Jessica Savitch Quotes

To get it first is important - but more important is to get it right.

Never refuse an assignment except when there is a conflict of interest, a potential of danger to you or your family, or you hold a strongly biased attitude about the subject under focus.

Some news managers have been slow to grasp that good television news is always substance over form.

When I first anchored in 1970, I had never seen a woman anchor a news show.

Anyone who writes an autobiographical work at the age of 34 is, at best, presumptuous. It occurred to me that it was time to set the record straight.

Every time I am in danger of believing the glamour of my own press, some incident inevitably brings me back to earth.

Women were seldom given quality assignments or adequate air time.

The code of the road is, if there is anything to eat, eat; if there is a place to sit, sit; if there is a restroom, go.

I very much wanted to be accepted by my peers, to be considered a serious journalist.

Television is intensely personal.

I don't exactly know what it means to be ready. A cake when the oven timer goes off? Am I fully baked, or only half-baked?

When for so long you can't get a job for reasons that seem specious, you you finally do have it, you are constantly afraid of losing it.

My current goal is to place a moratorium on goals.

My goal was to be a network correspondent by the time I was 30.

I worked half my life to be an overnight success, and still it took me by surprise.

The single life is not one I willingly chose for myself.

Texas was defined by its larger-than-life characters, particularly politicians.

The latest wrinkle is on wrinkles. There is a widespread belief that women can't grow old in television news.

News reporting is a cycle: No matter how much you work at sending a message, it's only successful if it's received.

Newscasters cannot call attention to themselves by being too attractive or too unattractive.

The minute viewers callin or write about your looks, they were not listening to what you were saying.

Women may not have it easy, but we are given a fairer chance to reach for the top.

I hadn't realized until I covered the police beat just how seedy crime is.

My most lucrative job in college was a stint as the regional Dodge Girl.

By far my most perilous assignment was covering a tank car explosion.

When I was a little girl in the 1950s, it would not have been possible for me to say, I want to be an anchorwoman when I grow up.

News events are like Texas weather. If you don't like it, wait a minute.

You can easily die racing to cover a bank robbery as you can in a war zone.

Women didn't want to watch other women on television because they were jealous of their husbands' diverted attention.

The idea of stardom was difficult to grasp. It was like being schizophrenic; there was her, the woman on television, and the real me.

In real life, events seem much less dramatic.

Being a novelty had its advantages.

Television news is a delicate balance of serving public good and private gain.

Men still control the news, both on and off camera.

The news anchor is exactly that - an anchor, a center, a focus.

Although I was entirely relaxed on camera, if I had to stand up and say something to an assembled group of people, I was rendered all but inarticulate.

Mistakes are not always the result of someone's ineptitude.

The bad news is that 50 people died in a hotel fire; the good news is that we got exclusive footage.