Get your facts first, and then you can distort ’em as you please.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Media is just a word that has come to mean bad journalism.
—Graham Greene (1904–91) British Novelist, Playwright, Short Story Writer
There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and to shame the devil – remain detached from the great
—Walter Lippmann (1889–1974) American Journalist, Political Commentator
Most rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, for people who can’t read.
—Frank Zappa (1940–93) American Rock Guitarist, Singer, Composer
I would sooner call myself a journalist than an author for a journalist is a journeyman.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
We now demand the light artillery of the intellect; we need the curt, the condensed, the pointed, the readily diffused—in place of the verbose, the detailed, the voluminous, the inaccessible. On the other hand, the lightness of the artillery should not degenerate into pop-gunnery—by which term we may designate the character of the greater portion of the newspaper press—their sole legitimate object being the discussion of ephemeral matters in an ephemeral manner.
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–49) American Poet
Bad manners make a journalist.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
We need not be theologians to see that we have shifted responsibility for making the world interesting from God to the newspaperman.
—Daniel J. Boorstin (1914–2004) American Historian, Academic, Attorney, Writer
Exaggeration of every kind is as essential to journalism as it is to dramatic art, for the object of journalism is to make events go as far as possible
—Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860) German Philosopher
A journalist is a person who has mistaken their calling.
—Otto von Bismarck (1815–98) German Chancellor, Prime Minister
Journalism allows its readers to witness history; fiction gives its readers an opportunity to live it.
—John Hersey (1914–93) American Novelist, Journalist
Journalism is concerned with events, poetry with feelings. Journalism is concerned with the look of the world, poetry with the feel of the world.
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982) American Poet, Dramatist
If I’d written all the truth I knew for the past ten years, about 600 people—including me—would be rotting in prison cells from Rio to Seattle today. Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.
—Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) American Journalist
The real news is bad news.
—Marshall Mcluhan (1911–80) Canadian Writer, Thinker, Educator
Journalism will kill you, but it will keep you alive while you’re at it.
—Horace Greeley (1811–72) American Journalist, Author
People accuse journalism of being too personal; but to me it has always seemed far too impersonal. It is charged with tearing away the veils from private life; but it seems to me to be always dropping diaphanous but blinding veils between men and men. The Yellow Press is abused for exposing facts which are private; I wish the Yellow Press did anything so valuable. It is exactly the decisive individual touches that it never gives; and a proof of this is that after one has met a man a million times in the newspapers it is always a complete shock and reversal to meet him in real life.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
If a person is not talented enough to be a novelist, not smart enough to be a lawyer, and his hands are too shaky to perform operations, he becomes a journalist.
—Norman Mailer (1923–2007) American Novelist Essayist
The man must have a rare recipe for melancholy, who can be dull in Fleet Street.
—Charles Lamb (1775–1834) British Essayist, Poet
I find I journalize too tediously. Let me try to abbreviate.
—James Boswell (1740–95) Scottish Biographer, Diarist
The paper which obtains a reputation for publishing authentic news and only that which is fit to print, … will steadily increase its influence.
—Andrew Carnegie (1835–1919) Scottish-American Industrialist
Journalism is the ability to meet the challenge of filling space.
—Rebecca West (1892–1983) English Author, Journalist, Literary Critic
The facts fairly and honestly presented; truth will take care of itself.
—William Allen White (1868–1944) American Editor, Politician, Author
Reasons for not keeping a notebook: 1) the ambiguity of the reader
—Lionel Trilling (1905–75) American Literary Critic
Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.
—A. J. Liebling (1904–63) American Journalist, Press Critic
Journalism is the entertainment business.
—Frank Herbert (1920–86) American Science Fiction Writer
Literature is the art of writing something that will be read twice; journalism what will be grasped at once.
—Cyril Connolly (1903–74) British Literary Critic, Writer
Take away the newspaper—and this country of ours would become a scene of chaos. Without daily assurance of the exact facts—so far as we are able to know and publish them—the public imagination would run riot. Ten days without the daily newspaper and the strong pressure of worry and fear would throw the people of this country into mob hysteria—feeding upon rumors, alarms, terrified by bugbears and illusions. We have become the watchmen of the night and of a troubled day.
—Harry Chandler (1864–1944) American Newspaper Publisher, Investor
Every journalist owes tribute to the evil one.
—Jean de La Fontaine (1621–95) French Poet, Short Story Writer
It was a fatal day when the public discovered that the pen is mightier than the paving-stone, and can be made as offensive as the brickbat. They at once sought for the journalist, found him, developed him, and made him their industrious and well-paid servant. It is greatly to be regretted, for both their sakes.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
You will generally find that the person who doesn’t give a continental what the newspapers say about ‘im either one way or the other subscribes to a press clipping bureau anyway.
—Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American Writer, Publisher, Artist, Philosopher
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