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Journalism Quotes

On deadlines, doubt, and the line between reporting and opinion.

One line here draws a sharp distinction between straight reporting and an opinion column, framing them as almost entirely different kinds of reading, while another describes the tired, edgy mood that seems to suit the job. If you want more on the craft itself, browse our More quotes.

Fake news is cheap to produce. Genuine journalism is expensive.

Quotes by Toomas Hendrik Ilves

God, newspapers have been making up stories forever. This kind of trifling and fooling around is not a function of the New Journalism.

Quotes by Tom Wolfe

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

Quotes by Tom Stoppard

The whole notion of journalism being an institution whose fundamental purpose is to educate and inform and even, one might say, elevate, has altered under commercial pressure, perhaps, into a different kind of purpose, which is to divert and distract...

Quotes by Tom Stoppard

When I left Toronto and entered journalism in the late 1990s, I had many notions about the news business, nearly all of them wrong, as it turned out.

Quotes by Tom Rachman

I had pictured journalism as I'd seen it in the most ennobling films, where the reporter battles for the truth, propelled by conviction, and is triumphant. There are journalists who fit that ideal.

Quotes by Tom Rachman

My intent was to gain experience for fiction I eventually hoped to write. But there's no question I was drawn in by the hope that journalism would be a creative, thrilling environment.

Quotes by Tom Rachman

The passion and knowledge of journalism as storytelling is incredibly infectious.

Quotes by Tom McCarthy

We are trained to distinguish between journalism that's short and long, that's responsible and irresponsible, that stands for the right values and stands for the wrong.

Quotes by Tom Junod

It's all storytelling, you know. That's what journalism is all about.

Quotes by Tom Brokaw

Speaking generally, people who are drawn to journalism are interested in what happens from the ground up less than they are from the top down.

Quotes by Tom Brokaw

David Brinkley was an icon of modern broadcast journalism, a brilliant writer who could say in a few words what the country needed to hear during times of crisis, tragedy and triumph.

Quotes by Tom Brokaw

I'm not a big fan of journalism schools, except those that are organized around a liberal arts education. Have an understanding of history, economics and political science - and then learn to write.

Quotes by Tom Brokaw

I had gone to all the big stories of the '80s, which was one of the most fertile times in American journalism, around the world and here as well.

Quotes by Tom Brokaw

In the end, Dan Rather's legend skewered him, CBS and the craft of journalism.

Quotes by Tina Brown

TV journalism is a much more collaborative, horizontal business than print reporting. It has to be, because of the logistics. Anchors are wholly dependent on producers to do all the hustling.

Quotes by Tina Brown

I am thrilled to share the news that Andrew Sullivan is bringing his trailblazing journalism to 'The Daily Beast.'

Quotes by Tina Brown

My first real writing job was at 'Rolling Stone,' so I wrote about rock-and-roll and politics and the like. At the time, I really didn't know what I wanted to write, and I did a bunch of investigative journalism.

Quotes by Tim Cahill

Journalism is in fact history on the run.

Quotes by Thomas Griffith

Journalism constructs momentarily arrested equilibriums and gives disorder an implied order. That is already two steps from reality.

Quotes by Thomas Griffith

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a quote about games writing and journalism standards?
Yes, one raises the question of standards for "games writing that falls outside of journalism," and the need to support experimental, more tailored formats of production.
Is there a witty quote about being in the right mood for journalism?
Yes: "You're miserable, edgy and tired. You're in the perfect mood for journalism." It's a tongue-in-cheek take on the job.
Is there a quote comparing objective journalism to something unexpected?
Yes: "Objective journalism and an opinion column are about as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine." It's presented as that speaker's own sharp, deliberately provocative comparison, not a claim this page endorses.
Is there a quote defining a 'journalism of depth'?
Yes: "What I like to call 'journalism of depth' is the media that regards the collective conscience of the masses to be its point of departure." It frames this style of journalism around the public's shared conscience.
Where can I find more related quotes?
Try People quotes or School quotes, or Good quotes for broader reflective lines.

One writer defines journalism as tracking a society's collective conscience rather than chasing headlines, which says something about why the job rarely lets go. Pair these with our Always quotes, or lines that get personal in our Me quotes.