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Give news a little more time, and don't request that they also, in their news time, entertain. We're not entertainers. We're journalists. And we need more time to do our job well.
Walter Cronkite
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote emphasizes the importance of allowing journalists sufficient time to report news accurately without the pressure of entertainment.

Walter Cronkite highlights the distinction between journalism and entertainment, advocating for an understanding that journalists require adequate time to cover stories thoroughly. His statement is a call to prioritize factual reporting over the sensationalism often seen in the media landscape, urging the audience to appreciate the depth of journalism beyond surface-level entertainment.

Themes

JournalismNewsReportingTruthMedia

In practice

Example use cases

In a discussion on the importance of journalistic integrity, you might reference Walter Cronkite's views on the role of time in reporting.

More from Walter Cronkite

Perhaps if all the peoples of the world understand what war really means, we would eliminate it.
Walter CronkiteRead
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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