The most disturbing development among the Washington press corps is a collective amnesia about the purpose of a newspaper — which is to gather news. The mortal sins of the press have always been our sins of omission, not our sins of commission, no matter what you may have heard about bias, hubris, or anything else. It is the stories we don’t get, the ones we miss, pass over, fail to recognize, don’t pick up on, that will send us to hell.

Molly Ivins (1944-2007) American writer, political columnist [Mary Tyler Ivins]

Essay (1990-02), “Mimic Men,” Mother Jones
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Collected in Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She? (1991).