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Journalism Quotes by P. J. O'Rourke

38 Journalism quotes by P. J. O'Rourke

All Journalism quotes P. J. O'Rourke’s page

P. J. O’Rourke jokes that journalists are easy to trick, especially when spoken to in a serious tone. He points out that some real‑world events are so strange they belong in fiction, yet they happen in news. He also warns that a journalist who praises often gets pulled into public‑relations work.

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I am a student of stupidity. I am a political reporter.

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[ I'm] humorist, I guess. Or really more of a reporter. A reporter who reports on funny things.

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I'm a member of the working press; you'd think I'd know better than to listen to journalists.

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No industry in living memory has collapsed faster than daily print journalism.

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Ideology, politics and journalism, which luxuriate in failure, are impotent in the face of hope and joy.

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Only one way to cover a story like this, and make that a double, bartender, please.

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“Political pundits are under professional obligation to regard the obvious as being too obvious.”

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I'm here as a radio journalist but am not even sure which part of a tape recorder takes the pictures.

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Journalists aren't supposed to praise things. It's a violation of work rules almost as serious as buying drinks with our own money…

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Many reporters, when they go to work in the nation's capital, begin thinking of themselves as participants in the political process instead…

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The day was warm and clear. Kids were playing soccer in the parking lots and women were sunning their babies and having…

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If there are three words that need to be used more in American journalism, commentary, politics, personal life... it's the magic words…

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Generally it's not a good idea to wear Banana Republic - type khaki journalist clothes in a war zone. You might look…

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Richard Nixon was the best thing that ever happened to journalism. I mean this guy was wonderful. Just when you thought he…

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There was an austerely dignified award ceremony. By that I mean we had to buy our own drinks - in clear violation…

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Taxi drivers all over the world, by the way, are under Newspaper Guild contract to give easy quotes to foreign correspondents.

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Newsmen believe that news is a tacitly acknowledged fourth branch of the federal system. This is why most news about government sounds…

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Some taxpayers may object to a print journalism bailout on the grounds that it mostly benefits the liberal elite. And we can't…

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There was also a hunger strike in front of the National Press Club, which seemed an odd place to have a hunger…

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We print journalists are victims of economic forces beyond our control. We were as surprised as everyone else was by the sudden…

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I am a journalist and, under the modern journalist's code of Olympian objectivity (and total purity of motive), I am absolved of…

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The great thing about being a print journalist is that you are permitted to duck. Cameramen get killed while the writers are…

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If you spend 72 hours in a place you've never been, talking to people whose language you don't speak about social, political,…

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If a journalist shows a facility for praise he's liable to be offered a job in public relations or advertising and the…

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If I do, I say so. That's the only way out of that. If there are three words that need to be…

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Just as some things are too strange for fiction, others are too true for journalism.

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One of the few benefits of being a journalist is that you're not in the Army.

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Imagine having journalists in your own home and not even covering the furniture with plastic sheets first.

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In Washington journalists can afford to live almost as well as people who work for a living.

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You can learn all about the human condition from covering the crime beat in a big city - you don't need to…

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Liberals have a quaint and touching faith that truth is on their side and an even quainter faith that journalists are on…

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One of the reporters must have flunked journalism school because he asked a question that went straight to the point.

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Journalists are notoriously easy to kid. All you have to do is speak to a journalist in a very serious tone of…

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I arrived in the middle of a press conference - as boring a thing to sit through if you don't know the…

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The idea of a news broadcast once was to find someone with information and broadcast it. The idea now is to find…

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When you're a war correspondent, the reader is for you because the reader is saying, 'Gee, I wouldn't want to be doing…

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If you spend seventy-two hours in a place you've never been, talking to people whose language you don't speak about social, political,…

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I figured if I could put together being funny about stuff and actual events, maybe I could do something that wasn't being…

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More by P. J. O'Rourke

I'm fascinated by political enthusiasm.

In comparative terms, there's no poverty in America by a long shot. Heritage Foundation political scientist Robert Rector has worked up figures showing that…

The Democrats said, "We don't know what's wrong with America, but we can fix it." The Republicans said, "There's nothing wrong with America, and…

At Epcot Center the Disney corporation has focused its attention on two things greatly in need of Disneyfication: the tedious future and the annoying…

So-called Western Civilization, as practised in half of Europe, some of Asia and a few parts of North America, is better than anything else…

My whole family can talk. They are all car salesmen. They are all funny.

It was Ronald Reagan who used to say that the 10 most frightening words in the English language are, "I'm from the federal government,…

Gun violence has cost us too many political leaders, and hardly ever the worst ones.

Pete Seeger is a modest, unassuming, cheerful, and kind-natured man. He's a good folk singer, if you can stand folk singing. And he's such…

Journalists are notoriously easy to kid. All you have to do is speak to a journalist in a very serious tone of voice, and…

I like to think of my behavior in the sixties as a 'learning experience.' Then again, I like to think of anything stupid I've…

I'll be 56 this year, I've got two kids, and I think it's probably time to go back to writing one-glove jokes.

Something that comes to us, some gym shoe that comes to us as a result of child labor from a brutal dictatorship, where people…

Russians not only vehemently despise blacks, they believe Africa begins at the Ukraine border.

Now, do I think the baby boomers tend to be self-absorbed? I do.