Bill Kurtis Quotes

You hope the American people are fair. We recognize journalists have to kill somebody each week.

The first duty of a newspaper is to be accurate. If it be accurate, it follows that it is fair.

Some in journalism consider themselves apart from and to some extent above the people they purport to serve.

Using these unnamed sources, if done properly, carefully and fairly, provides more accountability in government.

Journalists should wear a white uniform to indicate the purity of their character.

The good journalist is never objective. He is always neutral.

I don't believe reporters are supposed to be the story. That's how I was trained.

Journalists prize independence - not teamwork.

Look, everybody in journalism has a reputation of sorts.

Journalism: A profession whose business is to explain to others what it personally does not understand.

We don't go into journalism to be popular. It is our job to seek the truth and put constant pressure on our leaders until we get answers.

I think the way to be an influential journalist is to be accurate and to be fair and to get things right and to really characterize things in an honest way, versus being really snarky or cheerleading.

The democratic approach to news is a very valuable thing. We're always going to be dependent on the quality of reporting of mainstream media.

In any event, the proper question isn't what a journalist thinks is relevant but what his or her audience thinks is relevant. Denying people information they would find useful because you think they shouldn't find it useful is censorship, not journalism.

I absolutely reject that idea that the press is liberal and what it does is liberal. In my view, it's like accusing a doctor of malpractice or a lawyer of malfeasance.

The media does play a vital role in our democracy, and if we cannot depend on journalistic ethics, the nation's in trouble.

I think as journalists, we have to keep our distance from power.

I want the news delivered unbiased. I thought that was the whole point with journalism.

I'd never compromise my position as a journalist by having a friendly relationship with a politician.

I have always thought it morally unacceptable to kill stories, not to run stories, that people have risked their lives to get.

I don't believe that there's such a thing as objectivity in much of journalism, but I think there is a serious effort to and a regard for facts and into taking that stuff seriously is very important to the public discourse and it's very important to democracy.

When a reporter sits down at the typewriter, he's nobody's friend.

There are all sorts of despicable people who journalists have done interviews with, and it's been useful. Isn't more information better than less information?

Pandering to the scandal hungry public is a total lack of responsible journalism.

We need ethical journalism. There is also capacity limitations in journalism.