Michael Hastings Quotes

The genius of David Petraeus has always been his masterful manipulation of the media.

One thing that is fairly undeniable about Trump - love him or loathe him - is his understanding of how to manipulate the media and to perpetuate a symbiotic relationship with the press.

Here's a certainty: When you play out your personal dramas, hurt and self-interest in the media, it's a confection. You say what you have to say in the way you have to say it to give it media currency - and that's always far from the truth. Often, in fact, someone else says it for you. It's all planned. It's all rehearsed.

Politicians have always been required to be fake, but now the career havoc wrought by a stray, flying sound bite means they have to sustain their fakeness all the time.

When my editors and I at 'Rolling Stone' came up with the idea to do a profile of General McChrystal, I simply just e-mailed General McChrystal's press staff, said we wanted to do a profile, and said if you could give us any time to hang out with the general, that would be great.

People in the mass media tend more and more every day to look and act like elected and appointed officials.

People say I manipulate the media. Well, duh. We live in a media culture, so why on earth wouldn't I?

Many a public figure has come to imitate the journalism which describes him.

Politicians don't say no to cameras very often.

I'd rather have the media as my friends than making use of them for my own benefit.

Trump loves the media. Trump understands the power it has and, accordingly, loves the people who have media power.

The media would love to be able to ignore Donald Trump, but they don't dare. He draws too big a crowd. They've done everything they can that they usually do when they try to take a candidate out, or anybody else they want to take out. None of it works.

Power will be maintained by the groovy guy or gal who gets the most media coverage for his sleaze. Naturally, his friends in various businesses will do okay, too.

Even military ministers have no more than a certain amount of control. It is customary that they have the right and the power to participate, from a political and military point of view, in the planning of actual operations.

With legitimate journalists I've always had a great time - I've never gone out of my way to court the press. That's probably cost me some money, but I've always had the respect of my peers.

People are terrified for their own reputations. They want the press on their side.

I engage with a lot of journalists, some of them have history and some of them don't, that's not my concern. My concern is to make sure I represent the views I want to represent on those shows.

I get along fine with the press.

All it takes to become president is money and a certain kind of power. Being president is the first thing I can shoot for, not the highest. It may come to a point where people take rock and roll musicians more seriously than they take politicians. It may eventually turn out that musicians have more credibility.

I think the relation between the monarchy and the press is very much a two-way street.

I think in the corridors of power these dangerous kinds of orders are issued in a much more vague way, passed down two or three levels of command before they're given to the assassin.

I've had journalists beg me to please say something negative about my estate.

I'm totally not media shy and do interviews all the time and go to events and totally play along and actually enjoy talking to journalists most of the time.

You turn on the TV, and you see very bland interviews. Journalists in the United States are very cozy with power, very close to those in power.

In my first company, Seer Technologies, where I was chief technology officer, we shied away from the media. We watched every word and were guarded in front of journalists.