The idea of stardom was difficult to grasp. It was like being schizophrenic; there was her, the woman on television, and the real me.
More quotes from Jessica Savitch
Some news managers have been slow to grasp that good television news is always substance over form.
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I hadn’t realized until I covered the police beat just how seedy crime is.
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The minute viewers callin or write about your looks, they were not listening to what you were saying.
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Every time I am in danger of believing the glamour of my own press, some incident inevitably brings me back to earth.
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For every two minutes of glamour, there are eight hours of hard work.
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When I first anchored in 1970, I had never seen a woman anchor a news show.
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The news anchor is exactly that – an anchor, a center, a focus.
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I worked half my life to be an overnight success, and still it took me by surprise.
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I very much wanted to be accepted by my peers, to be considered a serious journalist.
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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.
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Texas was defined by its larger-than-life characters, particularly politicians.
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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.
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My current goal is to place a moratorium on goals.
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Walking into a room filled with people you don’t know but who know you brings out your worst vulnerabilities.
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You can easily die racing to cover a bank robbery as you can in a war zone.
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Many senators have developed a canny sense of what will play best for the audience.
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Being a novelty had its advantages.
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Television news is a delicate balance of serving public good and private gain.
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News reporting is a cycle: No matter how much you work at sending a message, it’s only successful if it’s received.
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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.
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Newscasters cannot call attention to themselves by being too attractive or too unattractive.
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By far my most perilous assignment was covering a tank car explosion.
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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.
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In every interview I have ever read or seen or taken part in, the final question in our future-oriented society is always, What next?
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Women were seldom given quality assignments or adequate air time.
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Mistakes are not always the result of someone’s ineptitude.
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My goal was to be a network correspondent by the time I was 30.
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No matter how many goals you have achieved, you must set your sights on a higher one.
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A fact of modern life is that it takes women longer to get ready than men.
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News events are like Texas weather. If you don’t like it, wait a minute.
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The idea of stardom was difficult to grasp. It was like being schizophrenic; there was her, the woman on television, and the real me.
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In real life, events seem much less dramatic.
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The better the coverage, the more discriminating the viewer.
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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.
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What is the value of sticking a microphone in a man’s face right after he has learned of his wife’s death?
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Television is intensely personal.
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Women didn’t want to watch other women on television because they were jealous of their husbands’ diverted attention.
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The bad news is that 50 people died in a hotel fire; the good news is that we got exclusive footage.
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The relationship between talent and management is uneasy, at best.
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Shootouts are not gunfights of honor, they’re gang wars and racial riots.
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It had not occurred to me that marriage requires the same effort as a career. And unlike a career, marriage requires a joint effort.
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In the beginning, my mother humored me when I told her I wanted to be a reporter.
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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?
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To get it first is important – but more important is to get it right.
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It is my belief that one’s salary is between an individual and the IRS.
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In interviews I gave early on in my career, I was quoted as saying it was possible to have it all: a dynamic job, marriage, and children. In some respects, I was a social adolescent.
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One reason I left local news was that I was tired of the constant musical chairs among news directors.
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How valuable NBC Magazine was in my career is questionable.
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I have had a lifelong phobia of snakes.
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Men still control the news, both on and off camera.
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The latest wrinkle is on wrinkles. There is a widespread belief that women can’t grow old in television news.
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News events cannot be controlled, nor can newscasts be mapped out like entertainment shows.
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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.
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Women may not have it easy, but we are given a fairer chance to reach for the top.
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The most important event I covered was the Panama Canal debate, which dragged on for months.
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The single life is not one I willingly chose for myself.
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A press card does not provide you with an invisible shield. You’re flesh and blood.
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Our free enterprise system of disseminating information is collectively referred to as The Media. But there is no collective.
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My most lucrative job in college was a stint as the regional Dodge Girl.
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