Ben Bradlee Quotes & Sayings

They cut about seven minutes from that broadcast, but it was still vital to the story's momentum. — Ben Bradlee

We made only one real mistake. And even then we were right. — Ben Bradlee

News is the first draft of history. — Ben Bradlee

A moment from another world! Imagine a reporter dictating an exclusive story, a lead story, sourced from the President of the United States, from a telephone just off the White House dance floor to the strains of Lester Lanin's dance band. — Ben Bradlee

It's very hard to stand up to the government which is saying that publication will threaten national security. People don't seem to realize that reporters and editors know something about national security and care deeply about it. — Ben Bradlee

If an investigative reporter finds out that someone has been robbing the store, that may be 'gotcha' journalism, but it's also good journalism. — Ben Bradlee

I think the conscientious pursuit of happiness by itself can validate decisions to change, to try again, especially when failure to change will lead to lives of duplicity, dishonesty, and deceit. — Ben Bradlee

The Nixon administration really put a lot of pressure on CBS not to run the second broadcast. — Ben Bradlee

The biggest difference between Kennedy and Nixon, as far as the press is concerned, is simply this: Jack Kennedy really liked newspaper people and he really enjoyed sparring with journalists. — Ben Bradlee

Cherchez la femme" is good advice for investigative reporters. "Follow the money" is even better advice. — Ben Bradlee

Maybe some of today's papers have too many 'feel-good' features, but there is a lot of good news out there. — Ben Bradlee

Those [Watergate] tapes are going to take me to my grave with a huge smile on my face.. — Ben Bradlee

We were right about the slush fund. But Sloan did not testify about it to the Grand Jury. — Ben Bradlee

I must be out of it, but I don't know any good journalists who have excused Clinton's problems. — Ben Bradlee

There have been as many investigative reporters on this newspaper working on Clinton's many problems as I can remember there were working on Watergate. — Ben Bradlee

I never believed that Nixon could fully resurrect himself. And the proof of that was in the obits. — Ben Bradlee

To hell with news! I'm no longer interested in news. I'm interested in causes. We don't print the truth. We don't pretend to print the truth. We print what people tell us. It's up to the public to decide what's true. — Ben Bradlee

I don't want to disappoint too many people, but the number of interesting political, historical conversations we had, you could stick in your ear, it wasn't that many. We talked about friends, family and of course girls. — Ben Bradlee

But journalists thrive on not knowing exactly what the future holds. That's part of the excitement. Something interesting, something important, will happen somewhere, as sure as God made sour apples, and a good aggressive newspaper will become part of that something. — Ben Bradlee

It is my experience that most claims of national security are part of a campaign to avoid telling the truth. — Ben Bradlee

National security is a really big problem for journalists, because no journalist worth his salt wants to endanger the national security, but the law talks about anyone who endangers the security of the United States is going to go to jail. So, here you are, especially in the Pentagon. Some guy tells you something. He says that's a national security matter. Well, you're supposed to tremble and get scared and it never, almost never means the security of the national government. More likely to mean the security or the personal happiness of the guy who is telling you something. — Ben Bradlee

Sometimes I am convinced there is nothing wrong with this country that couldn't be cured by the magical implantation of ethical standards on us all - leaders and followers. Until that becomes doable, the Center for Public Integrity is just about the best thing we have going for us. — Ben Bradlee

The champagne was flowing like the Potomac in flood. — Ben Bradlee

Generals who can write always make me nervous. — Ben Bradlee

As a child, one looks for compliments. As an adult, one looks for evidence of effectiveness. — Ben Bradlee

The history of American politics is littered with bodies of people who took so pure a position that they had no clout at all. — Ben Bradlee

Nothing's riding on this, except the First Amendment to the Constitution, freedom of the press and maybe the future of the country. Not that any of that matters, but if you guys f-k up again, I'm gonna get mad. — Ben Bradlee

I think he had a strange, passionate devotion to the truth and a horror at what he saw going on. — Ben Bradlee

As long as a journalist tells the truth, in conscience and fairness, it is not his job to worry about consequences. The truth is never as dangerous as a lie in the long run. I truly believe the truth sets men free. — Ben Bradlee

Sure, some journalists use anonymous sources just because they're lazy and I think editors ought to insist on more precise identification even if they remain anonymous. — Ben Bradlee

It changes your life, the pursuit of truth, — Ben Bradlee

In the perfect world every source could be identified, but like the man said, "It's not a perfect world." — Ben Bradlee

The really tough thing would have been to decide to take Woodward and Bernstein off the story. They were carrying the coal for us - in that their stories were right. — Ben Bradlee

It took us about a day and a half to find out what had gone wrong. — Ben Bradlee

Hire people smarter than you are and encourage them to bloom. — Ben Bradlee

I give Cronkite a whole lot of credit. — Ben Bradlee

Everybody who talks to a newspaper has a motive. That's just a given. And good reporters always, repeat always, probe to find out what that motive is. — Ben Bradlee

The first rough draft of history. — Ben Bradlee

You never monkey with the truth. — Ben Bradlee

There will always be leaks; in Washington, everywhere. — Ben Bradlee

Our best today; better tomorrow, — Ben Bradlee

I do worry about how newspapers respond to falling circulation figures. I'm not sure that the answer is for newspapers to try to cater to whatever seems to be the fad of the day. — Ben Bradlee

There is nothing like daily journalism! Best damn job in the world! — Ben Bradlee