Journalists Quotes
More Journalists Quotes
It's a truism that denials never quite catch up with charges. Honest Journalists who may have mistakenly printed false information know that the most prominent retraction never quite undoes the damage done by the original publication.
— Tom Wicker, "In the Nation; Lesson of Lattimore" (June 9, 1989), The New York Times.
Sometimes, I genuinely enjoy having conversations with Journalists; enjoying the few moments of intimacy with a stranger is fascinating to me. But once in a while that backfires and you're suddenly reading something that has a bent on it that you didn't feel was in the least bit a part of the conversation that you thought you were having. Then you get overly protective and say very little and then you come out of the hole again.
gillian anderson— The Observer staff (October 1, 2000 ) "Review: Interview: The truth is out here: X-files star Gillian Anderson has rejected the lure of Hollywood for the austere style of cult British director Terence Davies. What is she thinking of...", The Observer.
We must express the view, based on our empirical observations, that a substantial number of Journalists are ignorant, lazy, opinionated, and intellectually dishonest. The profession is heavily cluttered with aged hacks toiling through a miasma of mounting decrepitude and often alcoholism, and even more so with arrogant and abrasive youngsters who substitute 'commitment' for insight.
conrad black— Black, Conrad et al, "A Brief to the Special Senate Committee on the Mass Media from the Sherbrooke Record...", 1969 : Despite Black's involvement in press ownership, he heaped scorn on journalism
I do not know why Journalists insist on calling their stuff "pieces", when they are in fact little entities, attempting to have beginnings, middles and endings.
james cameron— The Best of Cameron (Sevenoaks: New English Library, 1981) p. 49. ISBN 0450048810.
Whatever analogy we choose, one thing is clear - any group with influence needs people outside that group who will criticise it. In the real world of politics and society, Journalists do that - proper Journalists who know what having principles means, who aim for objectivity while accepting that it is unattainable, and who are open about who pays them and who they work with.
bill thompson— "Blog eats blog: The rise of the blogeoisie." by Bill Thompson, May 15, 2003.
The Journalists have constructed for themselves a little wooden chapel, which they also call the Temple of Fame, in which they put up and take down portraits all day long and make such a hammering you can't hear yourself speak.
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg— D 20 (Notebook D (1773-1775))
Secretive power loathes Journalists who do their job: who push back screens, peer behind façades, lift rocks. Opprobrium from on high is their badge of honour.
john pilger— Pilger, John (2005). Tell Me No Lies: Investigative Journalism That Changed the World. Thunder's Mouth Press. p. xv. ISBN 1560257865.
Journalists saya thing that they know isn't true, in the hope that if they keep on saying it long enough it will be true.
(Enoch) Arnold Bennett— 1918 The Title, act 2.
Journalists as a group, unlike all other powerful groups, require some protection from themselves, and from their own excesses.
— 1988 Speech, Annual Dinner of the Canadian Press, 20 Apr, reported in the Globe and Mail the following day.
Journalists say a thing that they know isn't true, in the hope that if they keep on saying it long enough it will be true.
arnold bennett— Act II (The Title (1918))
Journalists who make mistakes get sued for libel; historians who make mistakes get to publish a revised edition.
— Bill Moyers, "The Big Story", speech to the Texas State Historical Association, 7 March 1997, Moyers on Democracy (2008), p. 131.
It is no good saying we [Journalists] must report only what is true because what is true cannot always be proven.
john humphrys— 2004 In the Sunday Times, 8 Feb.
How is the world ruled and led to war? Diplomats lie to Journalists and believe these lies when they see them in print.
Karl Kraus— Aphorism collected in Heinrich Fischer (ed) Beim Wort genommen (1955). Translated by Harry Zohn in Half-truths and one-and-a-half truths (1986).
