There will always be leaks; in Washington, everywhere.
BEN BRADLEETo 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.
More Ben Bradlee Quotes
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I think he had a strange, passionate devotion to the truth and a horror at what he saw going on.
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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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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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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 biggest difference between Kennedy and Nixon, as far as the press is concerned, is simply this: Jack Kennedy really liked newspaper people and he really enjoyed sparring with journalists.
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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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Generals who can write always make me nervous.
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I don’t want to disappoint too many people, but the number of interesting political, historical conversations we had, you could stick in your ear, it wasn’t that many. We talked about friends, family and of course girls.
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Hire people smarter than you are and encourage them to bloom.
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The champagne was flowing like the Potomac in flood.
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You never monkey with the truth.
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It’s very hard to stand up to the government which is saying that publication will threaten national security. People don’t seem to realize that reporters and editors know something about national security and care deeply about it.
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Sure, some journalists use anonymous sources just because they’re lazy, and I think editors ought to insist on more precise identification even if they remain anonymous.
BEN BRADLEE -
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.
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It changes your life, the pursuit of truth.
BEN BRADLEE






