WSJ Editorial Board Quotes

Disclosure is the antidote to partiality and favor.

I can promise to be sincere, but I cannot promise to be impartial.

Some people accused me of being pro-Muslim in Bosnia, but I realised that our job is to give all sides an equal hearing, but in cases of genocide you can't just be neutral. You can't just say, 'Well, this little boy was shot in the head and killed in besieged Sarajevo and that guy over there did it, but maybe he was upset because he had an argument with his wife.' No, there is no equality there, and we had to tell the truth.

I was naive, but I certainly was not duplicitous.

I felt that as long as we were being honest, and that we didn't bend the truth to accomplish another goal, to be entertaining or to be a happy ending, I was confident that we'd be able to tell the story the way it happened.

Sincere words are not fine; fine words are not sincere.

I think by laying it out for the viewer I'm avoiding the issue of bias.

It is not permitted to the most equitable of men to be a judge in his own cause.

Let me tell you something about myself. I am a straight shooter.

You can tell when somebody's authentic about what they're saying.

I had a very strong background in journalism, so it's my instinct to try to be as fair and accurate as possible.

You're authentic when you're honest.

Say as you think and speak it from your souls.

I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see, I swallow immediately. Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. I am not cruel, only truthful.

I think journalists have the right to their opinions but I think their opinions should be based on history and what they see, not what they feel, how long they've been waiting or whether it's raining or it's snowing or whatever.

Well, I don't know about objectivity, but I know for certain that it's always possible for a professional journalist who understands what he or she's up to to be fair, and that's the key word. Fairness to individuals, fairness to ideas, and to issues and whatever - that is critical, and that is also part and parcel of what the job.

I prefer fact to fiction.

I was trained as journalist never to use the word 'I,' never to put my own opinion there. In fact, if you had a dollar or a euro for every time I use the word 'I,' you would be a poor person. But this is not true in general. I like the idea of being able to stand away and make a judgement.

I don't think I'm complicated at all. I'm not political, and I'm not trying to be diplomatic. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, and I don't say bad things about people. There is no agenda. There's no trying to fool somebody.

You must accept the truth from whatever source it comes.

It is not who is right, but what is right, that is of importance.

I don't know if there's such a thing as objectivity.

Dispassionate objectivity is itself a passion, for the real and for the truth.

Facts are neither Republican nor Democrat.

Trying to ground everything in reality was the most important thing to me.