“Frankly I think that's unfair, ... ...I think it's possible to take issue with the content of that film. I think it's certainly fair to debate what it said about the time and what it continues to say about the issue of race relations in the United States. But I don't think that that is his whole identity. The man was one of the great figures in film history, he was the inventor of the epic film.”
“I think to ignore that piece of work is foolish on any number of levels, ... I think it's a tragic mistake for anybody who really wants to think seriously about those issues - about the issues of race relations in the United States - and how we as a society deal with any kind of contentious issue. ...If you're concerned about race relations issues in the United States today to ignore 'Birth of a Nation' is to put aside a tool that can tell you a lot.”
“That's the nature of journalism. And it's the nature of combat, ... To criticize the media for covering combat in wartime is like criticizing the sun for coming up.”
“News coverage is one element among a whole solar system of elements that shapes how people react to public events, ... It doesn't take a news organization to tell you that your son or daughter or husband or wife has been deployed. It doesn't take a news organization to tell you that the kid who used to deliver your newspaper is now in the local cemetery.”
“One of the things I try to do is examine how attitudes regarding that conflict have evolved over time, ... Because it says a lot about how Americans treat those issues that were a part of that even today.”
