Thomas Carlyle Quotes

The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm.

The newspapers, magazines and other journals of the country, it is safe to say, have shed and continue to shed, more light on the public and business affairs of, the nation than any other instrumentality of public; and since informed public opinion is the most potent of all restraints upon misgovernment, the suppression or abridgment of the publicity afforded by a free press cannot be regarded otherwise than with grave concern.

The newspapers of your country seem to be more powerful than the government.

The fourth estate which if not well looked to, will turn us all out of doors.

The media are the opposition party.

The press has become the greatest power within the Western countries, more powerful than the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. One would then like to ask: by what law has it been elected and to whom is it responsible?

I respect the press. The press and the media are a very useful watchdog to check the power of the government.

Th' newspaper does ivrything f'r us. It runs th' polis foorce an' th' banks, commands th' milishy, conthrols th' ligislachure, baptizes th' young, marries th' foolish, comforts th' afflicted, afflicts th' comfortable, buries th' dead an' roasts thim aftherward.

It’s always a danger when an institution like the press becomes disconnected from the people.

The function of a newspaper in a democracy is to stand as a sort of chronic opposition to the reigning quacks.

Many newspapers have become players as well as spectators in the political debate.

Our government has become too responsive to trivial or ephemeral concerns, often at the expense of more important concerns or an erosion of our liberty, and it has made policy priorities more dependent on where TV journalists happen to point their cameras....

The hand that rules the press, the radio, the screen, and the far spread magazine, rules the country.

The media have entered government as a revolutionary force.

No one today in Washington doubts the superior firepower of the media over that of the executive branch.

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

We in the press, by our power, can actually undermine leadership.

I respect very much the role of the media in our society; I think they can be very, very helpful. They serve as a very useful check, sort of a watchdog over the actions of the government, and I respect that.

The power of the periodical press is second only to that of the people.

What would this country be like without the press prying to find out what the government is doing?

The [London] Times has made many ministries.

[Press] Photographers are the only dictators in America.

The press, like fire, is an excellent servant, but a terrible master.

The media can make or break an administration.

Not many governments are reelected in Canada, against an adversarially hostile media, even when it's a government which has been as productive as yours. ... their power in Canada is as infuriating as it is real.