Slate on Russert Shrine: “Journalist Celebrities To Be Worshipped As Saints”

“The only plausible explanation for the assembly and display of a bunch of second-class relics from the life of Tim Russert is a religious one. I don’t think anybody believes that Russert—no matter how thorough some of his interviews might have been—performed any miracles during his lifetime. Nor do any of his fans regard him a religious martyr. But the adoration being expressed for Russert through his workaday artifacts strikes me as fundamentally spiritual.”

With the erection of its Russert shrine, the Newseum ceases being a museum of journalism and becomes a place where journalist celebrities begin to be worshipped as miracle-producing saints. It’s only a matter of time before the first visions of Russert are spotted inside the joint.

— Slate’s Jack Shafer — picking up on the beatification of Russert theme — weighs in on the Newseum’s decision to recreate Tim Russert’s office exactly as it was on the day of his death, as a museum exhibit.

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