Journalists say a thing that they know isn’t true, in the hope that if they keep on saying it long enough it will be true.

Bennett’s remark is a sardonic critique of how repetition can substitute for evidence in public discourse. It suggests that some journalism (or, more broadly, commentary and propaganda) may treat truth as something manufactured through persistence: if an assertion is printed often enough, it can harden into “common knowledge” regardless of its factual basis. The line also implies a cynical incentive structure—speed, sensation, and narrative coherence can be rewarded more than verification. Read today, it anticipates modern concerns about “illusory truth,” where familiarity breeds belief, and about media ecosystems in which repeated claims can shape reputations, politics, and social reality even when initially false.