In just one year in Bosnia, thirty of my colleagues died. There is a little Somme waiting for all innocent journalists.
Robert FiskRead
U.S. journalists I don't think are very courageous. They tend to go along with the government's policy domestically and internationally. To question is seen as being unpatriotic, or potentially subversive.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques U.S. journalists for their lack of courage in questioning government policies, which is often viewed negatively.
Robert Fisk's quote highlights the tendency of U.S. journalists to align with government policies rather than challenge them. This conformity, driven by fear of being labeled unpatriotic or subversive, undermines journalistic integrity and the essential role of the press in holding power accountable. Fisk calls out this dynamic as a lack of courage within the journalism profession.
Themes
JournalismCourageGovernmentPatriotismIntegrity
In practice
Example use cases
During a journalism symposium to discuss the state of the media.
More from Robert Fisk
All quotes βThe [Israelis] believed - they were possessed of an absolute certainty and conviction - that 'terrorists' were in Chatila. How could I explain to them that the terrorists had left, that the terrorists had worn Israeli uniforms, that the terrorists had been sent into Chatila by Israeli officers, that the victims of the terrorists were not Israelis but Palestinians and Lebanese?
Robert FiskRead
War is primarily not about victory or defeat but about death and the infliction of death. It represents the total failure of the human spirit.
Robert FiskRead
The biggest problem I have in journalism is being quoted or misquoted and then being asked to defend something I haven't said.
Robert FiskRead
There is nothing so satisfying as to be shot at without effect.
Robert FiskRead
After the allied victory of 1918, at the end of my father's war, the victors divided up the lands of their former enemies. In the space of just seventeen months, they created the borders of Northern Ireland, Yugoslavia and most of the Middle East. And I have spent my entire career β in Belfast and Sarajevo, in Beirut and Baghdad β watching the people within those borders burn.
Robert FiskRead
Similar quotes
During the 1942 Quit India Movement, I was a student at Gwalior High School. I was arrested by the British for participating in the movement. My parents then sent me off to my village where, again, I jumped into the movement.
Atal Bihari VajpayeeRead
To break a Navy Seal, you have to kill us. That's why we can make it into our training. That's why we can call ourselves Seals because the only way your gonna break us is to kill us.
Marcus LuttrellRead
We want to turn victims into survivors - and survivors into thrivers.
Tarana BurkeRead
In war there is no substitute for victory.
Douglas MacarthurRead
I got into therapy in the fifth grade because I said in a sarcastic way that I was going to kill myself, and they didn't get it then. Nothing's changed.
Fiona AppleRead
With the mindset that I give everything I've got for the man that's next to me, not me, cause I know what I got while I'm by myself, but when I step on the field, when I step on the turf, what am I willing to sacrifice?
Ray LewisRead