Sydney Schanberg Quotes

The press is a watchdog. Not an attack dog. Not a lapdog. A watchdog. Now, a watchdog can't be right all the time. He doesn't bark only when he sees or smells something that's dangerous. A good watchdog barks at things that are suspicious.

The press are scum.

I think there are a lot of reasons to be critical of the media in America.

Given what the media have put the country through this past decade, it must come as a surprise to most Americans that the press has a code of ethics.

I used to think the press was a necessary evil and now I don't think it is. I think it's something you choose.

I think the media needs a little criticizing now, as it did in the '80s, don't you?

As far as the media is concerned, I wouldn't shoot anything down.

All the media are horrible.

Well, thank God for a media that will ask questions.

The press is like the peculiar uncle you keep in the attic - just one of those unfortunate things.

I am not here to accuse the media of anything.

In the U.K., journalists are a little bit more ruthless than in Denmark. I have a feeling the tabloid press in the U.K. is pretty harsh.

I happen to believe that any legitimate news organization in the world would do that interview. And if the United States is going to be a proponent of a free press, it has to walk the walk.

The chief danger which threatens the influence and honor of the press is the tendency of its liberty to degenerate into license.

Past occurrences have generally shown that there hasn’t been satisfaction from politicians in the manner they were covered [by the press.]

Avoid both infatuation with or resentment of the press.

I accept the media for what they are. Most of them are really good people. Some of them are scumbags.

In a way, I think of the press as my colleagues. I don't want to throw hand grenades at people who do something that's pretty similar to what I do. But at the same time, we all need to take ourselves seriously and be responsible as professionals. And there was a collective failure in the treatment of Christopher Jefferies.

I'm very much in support of the free press, but the free press ought to be educational and informative. And I believe they have fallen down recently on that.

Our emphasis on political coverage from the day we were born here was well-founded, and we believe there were opportunities there that we could do it in a more interesting, appealing and balanced way.

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

I don't like the American media - particularly Fox.

Its attitude, which it has preached and practiced, is skepticism. Now, it finds, the public is applying that skepticism to the press.

I'm not seeing tough questions asked on American television. I'm not seeing those correspondents that would question those in power. It's like a club. We are not asking the tough questions.

I've never been shocked by anything on television, except the news.