Holding Power Accountable Quotes

I think that presidents deserve to be questioned. Maybe irreverently, most of the time. Bring 'em down a size. You see a president, ask a question. You have one chance in the barrel. Don't blow it.

The hard necessity of bringing the judge on the bench down into the dock has been the peculiar responsibility of the writer in all ages of man.

Our duty as journalists is to use our clarity - and our imagination - to build hope in the societies in which we work. Our duty is to keep holding power to account, and to fight for press freedom around the world.

Whether that's questioning the dominant opinion of the day, the conventional wisdom of the day, or whether it's questioning the policies that come out of Washington, or out of our government, generally, I think media's job is to look at it and say, "What's really going on here? What's the story behind what you see?"

When journalists forget that our job is to question and annoy those in power, there can be huge consequences.

People sometimes ask me, "You're still in a primary - why are you criticizing [Donald] Trump?" It's because I don't want what he's saying to stand unanswered.

Our job every single night is to call out hypocrisy on both sides to make sure we're holding Republicans accountable and Democrats accountable, that we're holding the president accountable for promises made.

Going to where the silence is. That is the responsibility of a journalist: giving a voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken, and beaten down by the powerful.