Tom Brokaw Quotes

I sat next to Carl Bernstein throughout Watergate, and Woodward would come over, and they would argue everything out, so I was really tuned into what happened.

Most political journalists come to Washington because they're snappy writers, big thinkers, or news breakers. Me? My ticket to the big leagues had little to do with talent. It was mostly about the governor I was covering, Bill Clinton.

Lawyers didn't seriously get involved in the Watergate stories until quite late, when we realized we were on to something.

When you cover the White House, which I've done on and off, it's relatively straightforward - everything the president does is news.

Covering Capitol Hill was my first assignment in political journalism, and I still think it is the best beat in Washington.

I grew up a child of Watergate. It gave me a good dose of skepticism about authority. One of my favorite movies is 'All the President's Men.' Woodward and Bernstein, those guys were my heroes. I have a degree in journalism.

I started working as a reporter in Washington on October 1, 2013, the day the government stopped working.

Ever since Woodward and Bernstein, there's sort of been an epidemic of confidential sources in Washington, in particular where people will actually - when you call them up on the phone, they'll say, 'This is off the record,' or, 'This is on background,' or they don't even wait for you to say anything.

All they expected me to do was rip and read the wire 'leads,' without doing any original reporting. It was pretty basic, but gave me a taste of how to combine my love of politics and broadcasting.

I almost became a political journalist, having worked as a reporter at the time of Watergate. The proximity to those events motivated me, when I wound up doing philosophy, to try to use it to move the public debate.

I intensely covered Bush when he was Governor of Texas.

I've said many times: I'm not a Washington reporter.

I think Bob Woodward's books are important books.

Reporting in general makes me pretty nervous. But I realized: all the amazing work experiences of my life were thanks to reporting. So that forces you to go do it.

I've always felt privileged to cover the White House and to have that ringside seat to history

Documentaries are a form of journalism.

You can't be a reporter using Google. It can be a tool. But you have to get out of the house.

I wanted to be a journalist because I like to ask questions. And I like the idea that someone might feel responsible for answering them.

Over my career, I've reinvented myself numerous times. I covered the Pentagon, the State Department, and the CIA. I wrote about labor wars, trade wars and real wars. I chronicled a nuclear plant meltdown and the defeat of Communism. I co-founded a couple of media businesses.

My dream was to do political journalism.

I happen to write a lot of stories that make Kissinger look bad. I'd rather that the stories weren't true, but they all happen to be true.

You witness a lot as a journalist, and what you witness becomes a part of you.

I grew up during Watergate. I was enamored of the study of that.

I was a dogged reporter.

I know we journalists have a reputation for being cynics. We do. It's our job to question - everything.