He Cuts to the Chase on ‘Meet the Press’ : Television: NBC News Washington bureau chief Tim Russert says he strives to ‘make complicated public-policy issues interesting and understandable’ to people.

NEW YORK — As the moderator for NBC’s “Meet the Press” and the Washington bureau chief for NBC News, Tim Russert is about as “media elite” as they come.

*

It’s an unusual role in television, this combination of off-air and on-air responsibilities: managing a bureau of 200 employees, including correspondents, production crews and office staff while anchoring the Beltway talk show that is the longest-running program in the history of television.

But while he spends every Sunday morning and many other waking hours talking to Washington newsmakers and journalists, Russert, 44, the son of a retired truck driver, says that it is his family and friends in Buffalo, N.Y., whom he tries to remember when he is anchoring “Meet the Press.”

“The one thing I’m determined to do on the show is not to let the powerbrokers leave without giving an answer,” Russert said during a recent trip to New York City. “I have the sense when I’m out there on ‘Meet the Press’ that I’m a surrogate for people who get up, go to work, raise a family and don’t have the time to read six newspapers a day, read all the books and know all the questions to ask. I want to cut through the fog, make complicated public-policy issues interesting and understandable to these people as well as to the editorial writers, the opinion makers.”

That’s a tall order, but Russert is on a roll. He is credited with reinvigorating “Meet the Press” since taking over as moderator three years ago, and the ratings have been growing--up 10% over the past two years.

For the fourth quarter of 1994, according to A.C. Nielsen Co. data, the 47-year-old public-affairs show had an average audience each week of 3.1 million homes, compared to 3.7 million for ABC’s “This Week With David Brinkley” and 2.3 million for CBS’ “Face the Nation.” And it actually ran first in New York and tied with “This Week” for No. 1 in Washington.

Recently the show has been hitting the journalistic jackpot for the Sunday morning shows: stories in newspapers the next day about what was said on the air.

“Tim has certainly made Sunday morning more competitive,” said ABC News Vice President Bob Murphy. “But our show has been the leader for many years and we’re consistently strong, both editorially and in the ratings.”

Russert was special counsel and then chief of staff for Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) for five years and counselor to former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo before joining NBC in 1984 as a vice president and assistant to the news division president. Although some at NBC News initially questioned the appointment of a former political aide as Washington bureau chief in 1988, Russert’s years of dealing with the media from the politicians’ side have given him unusual insight, not to mention an extensive network of contacts.

“Tim knows where all the bodies are buried, and he has their phone numbers,” says NBC White House correspondent Jim Miklaszewski.

Russert, who was trained as a lawyer, is praised as pugilistic but fair by media critics. He admittedly thrives on competition, but while he is quick to point out the ratings gains for “Meet the Press” and would love to become the top-rated Sunday show, he speaks admiringly of ABC competitor David Brinkley.

“David Brinkley is an icon--there’s no one like him--and they have high-profile, interesting (on-air) talent,” he says.

With Brinkley planning to retire at the end of 1996, however, and Cokie Roberts, Sam Donaldson and maybe even Ted Koppel said to want his job, the changeover could present an opening for “Meet the Press.”

“The transition is going to be important,” ABC’s Murphy acknowledged. “But we’re preparing for it, and we don’t intend to cede No. 1 to Russert during that time.”

Russert was educated on a high school scholarship by Jesuit priests and was the first member of his blue-collar, Irish-Catholic family to graduate from college (John Carroll University). He loaded garbage cans, drove a taxi and tossed pizzas to earn money for school.

“I used to be very envious when I was lifting garbage cans every summer vacation and everybody else seemed to be backpacking through Europe,” Russert said, “but I realized that these experiences gave me an appreciation for the ways people think and live their lives.”

Russert’s early duties at NBC were entirely behind the scenes. He played a major role in the “Today” show’s live broadcasts from Rome in 1985, for example, including negotiating a first for American TV: a televised private Mass and greeting from Pope John Paul II.

He was tapped to succeed Garrick Utley as host of “Meet the Press” by then-NBC News President Michael Gartner. “Michael heard me telling inside Washington stories on our morning conference call (between NBC News executives and the bureaus),” Russert said. “He told me, ‘You ought to be on the air.’ ”

Now Russert also appears regularly to talk politics on “Today” and has his own weekly talk show Mondays on CNBC, the NBC cable network, interviewing journalists about their work and media issues.

There has been some grumbling within NBC News about the boss being a star. But Miklaszewski said, “I think people here regard it as a plus for the bureau because it gives us a higher profile in Washington. And Tim fights hard to get Washington stories and Washington correspondents on the air.”

And if he does begin to take himself and his media world too seriously, Russert has an antidote back in Buffalo. What does the truck-driver father say about his son’s profession? Russert laughed at the question. “He says, ‘I can’t believe they pay you to bull---- for a living.”

* “Meet the Press” airs Sunday at 7 a.m. on NBC (Channels 4, 36 and 39). “Tim Russert” airs Mondays at 5 and 11 p.m. on CNBC cable.