Thomas Jefferson Quotes
Advertisements contain the only truths to be relied on in a newspaper.
Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, 3rd President of the United States (Democratic Republican, VA), Letter to Nathaniel Macon
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The queen was a lot more sophisticated about the newspapers than politicians in the 21st century.
Ailes suggested plan was not implemented by President Nixon. However. Ailes, an arch conservative who has always believed the media was biased against conservatism, later implemented his idea very successfully. This idea was the intellectual forerunner" to Fox News, which Ailes launched as a "fair and balanced" news network in 1996. The Nixon Administration however, concerned about the extremes of many of his recommendations finally fired him, which turned out to be very positive for Ailes career thereafter.
In 1948 in the midst of the Red Scare the HUAC and its Senate counterpart had started to hound a former Assistant Secretary of State, Lawrence Duggan. Typical of the times, those who disagreed with Duggan’s political views anonymously leaked material to the press alleging that Duggan might have been a spy. The press had a feeding frenzy and Dugan committed suicide in the midst of the pressure. Most in Congress paused to contemplate the consequence of what was occurring. Even Richard M. Nixon regretted the “misunderstandings.” Dugan’s father, however, an old acquaintance of Edward R. Murrow, the then dean of American broadcasters, however primarily blamed the press for printing all the unsubstantiated rumor and innuendo.
Responding to reporters who asked him if he was going to bolt the Socialist Party:
Stalin was very astute in realizing the power of the press and the modern media. As a result, his solution was to not only develop a strong party media apparatus, but deny any contrary groups the fight to press and media. He was so effective at media control that most dictators and theocrats would thereafter model the Russian system of monopoly control over the media.
Those who dumb down the news, trivialize the news with in-studio shouting matches passing for debate
It is expensive to pay journalists to investigate and record the news. It is very inexpensive to put two political protagonists at a table with a moderator, and allow them to shout at each other for the duration of the program.
Since so many politicians have lied to the public and the press, denials, the press is very suspicious of any denials. In this particular case they were concerned that this denial is stated in the present, but is not a denial about the past including the recent past. So they continued to press him.
Vladimir Lenin. Lenin was echoing criticisms that were made the world over and even by some in the United States. However, his solution to have the press controlled by the ruling party just changed the cast of characters who were propagandizing and distorting the truth. Lenin was not able to offer a better solution nor were others. However, with enough affluence the capitalist society produced enough different publishers all competing that one did not dominate public opinion. With technology of TV and the Internet, the bar to entry is so small that almost anyone can be a publisher and find an interested market. In a way technology has solved much of the problem for capitalistic and totalitarian societies alike. In the latter, even censorship is not easy or feasible on a large scale.
Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He had previously served as the second vice president of the United States under John Adams between 1797 and 1801. The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent of democracy, republicanism, and individual rights, motivating American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation; he produced formative documents and decisions at both the state and national levels.
