Journalism Quotes - Page 4

• Freedom of press is limited to those who own one.

  H. L. Mencken

  Funny, Freedom, Political

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• None of our political writers . . . take notice of any more than three estates, namely, Kings, Lords and Commons . . . passing by in silence that very large and powerful body which form the fourth estate in the community . . . the Mob.

  Henry Fielding

  Kings, Powerful, Passing By

  Covent Garden Journal, June 13, 1752.

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• The News-writer lies down at Night in great Tranquillity, upon a piece of News which corrupts before Morning, and which he is obliged to throw away as soon as he awakes.

  Jean de la Bruyere

  Morning, Lying, Night

  "The Characters or Manners of the Present Age". Book by Jean de La Bruyère, Chapter I, 1688.

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• If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: 'President Can't Swim.'

  Lyndon B. Johnson

  Morning, Humorous, Swimming

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing.

  Oscar Wilde

  Wisdom, Knowing, People

  "The Soul of Man Under Socialism" (1891)

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• Well, I mean, the real attack on truth is tabloid journalism in the United States.

  Julian Assange

  Mean Girls, Real, United States

  "WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange on Iraq War Logs, "Tabloid Journalism" and Why WikiLeaks Is "Under Siege"". Interview with Amy Goodman, www.democracynow.org. October 26, 2010.

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• Journalism, some huge percentage of it, should be devoted to putting pressure on power, on nonsense, on chicanery of all kinds and if that's going to invite a lawsuit, well, bring it on.

  David Remnick

  Pressure, Kind, Nonsense

  "David Remnick Looks Back On Tough Decisions As 'The New Yorker' Turns 90". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. February 18, 2015.

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• People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.

  A. J. Liebling

  Print Media, People, Political

  The New Yorker, en.wikiquote.org. April 7, 1956.

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• To read a newspaper is to refrain from reading something worth while. The first discipline of education must therefore be to refuse resolutely to feed the mind with canned chatter.

  Aleister Crowley

  Reading, Discipline, Mind

  "The Confessions of Aleister Crowley". Book by Aleister Crowley. Chapter 23, 1969.

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• Fiction is a bridge to the truth that journalism can't reach.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Bridges, Fiction

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• Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.

  Mark Twain

  Fake People, Truth, Inspirational Life

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• Most rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, for people who can't read.

  Frank Zappa

  Funny, Writing, Humor

  Quoted in Chicago Tribune, 18 Jan. 1978

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• Every good journalist is aware that his trade may one day go the way of phrenology-and, what's more, the population will hardly protest the extinction.

  David Remnick

  One Day, Population, May

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• By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.

  Oscar Wilde

  Funny, Sarcastic, Ignorance

  Oscar Wilde, General Press (2016). “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde: Novel, Short Stories, Poetry, Essays and Plays”, p.697, GENERAL PRESS

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• Gonzo journalism is a style of reporting based on William Faulkner's idea that the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Ideas, Style, Fiction

  The Great Shark Hunt "Jacket Copy for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1979)

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• Laziness has become the chief characteristic of journalism, displacing incompetence.

  Kingsley Amis

  Laziness, Incompetence, Characteristics

  "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• Anyone who edits their own copy has a fool for an editor.

  Donald Davis

  Editors, Fool, Copies

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• Too strong a media emphasis on death and violence can lead to despair.

  Dalai Lama

  Strong, Media, Despair

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• A newspaper, as I'm sure you know, is a collection of supposedly true stories written down by writers who either saw them happen or talked to people who did. These writers are called journalists, and like telephone operators, butchers, ballerinas, and people who clean up after horses, journalists can sometimes make mistakes.

  Daniel Handler

  Horse, Mistake, Media

  "The Vile Village". Book by Daniel Handler, 2001.

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• Evidently there are plenty of people in journalism who have neither got what they liked nor quite grown to like what they get. They write pieces they do not much enjoy writing, for papers they totally despise, and the sad process ends by ruining their style and disintegrating their personality, two developments which in a writer cannot be separate, since his personality and style must progress or deteriorate together, like a married couple in a country where death is the only permissible divorce.

  Claud Cockburn

  Country, Couple, Divorce

  Claud Cockburn (1967). “I, Claud ...: the autobiography of Claud Cockburn”

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• In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs forever and ever.

  Oscar Wilde

  Funny, Sarcastic, Writing

  "The Soul of Man Under Socialism" (1891)

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• Absolute truth is a very rare and dangerous commodity in the context of professional journalism.

  Hunter S. Thompson

  Truth, Cells, Hunters

  1973 'Fear and Loathing at the Superbowl', in Rolling Stone, 15 Feb.

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• Journalists cover words and delude themselves into thinking they have committed journalism.

  Hedrick Smith

  Thinking, Committed, Journalist

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• The power is to set the agenda. What we print and what we don't print matter a lot.

  Katharine Graham

  Agendas, Matter, Newspapers

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• These days there's all too much coverage of pesudo-events about extraordinarily inauthentic people doing inauthentic things.

  David Halberstam

  People, Events, Too Much

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