Irina Bokova Quotes

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

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.

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

A free press needs to be a respected press.

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.

The back and forth between the press and government is essential to any good democracy.

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.

Freedom of the press underpins free societies around the world.

Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy, it is democracy.

We have got to nurture the spirit of independent journalism in this country, or we'll not save capitalism from its own excesses, and we'll not save democracy from its own inertia.

The job of the press is to encourage debate, not to supply the public with information.

I tell you, in my opinion, the cornerstone of democracy is free press - that's the cornerstone.

What I'm thinking about more and more these days is simply the importance of transparency, and Jefferson's saying that he'd rather have a free press without a government than a government without a free press.

We believe that the remedy to any harm resulting from press freedom lies in press freedom itself.

We must have a free press. If we are to maintain democracxy as we know it, we must have a free and adversarial press.... That's how dictoators get power [by intimidating, restriciting and censoring the press.]

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.

There is nothing more important to a democracy than an active and engaged press.

We need journalists to be fearless and hold power to account.

A louder government with less journalism does not enrich our democratic process.

The press in India, I believe, is more free, and happily so, than perhaps media anywhere in the world. Right? Which is a good thing.

Freedom of the press is the staff of life, for any vital democracy.

Good journalism is being criminalized or otherwise rendered perilous to its best practitioners. Attack a government agency like the CIA, or a Fortune 500 member ..., or the conduct of the military in Southeast Asia and you find yourself in deep trouble, naked and often alone.

Freedom of the press, or, to be more precise, the benefit of freedom of the press, belongs to everyone – to the citizen as well as the publisher… The crux is not the publisher’s ‘freedom to print’; it is, rather, the citizen’s ‘right to know.’