To hell with news! I’m no longer interested in news. I’m interested in causes. We don’t print the truth. We don’t pretend to print the truth. We print what people tell us. It’s up to the public to decide what’s true.
BEN BRADLEEI do worry about how newspapers respond to falling circulation figures. I’m not sure that the answer is for newspapers to try to cater to whatever seems to be the fad of the day.
More Ben Bradlee Quotes
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The champagne was flowing like the Potomac in flood.
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Maybe some of today’s papers have too many ‘feel-good’ features, but there is a lot of good news out there.
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There is nothing like daily journalism! Best damn job in the world!
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In the perfect world every source could be identified, but like the man said, “It’s not a perfect world.”
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Nothing’s riding on this, except the First Amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys f-k up again, I’m gonna get mad.
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I do worry about how newspapers respond to falling circulation figures. I’m not sure that the answer is for newspapers to try to cater to whatever seems to be the fad of the day.
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The Nixon administration really put a lot of pressure on CBS not to run the second broadcast.
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Everybody who talks to a newspaper has a motive. That’s just a given. And good reporters always, repeat always, probe to find out what that motive is.
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Hire people smarter than you are and encourage them to bloom.
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Those [Watergate] tapes are going to take me to my grave with a huge smile on my face.
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It changes your life, the pursuit of truth.
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The history of American politics is littered with bodies of people who took so pure a position that they had no clout at all.
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Generals who can write always make me nervous.
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If an investigative reporter finds out that someone has been robbing the store, that may be ‘gotcha’ journalism, but it’s also good journalism.
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The first rough draft of history.
BEN BRADLEE