Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault.
Interpretation
Journalism's inherent duty to speak out brings both value and challenges.
This quote by Henry Anatole Grunwald emphasizes the dual nature of journalism as a powerful tool for truth and accountability, while also highlighting the potential pitfalls that come with this responsibility. It suggests that the very essence of journalism lies in its ability to give voice to the voiceless and confront the status quo, yet this relentless pursuit of truth can also lead to controversy and conflict.
In practice
During a workshop on media ethics, this quote can be used to illustrate the challenges faced by journalists.
Why should I wish to see God better than this day? I see something of God each hour of the twenty-four, and each moment then, In the faces of men and women I see God, and in my own face in the glass; I find letters from God dropped in the street, and every one is signed by God's name, And I leave them where they are, for I know that others will punctually come forever and ever.
It is an undeniable privilege of every man to prove himself right in the thesis that the world is his enemy; for if he reiterates it frequently enough and makes it the background of his conduct he is bound eventually to be right.
For benefits return benefits; for injuries return justice without any admixture of revenge.
War is not the continuation of politics with different means, it is the greatest mass-crime perpetrated on the community of man.
Life without pain has no meaning.
To destroy guide-boards that point in the wrong direction . . . to drive the fiend of fear from the mind . . . is the task of the Freethinker.
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