“Who should regulate the media? Who should control the press? The commentariat agonises, as if the choice was between state control through some autocratic press law or a new Press Complaints Commission redecorated with false teeth. But there is another way. Let journalists regulate themselves.... Let's have a little democracy in the media. Even in the Murdoch papers, the number of journalists who are irretrievably lawless and callous is quite small. Most of the disasters at the News of the World happened because its editors treated their staff in the style of Muammar Gaddafi.” IfsWorldWayShouldLittlesStatesLawChoicesNumbersDemocracyHappenedMediaStylePaperNewsPressesDisasterTeethTreatedJournalistEditorsStaffComplaintsPapersAnother WayCallousGaddafiMuammar Gaddafi Author:Neal Ascherson
“Comedians, such as yourself, Jon Stewart and others, are a valuable supplement, and here's why: Good journalism at its best frequently speaks truth to power. What's happened with journalists - again, I don't except myself from this criticism - in some ways we've lost our guts. We need a spine transplant. What's happened is comedians, in their own way, speak truth to power and fill that vacuum that we in journalism have too often left, particularly post 9/11.” WayNeedsLostLeftSpeakHappenedCriticismValuableJournalismPostsJournalistComedianGutsVacuumsSpineSpeak The TruthSupplementsTransplantsGood Journalism Author:Dan Rather
“I'm not making a movie about the real people. I'm making a movie about what they did, and what happened to them. But I will create characters so that I can have the freedom to make them say and do what I want. The real-life journalists were fine with that.” PeopleWantI CanRealCharacterHappenedFineReal LifeJournalist Author:Richard Shepard
“A lot of college graduates approach me about becoming screenwriters. I tell them, 'Do not become a screenwriter, become a journalist,' because journalists go into worlds that are not their own. Kids who go to Hollywood write coming-of-age stories for their first scripts, about what happened to them when they were sixteen. Then they write the summer camp script. At the age of twenty-three they haven't produced anything, and that's the end of the career.” WorldWritingFirstsEndsStoriesKidsAgeThreeCareersHappenedHavensCollegeBecomingApproachSummerHollywoodTwentiesScriptsJournalistComing Of AgeCampsGraduatesSixteenScreenwritersCollege GraduatesSummer Camp Author:Nora Ephron
“I was charging forward too hard, into too many war zones, working too long, drinking too heavily, pushing forward, pushing forward. And who knows, had this not happened, maybe I would have been one of the casualties as a journalist covering the war. Who knows, maybe I would have been captured and tortured somewhere along the line, because I always pushed things to the limit.” KnowsLongHas BeensWarHardLinesHappenedLimitsDrinkingJournalistZonePushingCapturedCoveringCasualtiesChargingWar ZonesPushing Forward Author:Brad Willis
“I was living in New York at the time of the 9/11 attacks. And I remember, you know, in those weeks that followed, when none of us spoke about anything else really, a number of friends of mine, people I knew, including very experienced journalists, I heard them saying things like, well, now we understand what happened to you.” PeopleKnowsWellsRememberNumbersHappenedHeardWeekNew YorkMinesIncludingJournalistSpokesRemember YouRemembers You Author:Salman Rushdie