Journalism is not a precise science, it's a crude art
Dan RatherRead
This much we know: Journalism is not a precise science. It's, on its best day, is a crude art. We make mistakes; I make mistakes. With more than 50 years as a journalist, I have at least had the opportunity to blow more stories, make more mistakes than maybe anybody in television.
Interpretation
Journalism blends creativity and imperfection, acknowledging human error in storytelling.
Dan Rather's quote reflects the nature of journalism as an art form rather than a strict science, highlighting the inevitability of mistakes in the pursuit of truth. With decades of experience, he admits to the errors made over the years, underlining that the journalist's journey is fraught with challenges, creativity, and a need for humility in the profession.
In practice
During a lecture about the challenges of journalism, I quoted Dan Rather to emphasize the art involved in reporting.
Journalism is not a precise science, it's a crude art
Only votes talk, everything else walks.
From the streets of Cairo and the Arab Spring, to Occupy Wall Street, from the busy political calendar to the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan, social media was not only sharing the news but driving it.
A college degree is the key to realizing the American dream, well worth the financial sacrifice because it is supposed to open the door to a world of opportunity.
Covering the civil-rights movement was a mind- and eye-opener for me. Houston was a segregated society, as was Texas as a whole - some of it by law, a lot of it by fear and tradition. But there was no violence where I lived, and if there was hate, it was either concealed from me or I just didn't recognize it.
Courage is being afraid but going on anyhow.
Does an architecture to assuage the spirit have a place in all this? Unfortunately we are no longer the interpreters of our culture's myths but the followers of that dubious client, the developer, who has little patience with the art of architecture, the fine detail and obscure promise, which can upset his financial activity.
I was a product of Andy Warhol's Factory. All I did was sit there and observe these incredibly talented and creative people who were continually making art, and it was impossible not to be affected by that.
And they three passed over the white sands, between the rocks, silent as the shadows.
And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting...
The important thing is not the camera but the eye.
If you talk to any filmmaker, and if you said to them, 'I guarantee you x amount of money per month for the rest of your life, and it's not a big amount of money, but I can also guarantee that you will work continually, you will get to make what you want to make,' any filmmaker on the planet will make that kind of deal. I would have made it.
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