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.
BEN BRADLEEMore likely to mean the security or the personal happiness of the guy who is telling you something.
More Ben Bradlee Quotes
-
-
Hire people smarter than you are and encourage them to bloom.
BEN BRADLEE -
It is my experience that most claims of national security are part of a campaign to avoid telling the truth.
BEN BRADLEE -
The Nixon administration really put a lot of pressure on CBS not to run the second broadcast.
BEN BRADLEE -
There will always be leaks; in Washington, everywhere.
BEN BRADLEE -
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.
BEN BRADLEE -
Generals who can write always make me nervous.
BEN BRADLEE -
There is nothing like daily journalism! Best damn job in the world!
BEN BRADLEE -
As long as a journalist tells the truth, in conscience and fairness, it is not his job to worry about consequences. The truth is never as dangerous as a lie in the long run. I truly believe the truth sets men free.
BEN BRADLEE -
You never monkey with the truth.
BEN BRADLEE -
Those [Watergate] tapes are going to take me to my grave with a huge smile on my face.
BEN BRADLEE -
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 BRADLEE -
More likely to mean the security or the personal happiness of the guy who is telling you something.
BEN BRADLEE -
I think he had a strange, passionate devotion to the truth and a horror at what he saw going on.
BEN BRADLEE -
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 -
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.
BEN BRADLEE