Journalism

Journalism. Always hated that word.

Newspapering. Or, now, perhaps, news. Fine with me.

 

Here's one that seems especially relevant today.

"The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." -- Thomas Jefferson, letter to Edward Carrington, 1787.

 

I have no idea if you're right, but I can't imagine having any more fun majoring in something else.

Of course, I might be in better shape if I majored in something snooze-worthy like, oh, I don't know, ANYTHING ELSE.

 

...has been in my kitchen, paying for the food therein.

 

"What do you think I'm trying to do?. Look, I got news for you. I'm not locked up in the men's room with a cop because it's a good time. Frankly, I've had better times, okay? I'm here because I think the story is wrong. Is it? Is it? If you have something, give it to me now, but don't stand there and act coy and say "Fuck you", because, quite frankly, it's a waste of all of our time. And you know what? I don't have any more time. I have no more fucking time. I need it fucking today, I need it right now!"

Henry, "The Paper"

 

"I am not the editor of a newspaper, and shall always try to do right and be good so that God will not make me one." -- Mark Twain

 

This pretty much covers it all for a reporter at least.

 

Journalism's a shrew and scold, I like her
She makes you sick, she makes you old, I like her
She's daily trouble, stress and strife
She's love and hate and death and life
She ain't no lady, she's my wife
I like her
--Franklin P. Adams, "The End of the World"

 

Dammit, OTD, I wanted that one.

 

I always preferred the line Jim Backus had at the wake, where he asked someone, "Do you want to be a reporter, or a journalist?"
"What's the difference?"
"A journalist makes himself the hero of the story. A reporter is just a witness."

 

“Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tide-water dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair, from Puget Sound to San Diego”

- Jack London from "Call of the Wild"

 

Buck did not read newspapers but had been trained to poop on them.