Carl Bernstein Quotes
- Mini Bio
- Name: Carl Bernstein
- Born: 14th February 1944, Washington, D.C., U.S.
- Occupation: Investigative journalist and author
- Alma Mater: University of Maryland
- Famous for: Breaking the Watergate scandal that brought down the presidency of Richard Nixon
- Marriage resume: Carol Honsa (1968 - 1972 divorced), Nora Ephron (1976 - 1980 divorced) and Christine Kuehbeck (2003 - present day)
- Books authored: In all he has authored 6 books including the infamous 1974 epic "All The Presidents Men" which was co-authored by his journalistic partner Bob Woodward and was later made into a movie starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman
- Trivia: With his reporting partner Bob Woodward they collectively earned the nickname "Woodstein"
"Good journalism should challenge people, not just mindlessly amuse them"
Carl Bernstein"The greatest felony in the news business today is to be behind, or to miss a big story. So speed and quantity substitute for thoroughness and quality, for accuracy and context"
Carl Bernstein"What Watergate was about at its most basic level was a vast campaign of political espionage and sabotage to undermine the democratic political process in this country"
Carl Bernstein"We're watching, too, an unraveling in front of us, both factually and also temperamentally, in terms of the conduct of the President of the United States" [about Donald Trump]
Carl Bernstein"You can't serve the public good without the truth as a bottom line"
Carl Bernstein"We are seeing both in real time, with the President's remarks and also through documentary evidence, his corruption"
Carl Bernstein"The consequences to a society that is misinformed and disinformed by the grotesque values of this idiot culture are truly perilous"
Carl Bernstein"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"
Carl Bernstein"We can’t be the assholes, out there on our own, denying what is readily apparent to everybody else"
Carl Bernstein"The best obtainable version of the truth remains the essential goal of good reporting"
Carl Bernstein"For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm, even our cultural ideal"
Carl Bernstein"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"
Carl Bernstein"We now have a mainstream press whose news agenda is increasingly influenced by this netherworld"
Carl Bernstein"The Congress is a dysfunctional institution; its broken. One of our three branches of government is broken"
Carl Bernstein"The reality is that the media are probably the most powerful of all our institutions today"
Carl Bernstein"We are in the process of creating what deserves to be called the idiot culture"
Carl Bernstein
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Carl Bernstein Biography
Bio By: Michael Joseph Farrelly
The Watergate scandal that brought down President Nixons administration in 1974 was the worlds introduction to Carl Bernstein as it made him one of the most famous investigative journalists of the twentieth century.
Along with his journalistic partner Bob Woodward they made a doggedly determined team who followed the money trail that led all the way from the Watergate burglars to their pay masters in the Whitehouse. Post Watergate he went onto a glittering journalism career and author of best selling books including a biography of Hilary Clinton.
Indeed, former defence secretary Leon Panetta was quoted as saying about the journalism of both Woodward and Bernstein: "Their basic expertise was in trying to find the truth but we’re in a time when facts are under attack. They’re dealing with a more challenging world where the mere fact of who they are doesn’t carry the kind of respect it once did".
After his Washington Post Watergate scoop Bernstein continued to be a thorn in the side of corrupt governmental practices and even in 2018 his reporting invoked the ire of President Donald Trump who was quoted as saying about Carl Bernstein: "A man who lives in the past and thinks like a degenerate fool, making up story after story, is being laughed at all over the country! Fake News".
It certainly sounds like an agitated president and it makes you think what's he hiding and it caused Bernstein to retort: "I think it's time to recognise that what we are watching in the Trump presidency is worse than Watergate".
Could the Trump administration be this veteran reporters swansong? Either way it makes riveting reading and whilst Carl has always been good for a one liner this is my compilation of 16 of the best Carl Bernstein quotes
Quotes About Carl Bernstein
The author Jack Engelhard shared an interesting perspective on the Watergate reporter: "So instead of retiring to the countryside as the grand old man of journalism, Bernstein could not resist the allures of trapping and skinning for himself another president, quite a catch that would be, yet a second time, right, nabbing Nixon had been no fluke he could say – but instead down goes Bernstein as a fool whose past glory can now never be recovered"
The executive director of the Center for Western Studies at Augustana University Dr. Harry Thompson gave this assessment of the dynamic duo: "Together and separately in their professional lives, Woodward and Bernstein have subjected every administration since the 1970s to rigorous analysis for the benefit of the American people"
The critic Charlotte Apgood shared this review about his book on Hilary Clinton: "Carl Bernstein obviously has done a prodigious job of research on a woman who has stirred strong emotions among Americans for many years. Despite copious media coverage and intense scrutiny, she has remained somewhat of an enigma"
The Journalist Mary Wilson described Carl Bernstein's 'A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton', as: "a complete picture of the woman who would be president"
