just a matter of time before they will begin objectifying all other people as interviewees. Then, because of that, and because the interviewer-interviewee relationship is ultimately so unfulfilling, they will need to seek out more and more vulnerable victims for gratification, and inevitably sink to serial child interviewing.