Perhaps if all the peoples of the world understand what war really means, we would eliminate it.
Walter CronkiteRead
We all have our likes and our dislikes. But... when we're doing news - when we're doing the front-page news, not the back page, not the op-ed pages, but when we're doing the daily news, covering politics - it is our duty to be sure that we do not permit our prejudices to show. That is simply basic journalism.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Journalists must set aside personal biases to report the news accurately.
Walter Cronkite emphasizes the importance of objectivity in journalism, particularly when covering significant news stories. He argues that journalists have a duty to present the news fairly and without allowing personal likes or dislikes to influence their reporting, thus upholding the principles of basic journalism.
Themes
JournalismObjectivityReportingBiasNews
In practice
Example use cases
In a journalism class discussion on ethics, a student quoted Cronkite to highlight the importance of impartial reporting.
More from Walter Cronkite
All quotes →The death of Churchill at 90 was one of those watershed moments in which the obituary rises to a special calling beyond the sharing of remembered times. It gave an older generation a rare opportunity to explain something of itself to its children.
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I suppose popularity is measured by ratings. If a broadcaster is known as the leader because of ratings, then that's where people most want to be seen and heard, so there's no question that there's an advantage.
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Objective journalism and an opinion column are about as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine.
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I feel no compulsion to be a pundit. As a matter of fact, I really don't have that much to say about most things. Working with hard news satisfies me completely.
Walter CronkiteRead
I think that our comfort is in our history.
Walter CronkiteRead
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