"If somebody's not prepared to answer the question, you can keep asking"
About this Quote
Weaponized persistence is one of journalism's oldest tools, and Martin Bashir frames it with a deceptively casual shrug: if they won't answer, just keep asking. The line plays like a practical tip, but its real force is moral and theatrical. It insists that non-answers are not neutral; they are decisions. Silence becomes a kind of speech, and the interviewer has license to treat evasion as evidence worth pressing.
Bashir's wording is doing careful work. "Prepared" shifts the burden onto the subject's readiness, not the legitimacy of the question. It implies that the question already deserves an answer; what remains is whether the person in the chair can withstand it. "Keep asking" is blunt, almost childlike, which is the point: repetition strips away the adult varnish of PR language. Ask again and again and the choreography cracks. Either the subject answers, or the audience watches them refuse in real time.
This is also a miniature manifesto for the era Bashir helped define: high-stakes televised interviews where access is scarce and image management is constant. In that environment, the interviewer isn't just gathering information; they're staging accountability. The subtext is adversarial, even predatory if mishandled: persistence can illuminate, but it can also become a performance of dominance. Bashir's quote lands because it names the awkward truth on both sides of the camera: power often hides behind politeness, and repetition is how you make that hiding visible.
Bashir's wording is doing careful work. "Prepared" shifts the burden onto the subject's readiness, not the legitimacy of the question. It implies that the question already deserves an answer; what remains is whether the person in the chair can withstand it. "Keep asking" is blunt, almost childlike, which is the point: repetition strips away the adult varnish of PR language. Ask again and again and the choreography cracks. Either the subject answers, or the audience watches them refuse in real time.
This is also a miniature manifesto for the era Bashir helped define: high-stakes televised interviews where access is scarce and image management is constant. In that environment, the interviewer isn't just gathering information; they're staging accountability. The subtext is adversarial, even predatory if mishandled: persistence can illuminate, but it can also become a performance of dominance. Bashir's quote lands because it names the awkward truth on both sides of the camera: power often hides behind politeness, and repetition is how you make that hiding visible.
Quote Details
| Topic | Perseverance |
|---|
More Quotes by Martin
Add to List



