Writing Cannot Be Done In A State

The 'i' Character In Journalism Is Almost Pure Invention.

A Lawsuit Is To Ordinary Life What War Is To Peacetime. In A Lawsuit, Everybody On The Other Side Is Bad. A Trial Transcript Is A Discourse In Malevolence.

Every Journalist Who Is Not Too Stupid Or Too Full Of Himself To Notice What Is Going On Knows That What He Does Is Morally Indefensible. He Is A Kind Of Confidence Man, Preying On People's Vanity, Ignorance Or Loneliness, Gaining Their Trust And Betraying Them Without Remorse.

Journalists Justify Their Treachery In Various Ways According To Their Temperaments. The More Pompous Talk About Freedom Of Speech And ‘the Public’s Right To Know’; The Least Talented Talk About Art; The Seemliest Murmur About Earning A Living.

The Heavy Odds Against Finding The Desired... Work Of Art In The Mess And Flux Of Life, As Opposed To The Serene Orderliness Of Imagined Reality, Give A Special Tense Dazzle And An Atmosphere Of Tour De Force To Any Photographs That Succeed In The Search.