Carl Bernstein quotes

Carl Bernstein is an American investigative journalist, best known for his role in uncovering the Watergate scandal. As a reporter for The Washington Post, he helped expose corruption at the highest levels of U.S. government. He continues to influence journalism and the pursuit of truth. Here are 20 of his quotes:

The lowest form of popular culture-lack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people's lives-has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage. (Carl Bernstein)
You can't serve the public good without the truth as a bottom line. View quote
Carl Bernstein
We are in the process of creating what deserves to be called the idiot culture. Not an idiot sub-culture, which every society has bubbling beneath the surface and which can provide harmless fun; but the culture itself. For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm, even our cultural ideal. View quote
Carl Bernstein
The reality is that the media are probably the most powerful of all our institutions today and they, or rather we [journalists], too often are squandering our power and ignoring our obligations. The consequence of our abdication of responsibility is the ugly spectacle of idiot culture! View quote
Carl Bernstein
The failures of the press have contributed immensely to the emergence of a talk-show nation, in which public discourse is reduced to ranting and raving and posturing. We now have a mainstream press whose news agenda is increasingly influenced by this netherworld. View quote
Carl Bernstein
For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norms, even our cultural ideal. View quote
Carl Bernstein
The Congress is a dysfunctional institution; its broken. One of our three branches of government is broken. View quote
Carl Bernstein
There had always been black people in and out of our house, and from the outset I had been taught that for them life was defined by struggle and filled with injustice. View quote
Carl Bernstein
The greatest felony in the news business today is to be behind, or to miss a big story. So speed and quantity substitute for thoroughness and quality, for accuracy and context. The pressure to compete, the fear somebody else will make the splash first, creates a frenzied environment in which a blizzard of information is presented and serious questions may not be raised. View quote
Carl Bernstein
The lowest form of popular culture - lack of information, misinformation, disinformation and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people's lives - has overrun real journalism. View quote
Carl Bernstein
I think all good reporting is the same thing - the best attainable version of the truth. (Carl Bernstein)
The greatest felony in the news business today is to be behind, or to miss a big story. So speed and quantity substitute for thoroughness and quality, for accuracy and context. View quote
Carl Bernstein
In the John Paul II days, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had the advantage of staying in his cupboard - the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - exchanging views only with the Pope, and speaking publicly only through carefully written missives on doctrinal issues. View quote
Carl Bernstein
Radical thought has inspired many of the great political and social reform movements in American history, from ending slavery to establishing the minimum wage. View quote
Carl Bernstein
Public policy in the twentieth century was about protecting and expanding the social compact, based on recognition that effective government at the federal level provides rules and services and safety measures that contribute to a better society. View quote
Carl Bernstein
The pressure to compete, the fear somebody else will make the splash first, creates a frenzied environment in which a blizzard of information is presented and serious questions may not be raised. View quote
Carl Bernstein
John Paul was the first modern pope to grow up in a secular culture: He attended public schools, danced with girls - indeed, as a teenager he had a crush on a beautiful Jewish girl who fled his hometown just ahead of the arrival of the Germans. View quote
Carl Bernstein
Even at the end of a presidential election campaign, we have no way to know what Mitt Romney really believes. View quote
Carl Bernstein
The American Revolution and Declaration of Independence, it has often been argued, were fueled by the most radical of all American political ideas. View quote
Carl Bernstein
All institutions have lapses, even great ones, especially by individual rogue employees - famously in recent years at 'The Washington Post,' 'The New York Times,' and the three original TV networks. View quote
Carl Bernstein

Carl Bernstein

Carl Bernstein - Image
Photo: Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0
Occupation: American Journalist
Born: February 14, 1944
Quotes count: 20
Wikipedia: Carl Bernstein

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