Gore Vidal Quotes
Of course, it is possible for any citizen with time to spare, and a canny eye, to work out what is actually going on, but for the many there is not time, and the network news is the only news even though it may not be news at all but only a series of flashing fictions.
Vidal, Gore. Matters of Fact and of Fiction: Essays 1973-1976. Random House, 1977.
In the age of digital electronics, the media, with its tendency to want to be the first to break any news story, reports events very quickly even when they have not verified what they are reporting. When an event occurs, the initial reports almost always include some errors and are incomplete with respect to critical information. There is no time for reflection and adding context. Then they often repeat the errors and omissions until there is more clarity and they begin to report a more accurate version. National Public Radio thus tries to “slow down” the news, not report it immediately but to wait for verification and allow the journalists some time for contemplation and reflection.
Eugene Luther Gore Vidal was an American writer and public intellectual known for his epigrammatic wit, patrician manner, and polished style of writing. Vidal was openly bisexual and his novels often dealt with LGBT characters, which was unusual at the time. Beyond literature, Vidal was heavily involved in politics. He twice sought office—unsuccessfully—as a Democratic Party candidate, first in 1960 to the United States House of Representatives (for New York), and later in 1982 to the U.S. Senate (for California).
