Time & Perspective Quote by Robert Fisk

Fisk frames journalism less as a career than as a moral posture: the reporter as witness, not protagonist. The first move is a self-denial that doubles as an accusation. "We're not there to worry about ourselves" reads like a rebuke to celebrity media culture and to the modern incentive structure that rewards hot takes, personal branding, and the performance of outrage. He’s drawing a bright line between attention and accountability, insisting that the story is bigger than the storyteller.

The phrase "witness to history" is doing heavy work. It evokes courts, war crimes, testimony - situations where facts are contested and power has an interest in fog. Fisk, shaped by decades covering the Middle East and the violences of state and militia alike, understood that "history" is often written as alibi. Calling the journalist a witness implies presence, risk, and the obligation to remember accurately when institutions prefer amnesia.

Then comes the crucial hedge: "as near as we can, in an imperfect world, to the truth". It’s an anti-utopian line that rejects both cynical relativism ("there is no truth") and naive objectivity ("we can be perfectly neutral"). He acknowledges the mess: propaganda, fear, partial information, personal bias, editorial pressures. The intent is to defend truth as a direction, not a trophy. You don't possess it; you pursue it, knowing you’ll fall short.

"Get the truth out" lands as a final, almost physical imperative. Truth is something buried, blocked, delayed. Fisk’s subtext is clear: journalism isn’t commentary; it’s extraction work, done under the weight of consequence.