58-year-old Tim Russert dead

Shocking and sad news that no one in the media seems to know quite what to say about. The New York Times has a brief story, told in their blog, The Caucus. It's clearly not an obituary they were prepared to write.

CNN calls him "one of America's leading political journalists," but also has a very brief story, labeled with the words "developing story" on their homepage.

USA Today has a longer piece, but the last half reads less like a cohesive article and more like an amalgamation of flattering facts pieced together.

I'm sure for a man of this stature, and one who was actually in the media, we will see more comprehensive coverage in the days to come. But for now, the media are clearly in a state of shock and don't know what to make of this sudden loss.

One greater message that may come out of this sadness: Tom Brokaw broke the news on NBC. One of his comments was that Mr. Russert often "worked to the point of exhaustion." Combine that with the fact that Mr. Russert seems to have died from a heart attack at work—this may prove a poignant reminder of why my generation places more importance on work/life balance than my parents (the baby boomers) did.