The failures of the press have contributed immensely to the emergence of a talk-show nation, in which public discourse is reduced to ranting and raving and posturing.

Good journalism should challenge people, not just mindlessly amuse them.

The failures of the press have contributed immensely to the emergence of a talk-show nation, in which public discourse is reduced to ranting and raving and posturing. We now have a mainstream press whose news agenda is increasingly influenced by this netherworld.

The American Revolution and Declaration of Independence, it has often been argued, were fueled by the most radical of all American political ideas.

For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norms, even our cultural ideal.

The lowest form of popular culture -- lack of information, misinformation, disinformation and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people's lives -- has overrun real journalism.

The most important ethical issues and the most difficult ones are the human ones because a reporter has enormous power to hurt people.

Public policy in the twentieth century was about protecting and expanding the social compact, based on recognition that effective government at the federal level provides rules and services and safety measures that contribute to a better society.

The Congress is a dysfunctional institution; it's broken. One of our three branches of government is broken.

June 17, 1972. Nine o'clock Saturday morning. Early for the telephone. Woodward fumbled for the receiver and snapped awake. The city editor of the Washington Post was on the line. Five men had been arrested earlier that morning in a burglary attempt at Democratic headquarters, carrying photographic equipment and electronic gear. Could he come in?

All institutions have lapses, even great ones, especially by individual rogue employees -- famously in recent years at The Washington Post, The New York Times, and the three original TV networks.

You can't serve the public good without the truth as a bottom line.

If you are a great news organization, you can't have the best obtainable version of the truth if your vision and your scale is reduced to a fraction of its former self.

The Congress is a dysfunctional institution; its broken. One of our three branches of government is broken.

The lowest form of popular culture -- lack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people's lives -- has overrun real journalism.

The pressure to compete, the fear somebody else will make the splash first, creates a frenzied environment in which a blizzard of information is presented and serious questions may not be raised.

I think all good reporting is the same thing -- the best attainable version of the truth.

Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage.

All institutions have lapses, even great ones, especially by individual rogue employees -- famously in recent years at 'The Washington Post,' 'The New York Times,' and the three original TV networks.

The lowest form of popular culture -- lack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people's lives -- has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage.