Michael Pollan Quotes

I don't think fairness means that you give equal time to every point of view no matter how marginal. You weigh the sides, you do some truth-testing, you apply judgment to them.

There has been far too much of journalists deciding they are on the side of something and going out to get the story, instead of truth seeking which is a different thing.

It matters that we have balance and facts and push people when they need to be pushed so that we can give the accurate, fair, balanced piece to the viewer, and then it's up to the viewer to be the judge.

The duty of criticism is neither to depreciate nor dignify by partial representations, but to hold out the light of reason, whatever it may discover; and to promulgate the determinations of truth, whatever she shall dictate

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 don't think anyone should pick a candidate for any office based solely on gender. That would be, I believe, a mistake.

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.

Good journalism, I think, represents life and if you try to organize something too neatly it usually blows up in your face and doesn't really happen the way you want it to.

I don't think there's any reason in journalism not to approach stories we cover with humility, empathy, compassion, and intellectual openness. I mean, I think those are just important human traits. I don't think that precludes scrutiny, negativity, where it's appropriate.

Impartial - unable to perceive any promise of personal advantage from espousing either side of a controversy.

In all my years of play, I never saw an ump deliberately make an unfair decision. They really called them as they saw 'em.

The journalistic code of ethics governing the broadcasts requires that opposing views be presented, and that journalists' personal opinions or judgments be left out of factual reporting.

I don't view myself as a political leftie. I view myself as a storyteller who is fair to both sides.

The true humanist maintains a just balance between sympathy and selection.

I'm very partisan, but I'm also very fair.

The first duty of an historian is to be on guard against his own sympathies.

It is absolutely essential that one should be neutral and not fall in love with the hypothesis.

The historian must walk a fine line between scientific detachment and humanistic engagement.

A journalists's job is not to be balanced. It is to be accurate.

We all have our likes and our dislikes. But... when we're doing news - when we're doing the front-page news, not the back page, not the op-ed pages, but when we're doing the daily news, covering politics - it is our duty to be sure that we do not permit our prejudices to show. That is simply basic journalism.

My job is to cover the news and do it accurately and fair. And we do.

If you have empathy for both sides, then that's the same as having no empathy at all.

I'm objective because I tell the truth.

You have to be careful not to go overboard. How do you balance what is clearly great television with good journalism?

When you're getting your facts from people, consider the way that they are being given to you.