Lionel Barber Quotes

I just love when the Internet is wrong. It's the only thing that will save journalism.

Careful authors and journalists cultivate relationships with a wide variety of sources so as to avoid bad information or being led down an inaccurate path. Gossip columnists don't particularly care if the path is inaccurate, so long as it gets attention and results in more fuel for the fire.

Unlike with the majority of library books, when you enter a term into a search engine there is no guarantee that what you will find is authoritative, accurate or even vaguely true.

Many have been with the show for years, and they have sources in the business, so we do know things, but until it is verified, we don't run with the story.

Dear Internet: You are very good at spreading rumors. Truth is more valuable and much harder to come by.

I was taught that newspapers were supposed to find out if rumors were true, and if not, not print them.

My goal was never to withhold information; my goal was to make sure everything was accurate, and frequently it wasn't.

A book cannot apologize for what people may think it should be. It has to be authoritative. That's what I want as a reader - I want to be confident that the book will do its job.

In most daily journalism, you only fact-check something if it seems a little fishy.

I believe in research you cannot do enough research; believability comes out of what's real.

People rely on Wikipedia, and a lot of it is wrong. But because there it is on the Internet, they assume it's right. Rumor gets printed as fact. We may have lost our critical facility as a nation.

Ratings don't last. Good journalism does.

I would never have been a good reporter because I am not accurate regarding facts.

The biggest problem I have in journalism is being quoted or misquoted and then being asked to defend something I haven't said.

If you are a reliable, honest journalist, sources will open up and trust you and share good information.

I'm trying to correct what is wrong in journalism today: wasting users' time.

The individual source of the statistics may easily be the weakest link.

I think there's a future where the Web and print coexist and they each do things uniquely and complement each other, and we have what could be the ultimate and best-yet array of journalistic venues.

If you ever want to get the facts straight about me or the Batman, please write to the original source, myself, for the truth, instead of second guessing.

My inclination, as an old-school, classically trained journalist, is not to go with a story unless I have it hard. It's not good enough to say something based on rumors that were flying around.

As a print journalist, if you hear a rumour you try to stand it up and if you can't, the story dies. With a blog you can throw the rumour out there and ask for help. You can say: 'We don't know if this is true or not.'

At CNN, our view is that good journalism equals good business.

And I really believe good journalism is good business.

Many a good newspaper story has been ruined by over verification.

If there's anything that's important to a reporter, it is integrity. It is credibility.