Russell, Mike

WXYZ: TV news assignment desk.

References

• fleetowner.com 

Press Release from TruckLine.com (PDF)

MIKE RUSSELL 1941 – 2006  – June 20, 2006 9:00 AM

Michael B. Russell, ATA vice president of Public Affairs and veteran newsman, died in a white water rafting accident in Colorado June 15, 2006. Mike fell from the raft on Clear Creek and was declared dead when pulled from the river. Extended efforts to resuscitate him were not successful. He and his wife Rita were in Colorado for a large family reunion. Funeral services are pending.  

Mike, 64, was a resident of Potomac Falls, Va., and joined ATA in 1999 after serving as director of public and consumer affairs for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the U.S. Department of Transportation, Washington, D.C.   

Mike was a familiar face at many state trucking association meetings, industry trade shows and ATA’s MC&E, where he conducted media training, managed communications committees in his role as super-promoter for the trucking industry. He also worked as a television reporter, editor and anchor in Pennsylvania and Michigan before moving to Washington and a 25-year public relations career in government, including House and Senate staffs and the Executive Branch.  

Mike was a four-year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and a graduate of Boston University and the Milton Hershey School. He is survived by his wife, Rita; a daughter, Michelle; a son-in-law, Mike; a granddaughter, Morgan; as well as four brothers, a half-sister, a half-brother, two step-brothers and a step-sister. 

The American Trucking Associations family extends its deepest sympathy to Mike’s family and friends. 

Sightings:

• Senator Don Riegle’s Press Secretary – Mike Russell was Sen Don Riegle’s Press Secretary for nine years.  Before coming to DC, Russell worked as assignment manager for then ABC owned WXYZ-TV in Detroit. [Media Research Center – August 1989 MediaWatch]
• US Representative Bill Ford (D-Mich) – Press job. [Media Research Center – August 1989 MediaWatch]
• WJRT-TV, Flint. [Media Research Center – August 1989 MediaWatch]

• WXYZ Assignment Desk

  An amazing crew!

  

• Congress, the Press, and Political Accountability

  

  Congress, the Press, and Political Accountability is the first large-scale examination of how local media outlets cover members of the United States Congress. Douglas Arnold asks: do local newspapers provide the information citizens need in order to hold representatives accountable for their actions in office? In contrast with previous studies, which largely focused on the campaign period, he tests various hypotheses about the causes and consequences of media coverage by exploring coverage during an entire congressional session.

  Using three samples of local newspapers from across the country, Arnold analyzes all coverage over a two-year period–every news story, editorial, opinion column, letter, and list. First he investigates how twenty-five newspapers covered twenty-five local representatives; and next, how competing newspapers in six cities covered their corresponding legislators. Examination of an even larger sample, sixty-seven newspapers and 187 representatives, shows why some newspapers cover legislators more thoroughly than do other papers. Arnold then links the coverage data with a large public opinion survey to show that the volume of coverage affects citizens’ awareness of representatives and challengers.

  The results show enormous variation in coverage. Some newspapers cover legislators frequently, thoroughly, and accessibly. Others–some of them famous for their national coverage–largely ignore local representatives. The analysis also confirms that only those incumbents or challengers in the most competitive races, and those who command huge sums of money, receive extensive coverage.

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Recommended Reading

Mike Wallace: A Life – by Peter Rader

The untold story of how the world’s most feared TV reporter transformed his inner darkness into a journalistic juggernaut that riveted millions and redefined the landscape of television news

In his four decades as the front man for 60 Minutes, the most successful show in television history, Mike Wallace earned the distinction of being hyperaggressive, self-assured, and unflinching in his riveting exposés of injustice and corruption. His unrivaled career includes interviews with every major newsmaker of the late twentieth century, from Martin Luther King to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Behind this intimidating facade, however, Wallace was profoundly depressed and haunted by demons that nearly drove him to suicide. Despite reaching the pinnacle of his profession, Wallace harbored deep insecurities about his credentials as a journalist. For half his life, he was more “TV Personality” than reporter, dabbling as a quiz show emcee, commercial pitchman, and actor. But in the wake of a life-changing personal tragedy, Wallace transformed himself, against all odds, into the most talked-about newsman in America.

Peter Rader’s Mike Wallace: A Life tells the story of a courageous man who triumphed over personal adversity and redefined the landscape of television news.