Frank Bruni Quotes

The smartest people in Washington are the political reporters. They write about their inferiors.

I have been incredibly proud and incredibly humbled to have had a front-row seat in covering this election [2016]. I'm working the hardest I've ever worked. I'm on the air six days a week...covering this election has been historic and amazing, and it has helped me grow so much [as a journalist].

The night before I began my career as a presidential campaign reporter, in September 2007, I finished Theodore White's 'The Making of the President,' the classic account of the 1960 race, which opened up a new era of campaign reporting.

Most public polling continues to be reported on strictly from a topline, horserace-type perspective that does nothing, or at best very little, to illuminate the news of the day.

Our political press has just been captured by trivia.

Chats are so new to newspapers, historically. But they're so incredibly valuable because editors/reporters/columnists get to find out what's on the minds of our readers, what you think we should be writing about, what ticks you off, what makes you happy. Sometimes it can confirm what you think readers are interested in; sometimes it can turn you around 180 degrees.

The job of the press is to encourage debate, not to supply the public with information.

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.

There's so many differences of opinion in the papers.

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.

Let's give the conventions back to the politicians. If we think there's any news, we can tack it on afterward as commentary. But the conventions should be their show, not ours.

Television doesn't like politics very well, if you can infer that from the way they cover it.

Journalism never admits that nothing much is happening.

Whatever may be said about the power of the press, it is undeniable that it can set the entire public thinking and talking about any topic ...

Every time I watch CNN, it feels like you're assigning me homework. Is Trump a Russian spy? I don't know. You tell me - I'm watching the news. It feels like I'm watching CNN watch the news. Just take an hour, figure out what you want to say, then go on the air.

I've covered a lot of presidential campaigns.

I covered Congress, and everyone always wanted me to be a political reporter.

TV is set up to be just a shout fest: Is this good for Republicans or bad for Republicans; is this good for Cain or bad for Cain... tell me something that I need to know.

I talk about things that are front page news.

Media organizations are frequently criticized for a heartless approach to the news. Stories that are damaging to a person's reputation make the front page just as quickly - and many would say even more quickly - as stories that enhance it.

Larry King and his producers ought to go back to school and learn what 'fair and balanced' really means.

I've been a news junkie as long as I can remember - and once you've covered a presidential campaign, it's nearly impossible to tear yourself away. There's so much at stake.

There are so many political talk shows out there that are doing such a good job that it would be foolish of me to try to get in the ring with them.

The fact of the matter is, particularly when covering a campaign, which is a very high-speed story, it's incredibly unusual for the reporter to be in the same place as the dateline when the story is filed.

I think that political coverage generally comes in on a level that means if you live and breathe Westminster detail and diary, then you get it.