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I have no technical advice or counsel to offer those of you who labor in this vineyard that produces words and pictures. You will forgive me for not telling you that instruments with which you work are miraculous, that your responsibility is unprecedented or that your aspirations are frequently frustrated. It is not necessary to remind you that the fact that your voice is amplified to the degree where it reaches from one end of the country to the other does not confer upon you greater wisdom or understanding than you possessed when your voice reached only from one end of the bar to the other. All of these things you know.

Edward R. Murrow#36

MediaResponsibilityPower

About this quote

What does it mean?
Media workers know their tools are powerful but that does not make them wiser.
In plain terms
Tools are powerful but do not make you wiser.
What can you take from it?
Power does not equal wisdom.

Where it applies

  • journalism
  • broadcasting

Putting it to work

  • use power responsibly

Questions to consider

  • Does power change how you think?

Another view

Tools do provide new capabilities.

More from Edward R. Murrow

  1. This just might do nobody any good. At the end of this discourse a few people may accuse this reporter of fouling his own comfortable nest, and your organizati…

    Permalink to quote #35
  2. I have no feud, either with my employers, any sponsors, or with the professional critics of radio and television. But I am seized with an abiding fear regardin…

    Permalink to quote #37
  3. We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of …

    Permalink to quote #34

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