Quotations and Literature Forum

...I believe a nineteenth century French journalist wrote, 'Newspapers are a class of literature with which one should spend very little time.'...Is anyone familiar with this, more exactly? Or suspect an author? pna123

I took a stab at finding it, but didn't have much luck...

I see journalists as the manual workers, the laborers of the word. Journalism can only be literature when it is passionate.
~Marguerite Duras, French novelist, playwright
"Practicalities," "Walesa's Wife," 1987.

Journalism is literature in a hurry.
~Matthew Arnold (1822 - 1888) English poet, critic

It is grievous to read the papers in most respects, I agree. More and more I skim the headlines only, for one can be sure what is carried beneath them quite automatically, if one has long been a reader of the press journalism.
~Mary Ritter Beard (1876 - 1958) US historian, writer
In "A Woman Making History," by Nancy E. Cott, 1991.

The lowest form of popular culture -- lack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people's lives -- has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage.
~Carl Bernstein, US journalist, author
In "Guardian," (London), 3 Jun 1992.

Rage is the only quality which has kept me, or anybody I have ever studied, writing columns for newspapers.
~Jimmy Breslin, US talk show host, columnist, journalist
In "Times," (London) 9 May 1990.