There's hostility to lying, and there should be.
Bob WoodwardRead
I don't think there will ever be a permanent truce, but I believe the media needs to be more careful and be willing to count to 10 before rushing on the air or into print.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of careful consideration by the media before reporting news.
Bob Woodward suggests that while a complete peace in media reporting may be unattainable, there is a crucial need for journalists to exercise restraint and reflect for a moment before disseminating information. This calls for responsible journalism that prioritizes accuracy over speed, recognizing the potential impact of hasty reporting on public perception and societal discourse.
In practice
In a discussion on media ethics, this quote can highlight the need for fidelity in reporting.
There's hostility to lying, and there should be.
Newspapers that are truly independent, like The Washington Post, can still aggressively investigate anyone or anything with no holds barred.
The legislator learns that when you talk a lot, you get in trouble. You have to listen a lot to make deals.
The central dilemma in journalism is that you don't know what you don't know.
I'm not going to name some of my colleagues who are very well-known for their television presentation, but they wouldn't know new information or how to report a story if it came up and bit them.
Using these unnamed sources, if done properly, carefully and fairly, provides more accountability in government.
I'm 68 and a half years old; I grew up with newspapers; I love newspapers; I love the news business. I started CNN; I'm a journalist and proud of it.
I really do think we're going through a period of concentration of ownership of media, and we're starting to see the effects at the editorial level, and it's all bad. This increased pressure for profits every quarter, smaller news hole, less coverage of important stuff - the extent that it's become one giant infotainment industry.
The British media is sinking down, as the American news media has lowered the bar for all of humanity. British news media is definitely trying to stoop down to that level. Everyone is stooping to the lowest common denominator.
The newspaper offers something very different from Google's aggregators. It offers a value system, an idea of what matters in the world. Newspapers need to start articulating that value.
Television is simultaneously blamed, often by the same people, for worsening the world and for being powerless to change it.
Media outlets that are exploiting Ebola because they want a sensational story and politicians using it to their own ends ought to be ashamed.
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