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I'd agree that the coverage is overblown. Tim Russert was a huge player in two specific industries: politics and media.
That just happens to be the perfect combination of influence to guarantee overwhelming coverage. Everybody who runs TV is thinking about it and everybody who TV wants to have on the TV will have something to say about it.
Plus, it happened on Friday when the news media are slipping into weekend mode with its big emphasis on politics and self reflection anyway (the Sunday morning shows and pretty much every media criticism show is on the weekend). And we're at something of a lull in the big stories (though spending the weekend in the car I can say that news coverage was still dominated by the California wild fires and Iowa flooding).
Plus, it was sudden. And, unfortunately, a large part of what has come to be the definition of "news" is simply "unexpected."
Just a perfect storm of circumstances, I'd say.
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