Don Hewitt Quotations

Confrontation is not a dirty word. Sometimes it's the best kind of journalism as long you don't confront people just for the sake of a confrontation.

He can thread a needle with a well-turned phrase.

I can tell you categorically that we at 60 Minutes did not pay Michael Jackson one cent.

You know that clicker? It's going to change the world more than any other thing.

Let's give the conventions back to the politicians. If we think there's any news, we can tack it on afterward as commentary. But the conventions should be their show, not ours.

I have a built-in bias against reporters who have axes to grind. I think there are reporters that allow their own bias to encroach on their journalism, and that's a crime against journalism.

He had a knack for getting things out of people that others never got out of them niches and hidden moments that they never shared with anyone. But they did with Mike.

He was probably the best-blocking running back I ever saw. He was just an outstanding player who always knew how to keep the team loose. He always had everyone laughing when he would pull tricks on guys.

When there was a disaster, it used to be that people went to church and all held hands. Now the minute anything happens they run to CNN.

The businessman only wants two things said about his company-what he pays his public relations people to say and what he pays his advertising people to say. He doesn't like anybody ever to look above, beyond or over that.

I plan to die at my desk.

It's a movie, OK? I went to see GONE WITH THE WIND, but did I really believe there was a guy named Rhett Butler who said, "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn"? No. Movies need heroes and villains, and real life doesn't usually have heroes and villains. Real life has a lot of shades of gray, and moves have black and white even when they're in color.

I've always said there are four words that every child in the world knows, and those are, "Tell me a story,." Even the people who wrote the Bible knew that. They told stories, like the story of Noah.

Artie had an eye for what worked visually and what didn't. He was invaluable to me.

It sits as a force in your hand. You can change stations with a button. You change advertisers' income. You force networks to think about every fifteen minutes of programming now.