Dan Rather Quotes

Journalism is not a precise science, it's a crude art

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

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.

Journalism is not writing.

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

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

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.

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

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

In journalism, there has always been a tension between getting it first and getting it right.

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'.

I used to be a journalist.

The dirty little secret of journalism is that it really isn't a profession, it's a craft. All you need is a telephone and a conscience and you're all set.

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.

This much we know: Journalism is not a precise science. It's, on its best day, is a crude art. We make mistakes; I make mistakes. With more than 50 years as a journalist, I have at least had the opportunity to blow more stories, make more mistakes than maybe anybody in television.

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.

Profiles aren't journalism.

We in the media should be breaking the news and not making the news.

To a newspaperman, a human being is an item with the skin wrapped around it.

News is the first rough draft of history.

I love journalism.

I think of myself as a journalist first and foremost.

I'm a journalist. I've been a journalist ever since I was 18.

I have such respect and awe for journalists who are able to communicate important information to the masses without sobbing.