Robert Fisk Quotes

After 9/11, many of the most important news outlets in America abdicated their role as a check to power - the journalistic responsibility to challenge the excesses of government - for fear of being seen as unpatriotic and punished in the market during a period of heightened nationalism.

A common criticism of establishment journalists entails comparing them to stenographers, on the ground that most of them do little more than mindlessly write down and uncritically repeat what government officials say.

The concept that the press is an organ of government policy dies hard.

Journalists follow authority as sharks follow a liner, dining on the scraps that are thrown overboard.

It'd be nice to claim that the American press, while maintaining objectivity and balancing against bias, is still inherently American - that they are patriots who love this country even as they report on its defects.

Journalism is the protection between people and any sort of totalitarian rule. That's why my hero, admittedly a flawed one, is a journalist.

Publishing is a business, but journalism never was and is not essentially a business. Nor is it a profession.

The most important responsibility we have as journalists is to question those who are in power. I honestly believe that.

Journalism has a special, hallowed place for stories of its practitioners' persecution.

We have to protect all journalists, and journalists have to be allowed to do their jobs.

Democracies succeed or fail based on their journalism.

Here in the United States, our profession is much maligned, people simply don't trust or like journalists anymore and that's sad.

There's a certain elitism that has crept into the attitudes of some in journalism, and it played out perfectly over the issue of these little American flag lapel pins.

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

At Grozny TV, the line between journalism and government propaganda is traversed as often as a Manhattan crosswalk.

I respect very much the role of the media in our society; I think they can be very, very helpful. They serve as a very useful check, sort of a watchdog over the actions of the government, and I respect that.

The media is absolutely essential to the functioning of a democracy. It's not our job to cozy up to power. We're supposed to be the check and balance on government.

The truth is, I don't have any problem with journalists - I count some of them as friends - also some of my heroes are journalists, I'm a big fan of Robert Fisk - great people or crazy people who are prepared to stand up for what's right.

You turn on the TV, and you see very bland interviews. Journalists in the United States are very cozy with power, very close to those in power.

Journalists are supposed to be skeptical, that's what keeps them digging rather than simply accepting the official line, whether it comes from government or corporate bureaucrats.

The second is the damage to the credibility and independence of a free press which may be caused by covert relationships with the U.S. journalists and media organizations.

As a journalist, one tends to think there's nothing off limits.

It is the role of good journalism to take on powerful abusers, and when powerful abusers are taken on, there's always a bad reaction. So we see that controversy, and we believe that is a good thing to engage in.

The last thing we want is politicians running newspapers, but so too we don't want newspapers running the government.

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.