We must constantly encourage Western Journalists to write precisely the opposite of our real intentions and anyone who writes or speaks about our real intentions accurately or impartially in the Western sense of these words must quickly be dismissed and ridiculed as someone of the Right or a fascist, someone who wants to bring back McCarthyism.
ivan agayants— Explaining the benefits of disinformation. Quoted in "KGB" - Page 142 - by Brian Freemantle - Social Science - 1982
I see Journalists as the manual workers, the laborers of the word. Journalism can only be literature when it is passionate.
marguerite duras— Walesa's Wife, from Practicalities (1987, trans. 1990)
Incoherence is a common hazard for Journalists who dabble in ethical judgments.
andrew ferguson— "Scotty: All the news that's fit to schmooze," The Weekly Standard (2003-02-24)
One of the greatest problems for international Journalists covering the Middle East is that people who serves as guides for Journalists are often affiliated with Islamic terrorists seeking to turn for foreign visitors against Israel.
caroline glick— Reprinted in "Live from NY’s 92nd Street Y continues". Vail Daily. October 7, 2007.
"I'm a little concerned about this notion everybody wants us to be objective," Jennings said.Jennings said that everyone — even Journalists — have points of view through which they filter their perception of the news. It could be race, sex or income. But, he said, reporters are ideally trained to be as objective as possible."And when we don't think we can be fully objective, to be fair."
peter jennings— Interview for KETV NewsWatch 7 as quoted in article at The Omaha Channel (19 October 2004)
Hype is the awkward and desperate attempt to convince Journalists that what you've made is worth the misery of having to review it.
Federico Fellini— "Hype"
In just one year in Bosnia, thirty of my colleagues died. There is a little Somme waiting for all innocent Journalists.
robert fisk— Preface (page XXI)
I suppose, in the end, we Journalists try - or should try - to be the first impartial witnesses of history. If we have any reason for our existence, the least must be our ability to report history as it happens so that no one can say: 'we didn't know - no one told us.'
robert fisk— Preface (page XXIII)
A petty reason perhaps why novelists more and more try to keep a distance from Journalists is that novelists are trying to write the truth and Journalists are trying to write fiction.
graham greene— Letter to critic Stephen Pile, Sunday Times (London) (January 18, 1981)
It is inexcusable for scientists to torture animals; let them make their experiments on Journalists and politicians.
henrik ibsen— As quoted in The Book of Poisonous Quotes (1993) edited by Colin Jarman, p. 232.
My experience is that Journalists report on the nearest-cliche algorithm, which is extremely uninformative because there aren’t many cliches, the truth is often quite distant from any cliche, and the only thing you can infer about the actual event was that this was the closest cliche.... It is simply not possible to appreciate the sheer awfulness of mainstream media reporting until someone has actually reported on you. It is so much worse than you think.
eliezer yudkowsky— Predictible Fakers (January 2009)
Maxim Gorki, supposedly citing a quote from Trotsky, told some Journalists in 1924: "From Mussolini's governmental actions I have got to know his energy and I admire him, but I prefer Trotsky's opinion: Mussolini has made a revolution, he is our best student."
— Falasca-Zamponi, Simonetta (1997). Fascist Spectacle: The Aesthetics of Power in Mussolini's Italy. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1997p. 52
...deeply concerned at the Maldives government's continued repression of protestors, including beatings, pepper-spraying, and arrests. Those attacked include peaceful demonstrators, members of parliament, Journalists and bystanders.
— Amnesty International accusing the Maldives governments for using excessive cruel force against supporters of Mohamed Nasheed, quoted on Travel Mole.com, "Tweets go wrong for Maldives: Maldives tourism campaign backfires as Twitter shows darker side of island life", January 31, 2014.
I do not know why Journalists insist on calling their stuff "pieces", when they are in fact little entities, attempting to have beginnings, middles and endings.
— The Best of Cameron (Sevenoaks: New English Library, 1981) p. 49. ISBN 0450048810.
I suppose, in the end, we Journalists try - or should try - to be the first impartial witnesses of history. If we have any reason for our existence, the least must be our ability to report history as it happens so that no one can say: 'We didn't know - no one told us.'
— Fisk, Robert (2005). The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East. Fourth Estate. p. xxv. ISBN 0007203837.
The national religion in the United States is worship of all things military. And Journalists are its high priests.
— Glenn Greenwald (1967), interview with Democracy Now! (November 14, 2012). Glenn Greenwald: While Petraeus Had Affair with Biographer, Corporate Media Had Affair with Petraeus. Retrieved on 2012-11-15.
