Hire people smarter than you are and encourage them to bloom.
Ben BradleeRead
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.
Interpretation
A journalist's responsibility is to report the truth, regardless of potential fallout, as honesty ultimately liberates individuals.
Ben Bradlee emphasizes the paramount importance of truthfulness in journalism. He argues that while there might be immediate consequences for revealing the truth, in the long term, honesty fosters freedom and is far less detrimental than deception. A journalist should prioritize authenticity and fairness over the fear of repercussions, supporting the idea that truth strengthens society.
In practice
In a speech about media ethics, one could quote this to highlight the importance of truth in journalism.
Hire people smarter than you are and encourage them to bloom.
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.
It changes your life, the pursuit of truth.
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.
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.
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.
Life is an error-making and an error-correctin g process, and nature in marking man's papers will grade him for wisdom as measured both by survival and by the quality of life of those who survive.
In darkness one may be ashamed of what one does, without the shame of disgrace.
I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.
I'll never get used to anything. Anybody that does they might as well be dead.
I stood staring, not as yet realising that this was death leaping from man to man in that little distant crowd.
The essence of the miracle of forgiveness is that it brings peace to the previously anxious, restless, frustrated, perhaps tormented soul.
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