Good policy always trumps bad public relations and the best PR can’t trump bad policy.
BOB SCHAFFERThe government’s view is that the best time to announce bad news, news that it doesn’t want the public to dwell on is late on a Friday, when it will wind up in the Saturday papers, which if you were readers, then the week day editions. A holiday weekend is even better.
More Bob Schaffer Quotes
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I always thought writing was the foundation and the basis for journalism in the same way being able to draw is the foundation for art.
BOB SCHAFFER -
Talk about threats to national security — how about government so big, so complicated and so unmanageable, it cant get out of its own way?
BOB SCHAFFER -
The first thing the federal government can do to help is get out of the way.
BOB SCHAFFER -
Obviously, if the commander makes certain decisions that the reporter thinks is inhibiting his right to report a legitimate story, he has to appeal to the commander’s boss to get that changed.
BOB SCHAFFER -
Parents don’t like it, administrators don’t like it, and kids don’t like it, but politicians and bureaucrats in Washington love it–which should be the first indication to you that it is a troubled program.
BOB SCHAFFER -
Once we get them in the studio, you interview a person the same way you would interview another. You ask them a question. You let them answer. You try to listen closely and then ask a follow-up.
BOB SCHAFFER -
It is unlikely Yanukovich won. If he did, his government made it impossible to determine.
BOB SCHAFFER -
We now assume that when people turn on the evening news, they basically already know what the news is. They’ve heard it on the radio. They’ve seen it on the Internet. They’ve seen it on one of the cable companies. So that makes our job a bit different.
BOB SCHAFFER -
The revolution has been dubbed “The Orange Revolution,” orange being the campaign color of Viktor Yushchenko. The demonstrators say they are tired of living under a corrupt government…
BOB SCHAFFER -
My mother is Ukrainian. She immigrated to the U.S. from Canada as a child.
BOB SCHAFFER -
A great deal of our ratings on the morning news are people who died during the night with their TV on.
BOB SCHAFFER -
Well, you know, in any political campaign, you’re gonna have people on one side that are gonna slip a reporter something because they think it’ll hurt the guy on the other side.
BOB SCHAFFER -
There are many hands touching ballots after a voter drops his ballot into the ballot box. There is no guarantee of ballot secrecy for anyone, which makes the whole system vulnerable to intimidation and bribery.
BOB SCHAFFER -
One cannot help being impressed by the protesters. They have begun each day of the protest in Kiev in prayer and all activities are accomplished with a collective sense of respect, kindness, and an intention to conduct a peaceful revolution.
BOB SCHAFFER -
But here’s the deal: If I were smart, I could figure out curling. If I were even smarter, I could figure out why people would actually watch other people doing it. I have tried. I can’t. I can’t even figure out the object of the game. Is it like darts? I just don’t get it.
BOB SCHAFFER