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.
If information is true, if it can be verified, and if it's really important, the newspaper needs to be willing to take the risk associated with using unidentified sources.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the responsibility of newspapers to prioritize truth and significance, even when sourcing information is risky.
Bob Woodward highlights the crucial role of newspapers in reporting information that is not only true and verifiable but also significant to the public. He argues that even when there are risks involved, particularly with unidentified sources, the pursuit of important truths should guide journalistic practices. This reflects a commitment to ethical journalism where the welfare of society takes precedence over potential challenges.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a panel discussion on press ethics, this quote could be used to emphasize the necessity of reporting the truth.
More from Bob Woodward
All quotes βThere'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.
Similar quotes
I don't think journalism changes. It's about digging into stories and telling them well. The basic tenets of great reporting stay the same while things around it change. Technology has made reporting easier, but it has also caused job loss. Social media has increased discussion around topics, but it has its own challenges at times.
As a journalist, I know what it is like to incur the self-righteous wrath of people who denounce you for things you didn't say or didn't mean.
I'm sometimes embarrassed by how clinical I can become when I'm out reporting.
The most important ethical issues and the most difficult ones are the human ones because a reporter has enormous power to hurt people.
We cannot make good news out of bad practice.
Budget cuts are a sad reality in most newsrooms, and I am concerned that they reduce the collective muscle of journalists who are doing the expensive, and often dangerous, work of on-the-ground reporting.