media professionalism Quotes

Not all journalists are really journalists. They ask such stupid questions sometimes, especially the newer ones, and because... these people can't tell if you're joking around, you just can't have any sense of humour; you really can't.

I am a news presenter, a news broadcaster, an anchorman, a managing editor - not a commentator or analyst. I feel no compulsion to be a pundit.

I know of no human being who has a better time than an eager and energetic young reporter.

I really do try not to emote. I don't like seeing it on documentaries - it seems a bit unprofessional. I also need to be human being and be a kind of sympathetic presence for the contributors I'm with, so there' a line you have to walk.

One of the basic troubles with radio and television news is that both instruments have grown up as an incompatible combination of show business, advertising and news. Each of the three is a rather bizarre and demanding profession. And when you get all three under one roof, the dust never settles.

In the United Kingdom at various stages, journalism has been the profession of gentlemen amateurs. And some of them even pride themselves on being amateurs. Their quality is not comparable with the quality of intelligence services even if most of them harbor a remarkable degree of corruption and incompetence.

Newscasters cannot call attention to themselves by being too attractive or too unattractive.

All of us who professionally use the mass media are the shapers of society. We can vulgarise that society. We can brutalise it. Or we can help lift it onto a higher level.

Everybody who's in the news business today was influenced in a positive way by Walter Cronkite. He had ability, humility and integrity, a rare combination.

No reporter of my generation, whatever his genius, ever really rated spats and a walking stick until he had covered both a lynching and a revolution.

I like to report. I like to go to the newsmakers. I like to get out. I've heard about people talking about the anchor as the voice of god. That set is not an altar. It's a great job, I love doing it, but I don't take that role as my identity - the anchorman - it sounds very old-fashioned.

Politics aside, it will be hard for any new liberal radio network to outdo the professionalism of NPR.

A couple of years ago, I went to dinner with a very high-profile source, and out of respect, I put my phone down for, say, an hour and a half. And during this dinner there was a major breaking story related to the Secret Service. When I picked my phone back up, I had missed about 50 emails and seven phone calls from the network.

I believe that that responsibility that reporters have is worthy of me showing them respect, and that's what I try to do on a regular basis, and I have been pleased that most reporters have reciprocated and shown me respect as well.

In the normal course of things, journalists want their story, and as soon as they are through with it, they pack their cameras and go. That was never the impression that David Astor gave when you were interviewed by him. It was far deeper than that.

It's essential that the media is sober and intentional in everything they do, and that's something we should all keep top of mind.

We are in the business of gathering the news. We're not in the business of talking about the news.

Sportswriters are a rude and brainless subculture of fascist drunks

Self-importance has ruined more good journalists than bad liquor.

When my grandfather was a journalist for the Detroit Tigers, he dressed the part. I mention it always to our local media: sport coat, tie, very professional and a nice cap on his head. And they also developed very close friendships with the players and staff traveling.

I started as a print reporter. I’m a journalist and that’s what I do. My function is an anchorperson, but it’s in a journalism context, and gravitas and coats and ties and haircuts and all that sort of stuff, I’ll leave to others. My thing is just to do my job the best way I know how and as I say I’m very fortunate to be able to do it the way I want to do it.

A reporter is never put off by somebody not wanting to be interviewed.

My role, or anyone's role in network news, is to make the person on camera look good. You don't do that, you don't work there.

Incoherence is a common hazard for journalists who dabble in ethical judgments.

I'm not going to name some of my colleagues who are very well-known for their television presentation, but they wouldn't know new information or how to report a story if it came up and bit them.