Ellen Goodman Quotes

See, I have no journalism in my background, so I wasn't practised at research or writing non-fiction, nor at handling the truth in a journalistic way. Journalists know when to call a halt and write something, but I kept on looking for answers.

Many a good newspaper story has been ruined by over verification.

You're under pressure when you produce facts. You're working with facts in journalism, but you're under all kinds of formal constraints; there are expectations.

Journalism is not an exact science. At best it i a crude art.

I don't think much of the journalism that I see.

A good journalist is modest; his only job is simple: to decide what counts as news.

I would never have been a good reporter because I am not accurate regarding facts.

My function is, as objectively and accurately as I can, to present reality to people out there, and doing that as quickly as we do is quite difficult enough, thank you.

It's a journalist's job to be a witness to history. We're not there to worry about ourselves. We're there to try and get as near as we can, in an imperfect world, to the truth and get the truth out.

I'm an expert on the NewsHour and it isn't how I practice journalism. I am not involved in the story. I serve only as a reporter or someone asking questions. I am not the story.

Once we thought, journalists and readers alike, that if we put together enough 'facts' and gave them a fast stir, we would come up with something that, at least by the standards of short-order cooks, could be called the truth.

As a reporter you tend to seek coherence from your subject or your source - it all needs to add up and make sense. In truth, in reality, there's often a great deal of murkiness and muddiness, confusion and contradiction.

It's about being right and trying to get the facts and get the story right, and inform, you know, the readership or the viewership. And there are some reporters that do that.

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

Journalism is not writing.

As a journalist, the details always tell the story.

To newspapers and publishing houses I urge the use of fact over fiction, freedom of the press, and responsibility at all times.

The fundamentals of what journalism is about don't necessarily change. What will change is the delivery of news.

There's an old saw about journalism that the more you know about a subject, the less sense reporting about it makes.

I respect and empathize with reporters and editors who must compete in today's environment. And I know full well that when I've been covering campaigns, which I still do, I've made my mistakes and have been far from perfect.

It's all storytelling, you know. That's what journalism is all about.

I was once a journalist. And I think of myself as a journalist, and that's it. You tell the truth. I even wrote a book called 'The Truth'.

Journalism will kill you, but it will keep you alive while you're at it.

I said that I'm only there to write the truth, I'm not going to cover anything up, but I'll put everything in context and get as close to the truth of this person as I can.

A veteran journalist has never had time to think twice before he writes.