Jonah Goldberg  Watching Tom Brokaw, Ted Koppel and Tim Russert
this past Sunday wasn't quite like seeing dinosaurs asking each
other what's happened to all the tasty fronds, but the year-
ending edition of NBC's "Meet the Press" offered an excellent
glimpse at why the elite mainstream media as we know it is
facing extinction.  No doubt intended as a grand treat for the
viewing audience, "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert invited
NBC's Tom Brokaw and ABC's Ted Koppel to ladle out some
observations from their deep wells of wisdom for all of the
world to imbibe.  These three giants of television journalism
tut-tutted about one government failure after another, from the
Katrina response to the government's inability to provide health
care for everybody to our dismayingly low taxes. Brokaw agreed
with Koppel, Koppel agreed with Brokaw. Russert nodded as one
newsman repeated what the other one just said.    Now, it's fair
to say that Brokaw, Koppel and Russert are three of the very
best journalists the elite mainstr