Bill Dedman Quotes

Journalists aren't supposed to be cheerleaders.

We journalists make it a point to know very little about an extremely wide variety of topics; this is how we stay objective.

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

The good journalist is never objective. He is always neutral.

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.

I think the idea of journalists being neutral is very important.

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

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

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

I have no interest in interfering or involving myself in journalistic integrity or process.

I've met many journalists who impress me with their ability to play it straight. I think they're the exception to the rule.

My fellow journalists called themselves correspondents; I preferred the title of reporter. I wrote what I saw. I took no action -- even an opinion is a kind of action.

I don't think a reporter should give advice or make predictions.

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

We're journalists, and so it's our job to be impartial and provide a fair and thorough assessment of what's happening on the ground from the perspective of what we're able to see.

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?

It's the nature of journalism to need to be close to your subjects. And either you're able to be tough on them, which a lot of us are, or you get in bed with them, and some people do.

Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.

I think as journalists, we have to keep our distance from power.

I want the news delivered unbiased. I thought that was the whole point with journalism.

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.

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'd never compromise my position as a journalist by having a friendly relationship with a politician.

When a reporter sits down at the typewriter, he's nobody's friend.

I don't think journalists should talk about whom they're voting for.