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.
BEN BRADLEEIt is my experience that most claims of national security are part of a campaign to avoid telling the truth.
More Ben Bradlee Quotes
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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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National security is a really big problem for journalists, because no journalist worth his salt wants to endanger the national security, but the law talks about anyone who endangers the security of the United States is going to go to jail.
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I never believed that Nixon could fully resurrect himself. And the proof of that was in the obits.
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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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You never monkey with the truth.
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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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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.
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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So, here you are, especially in the Pentagon. Some guy tells you something. He says that’s a national security matter. Well, you’re supposed to tremble and get scared and it never, almost never means the security of the national government.
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There is nothing like daily journalism! Best damn job in the world!
BEN BRADLEE -
It is my experience that most claims of national security are part of a campaign to avoid telling the truth.
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More likely to mean the security or the personal happiness of the guy who is telling you something.
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There will always be leaks; in Washington, everywhere.
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The champagne was flowing like the Potomac in flood.
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As a child, one looks for compliments. As an adult, one looks for evidence of effectiveness.
BEN BRADLEE