JOURNALISM QUOTES II

quotations about journalism

There is much to be said in favour of modern journalism. By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, it keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.

OSCAR WILDE

The Critic as Artist

Tags: Oscar Wilde


The difference between literature and journalism is that journalism is unreadable and literature is not read.

OSCAR WILDE

"The Critic as Artist"

Tags: Oscar Wilde


The basic problem is with the business model of journalism. That business model is premised on the idea that talk is cheap and reporting is expensive.

JONATHAN ALTER

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 16, 2014

Tags: Jonathan Alter


Whenever people are well-informed they can be trusted with their own government.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

attributed, The Concise Columbia Dictionary of Quotations

Tags: Thomas Jefferson


The only qualities essential for real success in journalism are rat-like cunning, a plausible manner, and a little literary ability.

NICHOLAS TOMALIN

The Sunday Times Magazine, Oct. 26, 1969

Tags: Nicholas Tomalin


It might be said that journalists are, really, absolute believers in relativism -- or relativistic believers in absolutism. They are both egoists and altruists, in spite of affirming a certain emphasis at any one time or in any particular situation. Journalists are not really "either-or" persons; they are all mergers -- creatures of the clash between inflexibility and flexibility and between all the other contraries that impinge on their lives.

JOHN C. MERRILL

The Dialectic in Journalism: Toward a Responsible Use of Press Freedom


Journalism: an ability to meet the challenge of filling the space.

REBECCA WEST

attributed, The Literary Achievement of Rebecca West

Tags: Rebecca West


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

attributed, The Snark Handbook

Tags: Norman Mailer


I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon.

TOM STOPPARD

London Guardian, Mar. 18, 1988

Tags: Tom Stoppard


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

Aphorisms

Tags: Georg Christoph Lichtenberg


Journalism is unlike any other craft. It most closely resembles show business. There's an undeniable element of ego in journalism, and an equally undeniable element of self-sacrifice. Performers know the show must go on. Journalists know the paper has to come out on time.

DONALD L. FERGUSON

Opportunities in Journalism Careers

Tags: Donald L. Ferguson


Journalism is not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuckoffs and misfits -- a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo-cage.

HUNTER S. THOMPSON

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Tags: Hunter S. Thompson


Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on people's vanity, ignorance, or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse.

JANET MALCOLM

The Journalist and the Murderer

Tags: Janet Malcolm


He comes, the herald of a noisy world, With spatter'd boots, strapp'd waist, and frozen locks; News from all nations lumbering at his back.

WILLIAM COWPER

Task

Tags: William Cowper


You cannot hope
to bribe or twist,
thank God! the
British journalist.


But seeing what
the man will do
unbribed, there's
no occasion to.

HUMBERT WOLFE

The Uncelestial City

Tags: Humbert Wolfe


Journalism could be described as turning one’s enemies into money.

CRAIG BROWN

London Daily Telegraph, Sep. 28, 1990

Tags: Craig Brown


I got into journalism not to be a journalist but to try to change American foreign policy. I'm a corny person. I was a dreamer predating my journalistic life, so I got into journalism as a means to try to change the world.

SAMANTHA POWER

Salon.com interview, Feb. 18, 2008

Tags: Samantha Power


What else has a journalist to do these days, after all, but report life's miseries?

JOHN LE CARRÉ

The Honourable Schoolboy

Tags: John le Carré


The public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing. Journalism, conscious of this, and having tradesman-like habits, supplies their demands.

OSCAR WILDE

The Soul of Man Under Socialism

Tags: Oscar Wilde


Today’s journalism is obsessed with the kinds of things that tend to preoccupy thirteen-year-old boys: sports, sex, crime, and narcissism.

STEVEN STARK

Atlantic Monthly, Sep. 1994

Tags: Steven Stark