Janet Malcolm Quotes

When I was in journalism school, you were taught to be completely objective. But we don't see that anymore.

My job as a television anchor or television reporter is not to proselytize.

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.

I do not subscribe to the advocacy journalism school. It's not who I am and not who CNN wants me to be.

And you can't really cover people critically that you're friends with.

Journalists aren't supposed to be cheerleaders.

Journalism: A profession whose business is to explain to others what it personally does not understand.

The reporter is the daily prisoner of clocked facts. On all working days, he is expected to do his best in one swift swipe at each story.

There's a longstanding tradition that journalists don't cheer in the press box. They have opinions, like anyone else, but they are expected to keep those opinions out of their work.

As any journalist will tell you, there are few professional situations as vexing as when a friend becomes involved in a major story that you feel you must cover.

If I was President of the United States, I'd rather be right than interesting. If I was CEO of a company, I'd rather be right than interesting. But I'm a journalist - what journalist would rather be right than interesting?

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.

At CNN, our view is that good journalism equals good business.

Nothing is more idealistic than a journalist on the defensive.

Art is art, and journalism is journalism.

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

Journalism was looked upon as a more noble thing than it is now. I don't know if it carries the same cachet that it did then.

A long life in journalism convinced me many presidents ago that there should be a large air space between a journalist and the head of a state.

I think journalism gets measured by the quality of information it presents, not the drama or the pyrotechnics associated with us.

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

Journalism is not an exact science. At best it i a crude art.

When you are being anti-lie or pro-truth, you come across as being anti-Trump or pro-Democrat, and it's a very tough thing for those of us who are just working journalists and still believe in the notion of objectivity.

Compliments aren't really a journalistic angle.

A journalist covering politics, most of us are aware of the necessity to try to be sure we're unbiased in our reporting. That's one of the fundamentals of good journalism.

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