Scott Pelley Quotes

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

The media is absolutely essential to the functioning of a democracy. It's not our job to cozy up to power. We're supposed to be the check and balance on government.

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

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

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

We are a better country because the press gets 1000 facts right every day.

Our Republic and its press will rise or fall together.

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.

I don't have any well-developed philosophy about journalism. Ultimately it is important in a society like this, so people can know about everything that goes wrong.

Vigorous independent and critical media are indispensable in a democracy.

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

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

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

The best definition of journalism I have heard; to challenge authority - all authority - especially so when governments and politicians take us to war, when they have decided that they will kill and others will die.

I consider the media to be indispensable to democracy. That we need an independent media to hold people like me to account. […] power can be very addictive and it can be corrosive and it’s important for the media to call to account people who abuse their power, whether it be here or elsewhere.

The job of media is the accountability of government.

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.

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.

The job of the press is to defend their institution, hold the government accountable and freely report and gather information.

There is no democracy without journalism.

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

Journalism is the protection between people and any sort of totalitarian rule. That's why my hero, admittedly a flawed one, is a journalist.

Journalism is what maintains democracy. It's the force for progressive social change.

The media does play a vital role in our democracy, and if we cannot depend on journalistic ethics, the nation's in trouble.