Xavier Niel Quotes

Freedom of the press underpins free societies around the world.

We need a free media, not just freedom of speech.

A free press needs to be a respected press.

A free and truly independent press - fiercely independent when necessary - is the red beating heart of freedom and democracy.

Vigorous independent and critical media are indispensable in a democracy.

As journalists, we cannot swallow the official line without question. We should challenge almost everything that dictators, presidents and officials say.

In emerging democracies like Russia, in authoritarian states like Iran or even Yugoslavia, journalists play a vital role in civil society. In fact, they form the very basis of those new democracies and civil societies.

Freedom of the press is not questioned when investigative journalism unearths scandals, But that does not mean that every classified state document should be made available to journalists.

A free press can of course be good or bad, but most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad.

Junk journalism is the evidence of a society that has got at least one thing right, that there should be nobody with the power to dictate where responsible journalism begins

The state must protect the media. In a democracy, the role of media is very important. In the absence of a credible opposition party, you can rely on the media.

You can't have a free democracy if you don't have a free media that can provide vital and independent information to the people.

Democratic societies need a strong media, and WikiLeaks is part of that media.

We need a free press. We must have it. It's vital.

Press freedom has great virtues. It is not about irresponsible scandal-mongering, although that may be part of the picture. It is a means of revealing wrongdoing.

Press freedom is not just about journalists, right? It's not just about us, it's not just about me, it's not just about Rappler. Press freedom is... the foundation of every single right of every single Filipino to the truth, so that we can hold the powerful to account.

Without freedom of the press, there can be no representative government.

The Ecuadorean and Latin American press is not like the European or North American press, which has some professional ethics. They are used to being above the law, to blackmail, to extort.

It should be clear by now that my focus here is not freedom of speech or the press. This freedom is all too often an exaggeration. At the very least, blind references to freedom of speech or the press serve as a distraction from the critical examination of other communications policies.

The most important responsibility we have as journalists is to question those who are in power. I honestly believe that.

We have to protect all journalists, and journalists have to be allowed to do their jobs.

Well, thank God for a media that will ask questions.

Our founding fathers could not have foreseen that freedom of the press might eventually be threatened just as much by media consolidation as by government.

One of the unsung freedoms that go with a free press is the freedom not to read it.

The journalist observes the laws of his country, but when the fulfillment of his professional duty is concerned he recognizes the jurisdiction of his colleagues only, and rejects any attempts of pressure and interference from the side of the government or whoever else.