September 5 (2025) - Quotes

Perception of Success in Challenging Situations

Roone Arledge: I know it might not feel like it, but you did a great job today.

Geoffrey Mason: It was a catastrophe.

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Generational Differences in Understanding and Awareness

Marvin Bader: Are your parents still around?

Marianne Gebhardt: Yes.

Marvin Bader: Let me guess. They didn't know either, right?

Marianne Gebhardt: I'm not them.

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Germany's Failure and Innocent Lives Lost

Geoffrey Mason: Are you alright?

Marianne Gebhardt: No... Innocent people died in Germany again. We failed. Germany failed.

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Concerns About Televised Executions

Marvin Bader: You don't want anybody to see their kid executed on live television.

Roone Arledge: Of course not, Marv...

Marvin Bader: So I... I don't know about the Israelis, but David Berger's folks are in Ohio, so I'm pretty sure they'll watch.

Roone Arledge: Well, someone should tell them not to watch it.

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Media Sensitivity in Reporting on Conflict

Peter Jennings: [over the phone] Whatever conception you have of Arabia or Arabs, you need to understand how sensitive this situation is. This is no longer the Olympics.

Marvin Bader: Thank you, Peter, for, uh, clarifying. It does bring up a good question. What should we call them on the air?

Peter Jennings: In News, we would refer to them as commando guerrillas.

Roone Arledge: Commando? That sounds like we're in Vietnam or something.

Geoffrey Mason: What was it they called them in German radio?

Marianne Gebhardt: Terrorists.

Roone Arledge: What was that?

Marianne Gebhardt: They used "terrorists.

Roone Arledge: Okay. Let's... let's go with that.

Peter Jennings: That's a charged term. Terrorism is the organized and systematic use of violence against civilians to affect a political goal.

Marvin Bader: Isn't that pretty much what's happening here?

Peter Jennings: Nobody knows yet what is happening here. So we have to be very careful about everything we say on air.

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Safety versus Image in Olympic Security Debate

Marianne Gebhardt: [translating interview on the radio] Someone's asking the chief of police if he thinks it was a mistake that the Olympic Village had no armed police.

Jacques Lesgards: Of course it was!

Marianne Gebhardt: [pause] I guess they didn't want the world to be reminded of the last time armed Germans patrolled fences.

Jacques Lesgards: So, Germany's makeover is more important than people's safety?

Marvin Bader: [points at TV screens] C'mon. This isn't our business. That is our business, and in less than an hour, we go live.

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Crisis Management Amidst Uncertainty and Overwhelm

Marvin Bader: [about the terrorists having access to the ABC coverage] Then they should have cut the electricity to the apartment! It's not up to us to double-check on them.

Geoffrey Mason: That... Marv, it's not okay if we made it worse. You know that.

Marvin Bader: We don't even know why they called it off. The Germans seem generally pretty overwhelmed.

Marianne Gebhardt: They are. I'm listening to the police radio; it's local cops doing things they have never done before. The German Army gave them sniper rifles and had to instruct them on how to use them.

Geoffrey Mason: Why doesn't the German Army just do it itself?

Marianne Gebhardt: They're not allowed to operate here. German Constitution.

Geoffrey Mason: That's ridiculous!

Marvin Bader: The rumor is Israel offered to send a special unit to help them out, and that Germany refused it.

Marianne Gebhardt: They are just making one mistake after another and trying to act like they've got it all under control.

Cultural Sensitivity and Stereotypes Discussed

Hank Hanson: Fucking Arabs.

Jacques Lesgards: Hey, watch it. My mother is Algerian.

Hank Hanson: I'm not talking about your mother.

Jacques Lesgards: Just the bad Arabs?

Debate on the Nature of Statements

Geoffrey Mason: We never said it was a fact. We used, "As we are hearing".

Marvin Bader: That's a fucking technicality, Geoff.

Miscommunication Leads to Missed Opportunities

Hank Hanson: Can you get us a cup of coffee?

Carter Jeffrey: [picking up a German transmission] Great. You just sent away the one person who can translate this.

Whose Story Is It on Live Television?

Marvin Bader: [[w:Black September Organization|Black September] ], they know the whole world is watching. If - I'm saying if - they kill a hostage on live television, whose story is it? Is it ours, or is it theirs?

The Importance of Telling Real-Time Stories

Roone Arledge: Okay, look, I know this isn't a responsibility that everyone wants. But does it make more sense to have a talking head from News take over from halfway across the fucking world? Our job is to tell the stories of these individuals, whose lives are at stake, 100 yards away. And our job is really straightforward. We put the camera in the right place, and we follow the story as it unfolds in real time. News can tell us what it all meant after it's over. And I'm sure they're gonna try. But this is our story. And we're keeping it.