Lynsey Addario Quotes

To me, it's so much about doing your homework, going into a situation, getting to know the subject, making them feel comfortable, getting intimate access, getting access to all different aspects of people's lives, so that I am essentially telling an entire story and not just a single one.

Doing a documentary is about discovering, being open, learning, and following curiosity.

Anybody who's spent thirteen or fourteen years in print journalism has a lot of stories he thinks were inwardly satisfying as far as preparation, understanding, and diligence.

One thing you learn about doing nonfiction is that you've got to get it right, fact-check, do your research. You've got to not only get the facts right but represent the subject to the world in a way that insiders feel like it's an access port and outsiders can access it. If you're too insider, you block access to anyone else.

There are a lot of really good skills you get from doing journalism - it completely changed my world and how I interact with other people.

I binge write, basically. I do a lot of prep, research, setup. I'll have a pretty detailed outline. Sort of like a beat outline. And then I'll add little notes and dialogue ideas, and I'll just create a 20-page document.

To me, the newspaper business was a way to learn about life and how things worked in the real world and how people spoke. You learn all the skills - you learn to listen, you learn to take notes - everything you use later as a novelist was valuable training in the newspaper world. But I always wanted to write novels.

The job of the travel writer is to go far and wide, to make voluminous notes, to tell the truth.

Generally, if you preface an interview request with, 'I'm an author writing a book,' for some reason, that seems to open a lot of doors.

I don't think I ever wanted to be a journalist - I was more interested in what comes from being a journalist.

My career as a magazine writer was largely prefaced on the idea of curiosity, to go on adventures and weasel my way into the lives of people that I admire.

It's fundamental to succeed in coming into contact with your subject. Whether it's a big Hollywood star or a passer-by in the street, it makes no difference.

Report, report, report. Dig, dig, dig. Think, think, think. Don't stop being a reporter because you've become a columnist.

I love researching, I love interviewing.

It is easy to make stuff up - and easy to dig up information and repeat it or report it to others. But to find a real life story with real people in real life situations is quite difficult and time-consuming. Yet, the rewards are worth the effort.

Journalism: an ability to meet the challenge of filling the space.

I think one of the major things a director has to do is to know his subject matter, the subject matter of his script, know the truth and the reality of it. That's very important.

Television reporters aren't really called reporters. They are called researchers. And that's really all they are.

I'd been in journalism about two weeks when I realized I would do just about anything to avoid writing, and over the years, I have.

I felt the call to this industry because I enjoy broadcast journalism. I'm steeped in the news because I enjoy the news - I like reading papers; I like reading the blogs. I love talking to newsmakers and pundits, for that matter, about their opinions. I'm an information gatherer by nature, so that's what attracted me about this industry.

I was not very good at newspaper reporting. I'm just not quick enough, and I always tend to tell things as stories.

People often talk about parachute journalism, but one of the skills that you get when you are a correspondent is the ability to look at facts fast and work out what the story is.

I love to read profiles about people, but I'm interested in their processes. I only ever do them for newspapers that I love.

The thing I always tell my writing students - I'm not a full-time instructor, by any means, but periodically I've taught writing students - what I always tell them is that the most important thing in narrative nonfiction is that you not only have to have all the research; you have to have about 100% more than you need.

My job as a reporter is not to know what I think.