George Vecsey Quotes

I wasn't the greatest reporter in the world, but I wasn't starting at zero.

A good journalist is modest; his only job is simple: to decide what counts as news.

Honestly, like, I'm a superfan of the 'New York Times,' but I know nothing about how they put it together, and I really don't care.

I can't think of a major story that we have broken that was incorrect. But we have had to correct some things that were false; we have had to retract things.

I used to be a journalist.

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

The first duty of a newspaper is to be accurate. If it be accurate, it follows that it is fair.

I love writing traditional magazine pieces, and especially their breadth of reporting and the deliberateness of the writing.

I am not responsible for all the journalists in the past that have told lies.

I didn't like being in a newsroom all the time.

I'm convinced you can combine this with reporting integrity and accuracy.

A good newspaper is never nearly good enough but a lousy newspaper is a joy forever.

I think journalism gets measured by the quality of information it presents, not the drama or the pyrotechnics associated with us.

What could I have possibly learned except the really most important thing, which is that I did not want to work at the 'New York Times'? Beyond that, I learned how a newspaper works.

I always thought it would be a terrible mistake, and I would hope that none of my news journalist colleagues would ever consider it.

A journalists's job is not to be balanced. It is to be accurate.

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

Certainly in my own body of reporting, I was very acutely aware of the risk of any mischaracterized journalism and the need for anything I put out to be absolutely bulletproof.

The level of journalism in this country is just so pathetically poor, and I've, in a sense, gone over the top of them, which they don't like.

'The New York Times' is a great newspaper: it is also No Fun.

I take a certain pride in having maintained a reputation for fast copy throughout my newspaper career. Fast-breaking stories left my typewriter in a hurry. Not great literature, perhaps, but fast, and usually accurate.

I don't want to paint everybody with the same broad brush. But I do think that the majority of folks now in the briefing room, that are going into journalism - they're not there for the facts and the pursuit of the truth.

I write my columns pretty carefully.

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.

Journalists who swallow the subject's account whole and publish it are not journalists but publicists.