Don Hewitt Quotes

The presidential and vice-presidential debates are those rare moments when people come together, but to even call them debates is a stretch because they're played by such negotiated rules, and they're so over-rehearsed.

The job of the press is to encourage debate, not to supply the public with information.

There are a lot of folks at Fox News who bring a certain level of sophistication to their understanding of politics.

Television doesn't like politics very well, if you can infer that from the way they cover it.

I have serious doubts about the value of debates in a presidential election. They tend to be a test of reaction time rather than a genuine exposition of the participants' philosophies and programs

I recognize what [political] conventions are all about—a cross between a clambake and a pep rally.

Of course the Liberal Democrats are going to say things to try and get attention - but I don't think the country is paying much attention.

Ignore Trump's tweets. Yes, it's unrealistic. But we would all be better off if the media reported them more rarely, reacted to them less strongly, and treated them with less alarm and more bemusement.

I'm not going to respond to every single thing that Donald Trump has to say or that Hillary Clinton says.

At these big set-piece events like the leaders' debates, that exterior of calm and serenity is nothing compared to what's going on inside most of the time.

I don't subscribe to the argument that TV networks gave Trump too much attention and that's the main reason why he's president, nor do I subscribe to the argument that reporters ignored Trump's America.

There are so many political talk shows out there that are doing such a good job that it would be foolish of me to try to get in the ring with them.

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

Well I think we can't avoid covering the news and when the president says something like that you're the enemy of the people, I think I'm well within my right to stand up and say this is well within my lane as a journalist and as an American to say that that's not appropriate.

I turned off the talking politicos. Too much jabbering at each other. Not enough care about humans.

I think the most important thing for the public and the press is to just listen to what Donald Trump says and follow up and ask questions about what appear to be either contradictory or uninformed or outright wacky ideas.

I have no interest in Trump TV. I hear it all over the place.

We still write too many stories that are "state of the race" stories that are informed almost solely by what the polling shows and by what we're then deducing about who's up, who's down, and I'm just not sure that's very helpful to readers, it certainly doesn't elevate the debate and, and the problem is if you, if you cover these things, and I don't think the Times is particularly culpable, I think other news organizations are worse, if you cover them in an entirely "who's up, who's down" horse race way.

To the haranguers of the populace among the ancients, succeed among the moderns your writers of political pamphlets and news-papers, and your coffee-house talkers.

Ann Romney talking about middle class moms is like Chris Christie talking about a salad

Absolutely I'm going to be talking about it, because it's in the zeitgeist and it's happening. It's an election year. It's the biggest election. Every election is a big election, so whenever anybody says that it kinds of grates me, but it's a fiasco. It's turned into a complete circus act, so of course you have to make fun of it, but responsible journalists definitely are being irresponsible. They're giving [Donald Trump] so much air time.

I never spoke about politics, with the exception of Election Night.

But because media is what media is today, any stupid, absurd remark made by Donald Trump becomes the story of the week. Maybe, just maybe, we might want to have a serious discussion about the serious issues facing America. Donald Trump will not look quite so interesting in that context.

I watched Nancy Pelosi and Tom Daschle. Good grief. What whining weenies.

My job as a reporter, my job as a senior White House correspondent for CNN, is to report the news, but also to highlight and put a microscope on episodes of presidential hypocrisy. And you know, if Donald Trump was going to come after us out on the campaign trail, and as president of the United States through his tweets, I think we are well within our rights to defend ourselves, and also provide that kind of critical coverage to the American people.