Ron Wyden Quotes

There have been many times when we have not run stories because we cannot get it verified.

I know that from the days of Watergate... the notion of two sources on a story has become the popular dogma about how you confirm something. And there is a lot of truth to that, but there are all kinds of ways to check to the extent that you can, a story that you get.

Sure, some journalists use anonymous sources just because they're lazy and I think editors ought to insist on more precise identification even if they remain anonymous.

I will never repeat something verbatim on the air unless I know it's accurate. And when you go to the source, sometimes there's a better story beyond the original story. That happens all the time.

I've been saying in the press that being a NY Post investigator reporter is an oxymoron.

If you're a reporter, the easiest thing in the world is to get a story. The hardest thing is to verify. The old sins were about getting something wrong, that was a cardinal sin. The new sin is to be boring.

I went into journalism to do journalism, not advertising.

As a journalist, you have to have multiple sources and verifiable science, and when you've done that and satisfied the most skeptical voice in your head, you have an obligation to ride through the streets - let people know what's going on.

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

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

I think the media's responsibility is to get to the bottom of things - to get to the truth.

I've been a journalist for too long to stop calling myself a journalist, and also when I'm doing 'Fake or Fortune?' I'm going through a rigorous investigation.

In most daily journalism, you only fact-check something if it seems a little fishy.

Needless, heedless, wanton and deliberate injury of the sort inflicted by Life's picture story is not an essential instrument of responsible journalism.

Most reporters are so transactional rather than strategic.

The media's gotten lazy. They don't check anything out. You report what he reports.

Most reporters who come to me get their stories directly from press releases. Very few do what one would consider to be their professional duty.

There's no question that sources sometimes have interests aside from the truth when they talk to reporters. That's why reporters have to very aggressively report against their own theses and against their initial information.

Journalism is a kind of profession, or craft, or racket, for people who never wanted to grow up and go out into the real world.

The news used to be to report facts and allow you to make the decision.

The professionalism of wire service reporters is constantly being tested because reporters know that if they're late or sloppy on a story, it will show up because the competition is likely to be not late and not sloppy.

As journalists, we keep pushing and pushing.

I am deeply interested in the progress and elevation of journalism, having spent my life in that profession, regarding it as a noble profession and one of unequaled importance for its influence upon the minds and morals of the people.

The big moment for me was making 'All the President's Men'. It was not about Watergate or President Nixon. I wanted to focus on something I thought not many people knew about: How do journalists get the story?

I think the big news organizations, the UPI, AP, Reuters, and the 'Sunday Times' - do take their training seriously. And I think they do only send experienced correspondents with proper insurance and proper training. And they don't force them to go where they don't want to go.