98% of the people who get the magazine say they read the cartoons first - and the other 2% are lying.
David RemnickRead
Journalism, some huge percentage of it, should be devoted to putting pressure on power, on nonsense, on chicanery of all kinds and if that's going to invite a lawsuit, well, bring it on.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Journalism should challenge those in power and expose wrongdoing, even if it leads to legal consequences.
This quote emphasizes the role of journalism as a watchdog that holds those in power accountable for their actions. It suggests that a significant portion of journalism should focus on exposing dishonesty and corruption, advocating for the truth, and that potential legal ramifications should not deter journalistic integrity and responsibility.
Themes
JournalismAccountabilityPowerTruthExposure
In practice
Example use cases
In a seminar on ethics, this quote can highlight the importance of journalistic integrity.
More from David Remnick
All quotes →The world is a crazy, beautiful, ugly complicated place, and it keeps moving on from crisis to strangeness to beauty to weirdness to tragedy. The caravan keeps moving on, and the job of the longform writer or filmmaker or radio broadcaster is to stop - is to pause - and when the caravan goes away, that's when this stuff comes.
David RemnickRead
Everybody has a cartoon of themselves. Mine is: I write very fast, and I'm ruthlessly efficient with my time.
David RemnickRead
Every good journalist is aware that his trade may one day go the way of phrenology-and, what's more, the population will hardly protest the extinction.
David RemnickRead
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I violated, apparently, an unspoken rule that we are supposed to take care of our own. Frankly, if that invites discomfort, I welcome it. I don't think there's enough discomfort in journalism, especially in Washington.
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