The first books I was interested in were all about baseball. But I can't think of one single book that changed my life in any way.

I don't have any well-developed philosophy about journalism. Ultimately it is important in a society like this, so people can know about everything that goes wrong.

I didn't have the ambition to be a broadcaster. I was going to be a newspaper reporter the rest of my life, but that opportunity came along.

I started out thinking of America as highways and state lines. As I got to know it better, I began to think of it as rivers.

I think the feature reporter often walks a very thin line between a truly human story and one that slops over into mushiness or sentimentality.

It's best to leap into something you know you love. You might change your mind later, but that is the privilege of youth.

I don't think one should ever come to my stage of life and have to look back and say, Gosh. I wish I hadn't spent all those years doing that job I was never really interested in.