“A free press is one where it's okay to state the conclusion you're led to by the evidence. One reason I'm in hot water is because my colleagues and I at NOW didn't play by the conventional rules of Beltway journalism. Those rules divide the world into Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, and allow journalists to pretend they have done their job if instead of reporting the truth behind the news, they merely give each side an opportunity to spin the news.” IfsWorldGivingStatesReasonDonePlayJobsOpportunitySidesWaterBehindsRepublicanTruth IsNewsEvidenceOkayHotPressesDemocratConclusionJournalismJournalistDividesConventionalColleaguesFree PressHot Water Author:Bill Moyers
“Truth is the hardest substance in the world to pin down. But the one certainty is the awesome penalty exacted sooner or later from a society whose reporters stop trying.” WorldTryingTruthTruth IsHardestCertaintyJournalismSubstanceSooner Or LaterReportersPenaltiesPinsStop Trying Author:Flora Lewis
“The truth is not that the problem is the newsroom does not understand capitalism. The problem is that the front office does not understand journalism. The problem is not that the average reporter does not understand what it is that's necessary to make the payroll, to make the good edifice, to make the thing that he wants. It is that in fact those who control too many of the edifices have actually come to believe that Wall Street has wisdom, and that that wisdom should instruct our business.” WantShouldBelieveDoeFactsProblemStreetsFrontsWallTruth IsOfficeCapitalismAverageJournalismReportersEdificePayrollFront Office Author:Hodding Carter III
“It's very difficult to measure the impact on policy of any investigative journalism. You hope it matters to let a little more truth loose in the world, but you can't always be sure it does. You do it because there's a story to be told. I can tell you that the job of trying to tell the truth about people whose job it is to hide the truth is about as complicated and difficult as trying to hide it in the first place.” PeopleWorldTryingFirstsLittlesDoeI CanMatterStoriesJobsDifficultPolicyTruth IsImpactComplicatedJournalismTelling The TruthInvestigative Journalism Author:Bill Moyers
“Journalism has changed tremendously because of the democratization of information. Anybody can put something up on the Internet. It's harder and harder to find what the truth is.” InformationChangedInternetTruth IsHarderJournalismDemocratization Author:Robert Redford
“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.” PeopleIfsYearsWould BeTodayPastLiteratureWrittenDangerousTruth IsTenAbsolutesPrisonIncludingJournalismCellsJournalistAnarchyCommodityHuntersHeresySeattleAbsolute TruthRottingGonzoRioGonzo JournalismPrison Cells Author:Hunter S. Thompson