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" It was either write or die for me. "
Michael Hastings
Me
Die
Write
Related Quotes:
" I want to be the greatest investigative reporter of my generation. "
Michael Hastings
Generation
Reporter
Want
" I think when war becomes your life, I think it's very difficult to have the proper perspective to be able to create a fully balanced policy. "
Michael Hastings
Perspective
War
Create
" When my editors and I at 'Rolling Stone' came up with the idea to do a profile of General McChrystal, I simply just e-mailed General McChrystal's press staff, said we wanted to do a profile, and said if you could give us any time to hang out with the general, that would be great. "
Michael Hastings
Great
You
Time
" The idea of aerial military surveillance dates back to the Civil War, when both the Union and the Confederacy used hot-air balloons to spy on the other side, tracking troop movements and helping to direct artillery fire. "
Michael Hastings
Military
Fire
War
" During the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the military conducted only a handful of drone missions. "
Michael Hastings
Only
Military
Invasion
" When interviewing for a job, tell the editor how you love to report. How your passion is gathering information. Do not mention how you want to be a writer, use the word 'prose,' or that deep down you have a sinking suspicion you are the next Norman Mailer. "
Michael Hastings
Deep
Passion
Love
" To General McChrystal, those men on his team are his family. You know, these guys, they would do anything. They would die for each other. "
Michael Hastings
Die
Know
Men
" You basically have to be willing to devote your life to journalism if you want to break in. Treat it like it's medical school or law school. "
Michael Hastings
Medical
Law
School
" General McChrystal wanted to be on the cover of 'Rolling Stone.' "
Michael Hastings
Stone
Rolling
General
" The fact is, psychiatric help is not widely available to CIA agents - and as in the military, there is a stigma attached to admitting post-traumatic stress. "
Michael Hastings
Attached
Fact
Military
" By the second sentence of a pitch, the entirety of the story should be explained. "
Michael Hastings
Story
Sentence
Second
" It's never a good thing to see a government agency talk in secret about the need to 'control protestors' - especially when that agency is charged with protecting the homeland against terrorists, not nonviolent demonstrators exercising their First Amendment rights to peaceable dissent. "
Michael Hastings
Control
Talk
Need
" I think it's very difficult to make people care about natives in another country. "
Michael Hastings
Care
Difficult
Country
" If someone tells you something is off the record, I don't print it. If they don't tell me something is off the record, then it's fair game. "
Michael Hastings
Someone
Tell
Fair
" I have to admit that the empty prestige and the stupid glory - yes, the horrible rush, the deadly sense of importance that war brings to life - are hard illusions to shake off. Look at me, a war correspondent. "
Michael Hastings
Glory
War
Stupid
" Obama's people will all often complain about how trivial and silly the media is, but there's no president who's probably benefited from this sort of trivialness or superficial nature as President Obama. "
Michael Hastings
Media
Will
Silly
" I went into journalism to do journalism, not advertising. "
Michael Hastings
Journalism
Advertising
" I write for fun. I had written a kind of media satire, but I doubt it will see the light of day. It was just a personal project. "
Michael Hastings
Media
Day
Doubt
" Usually when reporting on powerful public figures, the press advisor and I would have had a conversation that established what journalists call 'ground rules,' placing restrictions on what can and cannot be reported. "
Michael Hastings
Rules
Powerful
Conversation
" For me, when I go in to write a profile, and no ground rules are laid down, and I'm there to write an on-the-record profile and cover readings while in the room, then that means it's on the record. "
Michael Hastings
Go
Down
Rules
" Whenever you're reporting, there's always something you can't say or write, but the questions, you always want to get as close to that line as possible. You want to ask the tough questions. "
Michael Hastings
Say
You
Want
" General David Petraeus was so successful at getting on covers of magazines, having journalists fall in love with him, that in fact he was able to use that power to go around the normal chain of command. "
Michael Hastings
Normal
Love
Power
" There is not much of a bureaucratic leap, if history is any guide, between a seemingly benign call for 'continuous situational awareness' and the onset of a covert and illegal campaign of domestic surveillance. "
Michael Hastings
Leap
Awareness
Surveillance
" The genius of David Petraeus has always been his masterful manipulation of the media. "
Michael Hastings
Media
Always
His
" I welcome all interviews with 'Rolling Stone' magazine, and I'm sure people will talk to me in the future. "
Michael Hastings
Me
Talk
People
" In campaign reporting more than any other kind of press coverage, reporters aren't just covering a story, they're a part of it - influencing outcomes, setting expectations, framing candidates - and despite what they tell themselves, it's impossible to both be a part of the action and report on it objectively. "
Michael Hastings
Story
Action
Expectations
" Obama's drone program, in fact, amounts to the largest unmanned aerial offensive ever conducted in military history: never have so few killed so many by remote control. "
Michael Hastings
Never
Control
Fact
" The first time I met President Obama was 2006 in Baghdad. He was the senator from Illinois; it was a month before he actually ended up declaring. He had to come to Baghdad to kind of check that box, and I was the correspondent for 'Newsweek' at the time. "
Michael Hastings
Box
Month
Time
" Despite the absurdity and the silliness and the triviality of the entire campaign experience, there is also something, as non-cynical as this sounds, kind of uplifting and strange about watching democracy unfold. "
Michael Hastings
Kind
Experience
Democracy
" In late 2009, I returned to Baghdad after a lengthy absence. I was living alone, in the Hamra Hotel, the twice bombed-out de facto international news bureau. "
Michael Hastings
Late
Twice
News