Reporting Accuracy Quotes

We don't print the truth. We don't pretend to print the truth. We print what people tell us. It's up to the public to decide what's the truth.

Any of us who've been newspapermen for a long time hate generalizations.

Readers appreciate the truth. Why say, 'Some think a situation is a mess?' Based on my reporting, if a situation is a mess, then I say that. The truth is always what reporters tell each other when they get back to the newsroom.

Journalism is in fact history on the run.

Journalism is nine-tenths being in the right places at the right time.

News is not a game show. You don't win a car if you happen to be right.

Too often reporters covering scientific debates give fringe views equal weight in a misguided attempt to achieve balance.

We journalists don't have to step on roaches. All we have to do is turn on the kitchen light and watch the critters scutter.

I think about the question of perspective in reporting all the time, and since I spent 20 years of my career in Washington as both a reporter and an editor I'm keenly aware that a newspaper should not be dominated by stories in which the only voices and perspective come from those in power.

Journalism is a craft that takes years to learn. It's like golf. You never get it right all the time. It's a game of fewer errors, better facts, and better reporting.

I can't comment on every article in the newspapers.

If a journalist comes to you with a great story, one of the first questions you ask is how did you get it. How you got it is relevant to judging its accuracy and preparing yourself for any legal challenge.

But there's a big difference between, say, reporting on a story and simply making up a story.

There's been a lot of talk about how bad the reporting was, particularly with the George W. Bush Administration after 9/11. The general assumption, which I think is a valid one, is that a lot of the major media were on their heels a little bit and prone to share the grief of the nation and to give Bush all the support it could.

One of the most important disciplines in journalism is to challenge your working premises.

As far as the press is concerned, they're going to say what they want to say. Probably about 10-15 percent of the time It's accurate.

The media's gotten lazy. They don't check anything out. You report what he reports.

The fact is, the media never gets off the interstate unless there's a major explosion.

The professionalism of wire service reporters is constantly being tested because reporters know that if they're late or sloppy on a story, it will show up because the competition is likely to be not late and not sloppy.

The central dilemma in journalism is that you don't know what you don't know.

I couldn't find any way to tell the truth in a regular newspaper.

I deal with first-hand sources. And give the people, even John Sununu, the opportunity to respond to what I've been told by first-hand sources.

I'm a working journalist. I'm interested in all points of view, and I draw conclusions based on facts, not just on opinions.

Journalism keeps you planted in the earth.

There are all sorts of despicable people who journalists have done interviews with, and it's been useful. Isn't more information better than less information?