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Media Commentator Paul JanenschWhat will we remember best about Tim Russert? The NBC Washington Bureau chief and moderator of “Meet the Press” who died on the job last week at the age of 58 after suffering a heart attack. Media commentator Paul Janensch offers his thoughts.

What will YOU remember best about Tim Russert? The friendly smile on that big round face? His low-tech white marker-board? On election night 2000, he wrote “Florida, Florida, Florida” on it – meaning the winner of the presidency would come down to that state. On election night 2004, he wrote “Ohio, Ohio, Ohio” on it -- meaning that the election would come down to THAT state.

This past spring, on the night of the North Carolina and Indiana primaries between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Russert showed a delegate count on his white board and declared, “We now know who the Democratic nominee is going to be.” Clinton supporters were angry, and I thought he was being presumptuous. But he was right.

This is what I will remember best – his “gotcha” questions. Russert was one of the sharpest interviewers in television news. He did his homework and confronted guests on “Meet the Press” and candidates in presidential debates with tough questions. He would read or show a video of a statement by the person and ask why the person later said something that contradicted it.

On “Meet the Press” in May 2007, Russert read a statement to John McCain that advocated a prompt military withdrawal from a bad situation. McCain called it short-sighted. Russert revealed they were McCain’s own words, spoken in reference to the 1993 American mission to Somalia.

This past February, in a Democratic presidential debate, he pressed Obama on an endorsement from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan until the candidate rejected the endorsement. In the same debate, he put Hillary Clinton on the spot over the North American Free Trade Agreement. She had been denouncing NAFTA in her campaign, but he cited past instances in which she gave NAFTA her support.

You can see video clips of Russert’s “gotcha” moments at Time magazine’s web site, time.com. I can understand why NBC devoted so much time to Russert’s death. But I was amazed that on the day he died, the entire NBC Nightly News program consisted of a Russert tribute. After all, other things were happening in the world. Too bad Russert could not interview the president of NBC about all the fuss and toss him a “gotcha” question.

Media commentator Paul Janensch is a former newspaper editor who teaches journalism at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. You can read his column Sunday in the Connecticut Post of Bridgeport.