P. J. O'Rourke Quotes

The ethics of journalism are one thing. Another thing is the ethics of business.

Walter Cronkite had a golden rule for all wartime reporters: never self-aggrandize.

It's the nature of journalism to need to be close to your subjects. And either you're able to be tough on them, which a lot of us are, or you get in bed with them, and some people do.

No man must be Judge who propounds unto himself any hope of profit, or glory, from the victory of either party.

A perception of a conflict of interest is jsut as bad as a conflict of interest,

If giving money to a politician prejudiced my ability to think and write honestly, I wouldn't do it. Fortunately, it doesn't.

I would die in a ditch for the impartiality of the BBC.

There has been far too much of journalists deciding they are on the side of something and going out to get the story, instead of truth seeking which is a different thing.

Journalists hold themselves apart, and above, the common person. They have rules designed to ensure their objectivity and impartiality.

I'd never compromise my position as a journalist by having a friendly relationship with a politician.

It is unsound for an independent editor to be a financial contributor to any cause which would cause any type of special pleading.

Both CNN and NPR prohibit political activity by all journalists, no matter their assignment.

I would draw a really big distinction between competition, or potential competition, and a conflict of interest. A conflict of interest implies wrongdoing, whereas competition is really healthy.

I mistrust the judgment of every man in a case in which his own wishes are concerned.

I don't think journalists should talk about whom they're voting for.

There is a kind of innate conflict of interest when members of congressional ethics committees are called upon to judge their colleagues.

No one is a good judge in his own cause.

Plain truth, backed up by neither power or money, has no chance.

My observations do not enable me to say I think integrity the characteristic of wealth ... The decisions of the people in a body, will be more honest and more disinterested than those of wealthy men.

We are not a paid bunch of bullies. Our job is to get the facts.

It is not permitted to the most equitable of men to be a judge in his own cause.

Journalists should wear a white uniform to indicate the purity of their character.

The good journalist is never objective. He is always neutral.

Is journalism a profession that serves the public by maintaining high standards, or is it a social construct that should be redesigned to directly serve certain social goods? Some argue that all journalism involves bias, either hidden or revealed. But it is one thing to say that objectivity and fairness are ultimately unreachable. It is another to cease grasping for them. That would be a world of purely private truths, in which the boldest liars and demagogues would thrive.

You could say that any book that takes a position is not fair, unless you keep saying, 'On the one hand, on the other...' and take a great deal of trouble to present both sides. That kind of journalism tends not to be very interesting.