Morley Safer Quotes

There aren't enough good journalists. There are too many who really weren't groomed to be reporters and, as a result, some of the reporting is shallow.

I read the NY Times but I don't trust all of it.

God, newspapers have been making up stories forever. This kind of trifling and fooling around is not a function of the New Journalism.

The Huffingtonpost.com does not pay its writers. Tina Brown's thedailybeast.com does pay its writers. You have to be paid because this is not a hobby. You have to keep that standard. You can't ask grandpa to loan you money because you have to go to Afghanistan. I walked the picket line for that to continue.

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

A lot of people, myself included, are excited about blogging and stuff like that, citizen journalism, but I do remind people that no matter how excited we are, there's no substitute for professional writing, no substitute for professional editing, and no substitute for professional fact-checking.

I would like to know that when I read the paper in the morning, it's telling me something that actually happened, and I think the vast majority of journalists want the same thing.

My comments are reserved for reputable journalists.

The essence of American journalism is vulgarity divested of truth.

All in all, I just don't trust journalists - and I don't think it's a good practice for me to trust journalists.

It's the broadcaster's dilemma. Are we true journalists? I don't know if I am or not.

The biggest danger to media, and what ultimately drove it apart from the public's trust, are the people who believe that they are uncorrupted when their body of work doesn't support such a belief.

Some journalists are schmucks, in it for themselves, willing to cut corners. But in my experience the vast majority of journalists are trying to contribute to their communities, honestly and reliably.

Media doesn't like when other media gets their credentials pulled - that's not OK.

We have standards. Anybody with the kind of journalism experience and professionalism that you have displayed over these years can not work for my program.

I don't think CNN is 'fake news.' I think there are some reports everywhere, in print, on TV, on radio, in conversation, that are not well-researched and are sometimes based on falsehoods.

A newspaper, as I'm sure you know, is a collection of supposedly true stories written down by writers who either saw them happen or talked to people who did. These writers are called journalists, and like telephone operators, butchers, ballerinas, and people who clean up after horses, journalists can sometimes make mistakes.

In the annual public surveys about trust and reputation, journalists and the media have regularly fallen near the very bottom, often just above Congress. But in this year’s Gallup poll, we have managed to fall below Congress. Our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working.

Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on people's vanity, ignorance or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse.

I don't want to defend rumors. It's certainly nothing new. The only development in recent years is the [lower] threshold at which news organizations will print rumors.

We are a better country because the press gets 1000 facts right every day.

There is a bias in the press for facts over fiction.

I am by no means alone within the family or the company in being ashamed and sickened by Roger Ailes’s horrendous and sustained disregard of the journalistic standards that News Corporation, its founder and every other global media business aspires to.

I accept the media for what they are. Most of them are really good people. Some of them are scumbags.

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