But, you know, they’re glad to see you when you show up to cover the football game. Nobody is ever glad to see a police reporter when he shows up.
BOB SCHAFFEROnce 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.
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 -
The Iraq war was fought by one-half of one percent of us. And unless we were part of that small group or had a relative who was, we went about our lives as usual most of the time: no draft, no new taxes, no changes. Not so for the small group who fought the war and their families.
BOB SCHAFFER -
The 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.
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 -
It’s no longer just reporting the headlines of the day, but trying to put the headlines into some context and to add some perspective into what they mean.
BOB SCHAFFER -
I can’t think of any other job in journalism where the newsmakers come to you.
BOB SCHAFFER -
But with 9/11, we found that people tended to come back to the networks and the people who had been our core viewers in the past came back and they have stayed with us.
BOB SCHAFFER -
Vote counting and ballot collecting does not occur in the light of day. There are too many occasions when observers and opposing parties lose contact with the ballots.
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 -
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 -
The first thing the federal government can do to help is get out of the way.
BOB SCHAFFER -
A police reporter walks into the worst moment in someone’s life on every single story that he covers. It’s not like being a sports reporter. That’s a great job and all that and takes certain skills.
BOB SCHAFFER -
I would love to see the French spending money to restore Iraq.
BOB SCHAFFER -
My bladder cancer was related to smoking, and I think smoking kills people.
BOB SCHAFFER -
I think journalism is a great way to do public service, to have an impact on your community.
BOB SCHAFFER