diff --git a/src/journal/journalctl.c b/src/journal/journalctl.c
index 34017484be..9fbc9a3489 100644
--- a/src/journal/journalctl.c
+++ b/src/journal/journalctl.c
@@ -193,10 +193,17 @@ static int parse_argv(int argc, char *argv[]) {
                 case 'o':
                         arg_output = output_mode_from_string(optarg);
                         if (arg_output < 0) {
-                                log_error("Unknown output '%s'.", optarg);
+                                log_error("Unknown output format '%s'.", optarg);
                                 return -EINVAL;
                         }
 
+                        if (arg_output == OUTPUT_EXPORT ||
+                            arg_output == OUTPUT_JSON ||
+                            arg_output == OUTPUT_JSON_PRETTY ||
+                            arg_output == OUTPUT_JSON_SSE ||
+                            arg_output == OUTPUT_CAT)
+                                arg_quiet = true;
+
                         break;
 
                 case 'a':