Denzel Washington: “Newspaper Readers Choose Between Uninformed or Misinformed”

In a media landscape increasingly driven by speed over substance, Denzel Washington’s 2016 remarks about information consumption have proven remarkably prescient. His now-famous quote—”If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do read it, you’re misinformed”—captured a brewing crisis of confidence in media that has only intensified in the years since.

Washington’s observation came in response to a question about misinformation that had personally affected him. Rather than dismissing journalism outright, the acclaimed actor offered a nuanced critique of the incentive structures reshaping how news is produced and consumed.

“What is the long-term effect of too much information?” Washington asked reporters, shifting the conversation toward deeper consequences. His concern wasn’t about traditional media formats but rather the overwhelming volume of content bombarding consumers daily.

What made Washington’s commentary particularly compelling was his focus on the competitive pressures driving journalistic decisions. “One of the effects is the need to be first, not even to be true anymore,” he noted, his measured tone belying the gravity of his assessment.

The actor then issued a direct appeal to journalists: “So, what a responsibility you all have. To tell the truth. Not just to be first, but to tell the truth.” This wasn’t merely criticism but a reminder of journalism’s foundational purpose.

Washington’s most pointed remarks addressed how commercial incentives had warped information ecosystems. “We live in a society now where it’s just about being first. Who cares? Get it out there. We don’t care who it hurts. We don’t care who we destroy. We don’t care if it’s true. Just say it. Sell it,” he said, before concluding with the observation that “anything you practice you’ll get good at. Including B.S.”

The timing of Washington’s comments in late 2016 coincided with heated debates about “fake news” during that year’s presidential election. However, the problem he identified has evolved into something more insidious than outright fabrication. Today’s misinformation often lurks in selective presentation: decontextualized clips, cherry-picked statistics, and vague attributions that gain credibility through repetition rather than verification.

What Washington effectively described, without using the terminology, was the attention economy—the system where media outlets compete for increasingly fragmented audience attention, often prioritizing engagement over accuracy. When being first becomes the primary goal, rigorous fact-checking becomes a competitive disadvantage. Breaking news goes live with minimal verification, bold headlines drive clicks, and corrections rarely travel as far as original errors.

Media analysts have noted that this problem transcends political boundaries. A 2023 Reuters Institute study found declining trust in news across ideological lines, with only 39% of Americans expressing confidence in most news sources—down from 52% in 2017, shortly after Washington’s remarks.

The problem isn’t nostalgia for some golden age of journalism that never existed. Rather, it’s that contemporary media environments demand constant content production, creating conditions where quantity often trumps quality. The 24-hour news cycle has accelerated to a minute-by-minute pace, with social media platforms amplifying unverified information before proper fact-checking can occur.

Washington’s perspective remains valuable not as a rejection of journalism but as a framework for more thoughtful information consumption. His words challenge both producers and consumers to ask crucial questions: What drives the urgency behind this story? Who benefits from immediate publication? What context might be missing?

The lesson isn’t to abandon news consumption but to approach it with greater discernment. Cross-checking sources, seeking original context, and maintaining healthy skepticism toward perfectly packaged narratives are practices that help navigate today’s complex information landscape.

For journalists and media organizations, Washington’s reminder that truth matters more than speed remains a powerful professional challenge in an era when both business models and audience attention spans increasingly reward the opposite.