“It is one of the paradoxes of journalism: The more servile a reporter is toward his sources, the more authoritative he can appear in print.”

— Andrew Ferguson

"Scotty: All the news that's fit to schmooze," The Weekly Standard, 24 February 2003

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "It is one of the paradoxes of journalism: The more servile a reporter is toward his sources, the more authoritative he …" by Andrew Ferguson?

Andrew Ferguson 4

American journalist 1956

Related quotes

“By nature servile, people attempt at first glance to find signs of good breeding in the appearance of those who occupy more exalted stations.”

Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) Russian dramatist, author and physician

A Futile Occurrence or A Trivial Incident (1886)

“My leading idea was the establishment of a journal removed alike from servile partisanship on the one hand and from gagged, mincing neutrality on the other.”

Horace Greeley (1811–1872) American politician and publisher

On the founding of the New-York Tribune, in Recollections of a Busy Life http://books.google.com/books?id=wQgxAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA137 (1868), p. 137.
1860s

“He advanced toward me without moving his hat, or making the least inclination of his body; but there appeared more real politeness in the open, humane air of his countenance, than in drawing one leg behind the other, and carrying that in the hand which is made to be worn on the head.”

Voltaire (1694–1778) French writer, historian, and philosopher

Voltaire's account of meeting the Quaker Andrew Pit
The History of the Quakers (1762)
Context: He advanced toward me without moving his hat, or making the least inclination of his body; but there appeared more real politeness in the open, humane air of his countenance, than in drawing one leg behind the other, and carrying that in the hand which is made to be worn on the head. "Friend," said he, "I perceive thou art a stranger, if I can do thee any service thou hast only to let me know it." "Sir," I replied, bowing my body, and sliding one leg toward him, as is the custom with us, "I flatter myself that my curiosity, which you will allow to be just, will not give you any offence, and that you will do me the honor to inform me of the particulars of your religion." "The people of thy country," answered the Quaker, "are too full of their bows and their compliments; but I never yet met with one of them who had so much curiosity as thyself. Come in and let us dine first together."

“One must not think slightingly of the paradoxical…for the paradox is the source of the thinker’s passion, and the thinker without a paradox is like a lover without feeling: a paltry mediocrity.”

Sören Kierkegaard (1813–1855) Danish philosopher and theologian, founder of Existentialism

“Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.”

George Orwell (1903–1950) English author and journalist

“Journalism is writing that first appears in any periodic journal.”

William Zinsser (1922–2015) writer, editor, journalist, literary critic, professor

Source: On Writing Well (Fifth Edition, orig. pub. 1976), Chapter 9, Nonfiction as Literature, p. 61.

“Known best for his investigative reports on the CBS news program 60 Minutes, Ed Bradley won 19 Emmy Awards throughout his journalism career, including one for lifetime achievement in 2003.”

Ed Bradley (1941–2006) News correspondent

[Congressman Steve LaTourette, Congressional Record, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2006-12-06/html/CREC-2006-12-06-pt2-PgH8798-3.htm, Honoring the Contributions and Life of Edward R. Bradley, H8798-H8800; Volume 152, Number 133, December 6, 2006, United States House of Representatives , printed by the United States Government Printing Office]
About

“All journalism is investigative to a greater or lesser extent, but investigative journalism – though it is a bit of a tautology – is that because it requires more, it's where the investigative element is more pronounced.”

Alan Rusbridger (1953) British newspaper editor

Rusbridger (1999) cited in: Hugo De Burgh (2008) Investigative journalism. p. 17.
1990s

“The proposition of Mr. Ricardo, which states that a rise in the price of labour lowers the price of a large class of commodities, has undoubtedly a very paradoxical air; but it is, nevertheless, true, and the appearance of paradox would vanish, if it were stated more naturally and correctly.”

Thomas Robert Malthus Principles of Political Economy

Book I, Chapter II, On the Nature, Causes, and Measures of Value, Section IV, p. 88
Principles of Political Economy (Second Edition 1836)

“If he [the metaphysician] takes an empiricist position in regard to the source of knowledge and a realist one in regard to the limits of knowledge, he will see no need or even possibility of seeking a world-view other than that provided by science as based on experience. If he inclines towards an aprioristic position, or even more, if he is convinced by the arguments of irrationalists, he will seek his world-view in an aprioristic way, or he will appeal to intuition or mystical experience”

Kazimierz Ajdukiewicz (1890–1963) Philosopher, logician

Source: Problems and theories of philosophy, 1949, p. 166–167, as cited in Łukasiewicz, 2016.

“It is one of the paradoxes of journalism: The more servile a reporter is toward his sources, the more authoritative he can appear in print.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Andrew Ferguson 4

Related quotes

Related topics