George Steiner Quotes

I had an idea in the beginning to do a book about some of the events that I had covered, just various stories that I've covered. Reporters spend a lot of time telling each other tales about how they covered stories, and that's what this book started out to be.

Most of the stories I have covered in 45 years have been gray stories.

I think that a great newspaper is one that puts a real premium on digging to get the story behind the story.

My suggestion to newspapers everywhere is to give the public a reason to read them again. So here's an idea: get on a big story with widespread public appeal, devote your best resources to it, say a quiet prayer, and swing for the fences.

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.

At MTV, it's very nice sometimes to be able to be very specific. Specificity really makes a news story interesting because you can color it in that personality.

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.

I love covering stories that have huge historic impacts.

The function of the New York Times is to enter the battlefield after the battle is over and shoot the wounded.

What you realize hanging out with investigative reporters is that, while they may be personally liberal, they don't let that get in the way of a good story.

Journalism is a way of voicing opinion, of participating in the political, social, or cultural debate.

I'm not necessarily scanning for clues when I make documentaries.

When you are a journalist and there is a big story like Dominic Cummings, it's great to be at the heart of it. What I love, and it sounds a bit cheesy, is you feel connected to other people.

Just ask my boss - any time a major story breaks, I'm banging on his door to send me.

With newspapers cutting foreign bureaus and budgets shrinking for long-form, investigative journalism, documentary filmmakers are often filling a void nowadays in the media landscape with their ability to spend time with their stories and subjects.

Reporting in general makes me pretty nervous. But I realized: all the amazing work experiences of my life were thanks to reporting. So that forces you to go do it.

Obviously I love doing newsmaker interviews, and if I can contribute in any way to that, I would love to. I love reporting, getting out in the field and talking to people about various issues.

Journalism is just the art of capturing behavior.

You break the story first, and then you go into the specifics.

I've never seen anyone say, 'Let's go get this person today; let's really ram it into him.' I've never seen it. If a Democrat or Republican commits some horrendous story, the story will run. The networks will cover it.

The nice thing about my job is that it allows me to look deeper into issues and then tell stories with that information.

I'm not doing Pulitzer Prize work where I'm unearthing major negative stories about the UFC or some big controversies. It's just kind of day-to-day fodder.

I'm still hesitant to call myself a journalist. I see myself as a documentary maker who is trusted with hard-hitting current affairs issues.

When I'm in studio, we cover the news. But no one says the news has to be boring.

I want to be a journalist; I want to ask tough questions.