Mason Cooley Quotes

I am not anti-media at all. But the media, the news anywhere in the world, is based on drama.

One thing that happens on the 'Newsroom' is that every time a real story does get incorporated into the show, there's always an angle that's provided that hasn't really been dealt with yet.

There is always sleaze in the news. And you know what? The news is always a combination of things that are interesting and things that are important.

All of journalism is a shrinking art. So much of it is hype. The O.J. Simpson story is a landmark in the decline of journalism.

Journalism is in fact history on the run.

Journalism is a giant catapult set in motion by pygmy hatreds.

The essence of American journalism is vulgarity divested of truth.

When people think about CNN today, they think about our television coverage, politics, and Donald Trump. And I get it; I'm not suggesting that's wrong. But I think there is a much bigger story going on at CNN.

Journalism is a messy business. For every prize-winning story there's plenty of gossip and garbage.

Journalists always like an excuse for why are they talking about something now when they didn't talk about something a week ago. They always like to say something is new.

There's no worse crime in journalism these days than simply deciding something's a story because Drudge links to it.

Journalism largely consists of saying 'Lord Jones is Dead' to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive.

To a journalist, good news is often not news at all.

Right-wing media and politicians are looking for any opportunity to be critical of the reporters who are here. Some reporters make judgments, but that is not my style. I present both sides and report what I see with my own eyes.

I'm very lucky, because my beat is current events. And events are changing all the time.

I think Shep Smith is probably the premier anchor/journalist of my generation. He's terrific, and he does the news straight and let the chips fall where they may.

When you speak of the press, of course, you have to speak of different segments of the press. Reporters, straight reporters, wire services, you stick to the facts; you don't create the story, per se. You cover what is happening.

We journalists are a bit like vultures, feasting on war, scandal and disaster. Turn on the news, and you see Syrian refugees, Volkswagen corruption, dysfunctional government. Yet that reflects a selection bias in how we report the news: We cover planes that crash, not planes that take off.

Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.

I mean, journalism is very detailed... you try to get down in the weeds and sort out exactly what happened. And I don't think that a feature film is really a place where that happens.

I went into journalism to do journalism, not advertising.

The secret of a successful newspaper is to take one story each day and bang the hell out of it. Give the public what it wants to have and part of what it ought to have whether it wants it or not.

Journalists hold themselves apart, and above, the common person. They have rules designed to ensure their objectivity and impartiality.

News is the best drama on television because it's real.

I love covering stories that have huge historic impacts.