Quotations

«Let's concede that most journalistic enterprises need to make a profit, and to do that, they must be like supermarkets, offering a range of choices to their customers - international news, weather, sports, business, gossip, movie reviews and results of planning board meetings. But too often, journalistic supermarkets have become specialty stores,»

«Now NBC News devotes entire hours to 'exclusive' interviews with the Runaway Bride. CBS' '48 Hours,' which once took us inside the emergency room of a hospital,»

«We work for the readers - not the shareholders. My friend Peter Jennings, who died last month, and Ted Koppel, your 2000 Red Smith lecturer, served their audience - not their corporate parent. They work their sources, but they do not trim their reporting to please sources. Journalists in television too often chase ratings while print journalists too often chase headlines. However, day in and day out, Jennings, like Koppel, tried to offer citizens information we need to make decisions for our democracy. The best journalists and the best officials are public servants. What flows from this assumption are some pretty startling conclusions.»

«What did this do to CBS brand credibility? Credibility is really your brand.»

«I know that will never happen again. He [Shawn] believed that we worked for the readers, not the shareholders.»

«Perhaps the biggest problem in journalism is the cult divide between journalists and corporate owners.»

«In the end, you have to listen to your customers. Isn't a good business supposed to understand its customers?»

«Journalists prize independence, not teamwork. Journalists understand waste is inherent to good journalism ... that good reporting and writing is hard to quantify.»

«Be prepared to be fired.»

«that prominent people sometimes lie.»